Alexis Barrientos-Orellana, Pablo Ballesteros-Pérez, Daniel Mora-Melia, Maria Carmen González-Cruz and Mario Vanhoucke
Earned Value Management (EVM) is a project monitoring and control technique that enables the forecasting of a project's duration. Many EVM metrics and project duration forecasting…
Abstract
Purpose
Earned Value Management (EVM) is a project monitoring and control technique that enables the forecasting of a project's duration. Many EVM metrics and project duration forecasting methods have been proposed. However, very few studies have compared their accuracy and stability.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents an exhaustive stability and accuracy analysis of 27 deterministic EVM project duration forecasting methods. Stability is measured via Pearson's, Spearman's and Kendall's correlation coefficients while accuracy is measured by Mean Squared and Mean Absolute Percentage Errors. These parameters are determined at ten percentile intervals to track a given project's progress across 4,100 artificial project networks with varied topologies.
Findings
Findings support that stability and accuracy are inversely correlated for most forecasting methods, and also suggest that both significantly worsen as project networks become increasingly parallel. However, the AT + PD-ESmin forecasting method stands out as being the most accurate and reliable.
Practical implications
Implications of this study will allow construction project managers to resort to the simplest, most accurate and most stable EVM metrics when forecasting project duration. They will also be able to anticipate how the project topology (i.e., the network of activity predecessors) and the stage of project progress can condition their accuracy and stability.
Originality/value
Unlike previous research comparing EVM forecasting methods, this one includes all deterministic methods (classical and recent alike) and measures their performance in accordance with several parameters. Activity durations and costs are also modelled akin to those of construction projects.
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Raife Meltem Yetkin Özbük, Duygu Aydin Ünal and Büşra Oktay
There have been significant developments in the field of retailing with digitalization. One of these developments is the emergence of omnichannel retailing. Although this has…
Abstract
There have been significant developments in the field of retailing with digitalization. One of these developments is the emergence of omnichannel retailing. Although this has affected both firms and consumers considerably, the literature is dominated by the studies dealing with omnichannel retailing from the firms’ perspectives. The studies dealing with omnichannel retailing from the consumers’ perspectives have recently begun to attract the attention of researchers. For this reason, this study conducted a literature review to examine various consumer behaviors mentioned in the studies aimed at explaining consumer behaviors in the omnichannel retailing context. The distribution of these studies according to years and journals, research methods used, theories adopted, and the related five-stage consumer decision-making stages are summarized. Additionally, this review addresses future research avenues.
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Manuel Castriotta, Paola Barbara Floreddu, Maria Chiara Di Guardo and Francesca Cabiddu
Despite the fundamental role that digital social media could play in the process of consumer co-creation, academic research on this topic is still in its infancy. The overall aim…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the fundamental role that digital social media could play in the process of consumer co-creation, academic research on this topic is still in its infancy. The overall aim of the chapter is to consider how digital social media can be used by firms to encourage and sustain co-creation behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
We draw a multiple case analyses, focusing on the insurance industry, particularly on the Italian insurance market.
Findings
We particularly extend the literature on value co-creation by proposing a composite framework that enables us to grasp the different strategies that firms implement in their different manners of employing digital social media.
Practical implications
We set forth a research agenda for managerial scholars that can help understand how social media should be incorporated in the day-to-day operations of insurance companies.
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M. Caridi, R. Cigolini and D. De Marco
The standpoint of this research lies in the study of the CPFR process for trading partners (belonging to the same supply chain) who are willing to collaborate in exchanging sales…
Abstract
Purpose
The standpoint of this research lies in the study of the CPFR process for trading partners (belonging to the same supply chain) who are willing to collaborate in exchanging sales and order forecast. This points out the need for providing a collaboration process with an intelligent tool to optimise negotiation.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review and classification has been carried out concerning autonomous agents used to manage supply chain processes. To evaluate the strengths coming from an intelligent system embedded within the CPFR process, several experiments in different conditions were conducted using simulation tool.
Findings
The analysis of experimental results points out that the agent‐driven negotiation process (by comparison to CPFR without intelligent agents) benefits in terms of costs, inventory level, stock‐out level and sales.
Research limitations/implications
The study represents a one‐to‐one scenario, in which only two trading partners collaborate. Further, research has been identified to extend the work.
Practical implications
The study represents a first step towards the analysis of a multi‐agent system being used to automate and optimise collaboration along a supply chain.
Originality/value
The study represents a novel approach to resolving exceptions concerning sales and forecast data.
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Sandro Castaldo and Monica Grosso
- Customers expect retail companies to adapt their strategies to their behaviour, so they should use different channels and devices in interaction;
- Multichannel and omnichannel…
Abstract
Learning Outcomes
Customers expect retail companies to adapt their strategies to their behaviour, so they should use different channels and devices in interaction;
Multichannel and omnichannel strategies represent two distinct approaches to managing relationships with the customers;
The key to developing a successful omnichannel strategy is to integrate channels and touch points that will create a frictionless experience for the customer;
Introducing omnichannel interaction requires organizational and IT changes within the company.
Customers expect retail companies to adapt their strategies to their behaviour, so they should use different channels and devices in interaction;
Multichannel and omnichannel strategies represent two distinct approaches to managing relationships with the customers;
The key to developing a successful omnichannel strategy is to integrate channels and touch points that will create a frictionless experience for the customer;
Introducing omnichannel interaction requires organizational and IT changes within the company.
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Antonio Márcio Tavares Thomé, Roberto Luis Hollmann and L.F.R.R. Scavarda do Carmo
The purpose of this research synthesis is to gather and integrate findings on Collaborative Planning Forecast and Replenishment (CPFR) as a business process and as a management…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research synthesis is to gather and integrate findings on Collaborative Planning Forecast and Replenishment (CPFR) as a business process and as a management practice; and to assemble quantitative evidence of its impact on supply chain (SC) performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers independently conducted a systematic review of 629 abstracts and 47 full-text papers. Original keywords were applied to four key electronic databases for operations management and information systems. Rigorous and verifiable selection criteria governed inter-coders reliability, review of steps and exclusion of papers. Resource and dependency-based view of the firm, contingency research and maturity models informed the analysis.
Findings
There is not a single “blueprint” for CPFR. Competing models emphasize the need for “trust and confidence” and reliable data systems. The type of products, scope, spatial diversity and number of partners in the network are important contextual variables. Firm resources that are unique and advantages from multiple and reciprocal dependencies are powerful levers. There is no consensus on maturity model and on required investment in data and communication systems.
Practical implications
Practical implications are implementation related: cost-benefit analysis and simulations should precede full-scale collaboration. There is a consensus on starting CPFR small and expanding gradually.
Originality/value
This synthesis applies a rigorous review method and attempts to assemble the dispersed literature in one study, utilizing explanatory operations management and information systems theories.
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Roberto Luis Hollmann, Luiz Felipe Scavarda and Antônio Márcio Tavares Thomé
The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the literature on Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR). The review emphasises the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the literature on Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR). The review emphasises the descriptors of CPFR implementation and models, as well as the impact of CPFR and other supply chain collaboration (SCC) initiatives on supply chain (SC) performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The systematic review includes 50 full-text papers retrieved from four databases: Emerald, EBSCO, ScienceDirect and Wiley. Rigorous and verifiable keywords, review steps and selection criteria were applied to the database and inter-coders agreement was systematically checked.
Findings
There is no consensus regarding the breadth and scope of CPFR configurations. CPFR is context-dependent and varies according to the configuration of the SC. Trust, information-communication technology and the quality of information sharing are main enablers and inhibitors of implementation.
Practical implications
Practitioners will benefit from insights related to the choice of SCC configurations (e.g. number of partners, nature of products and spatial complexity), the importance of trust and empowerment for SCC and the need to outweigh carefully the costs and benefits of specific SCC before implementation.
Originality/value
CPFR, which is considered by many to be the most advanced and the most comprehensive SCC process and has a direct impact upon SC performance. Nonetheless, efforts to synthesise the overall state of the art in CPFR have been rather limited to date. As an effort to fill this gap, this paper provides a better understanding of the role of CPFR as a determinant of SC performance. As an effort to contribute to complete the cycle of theory building based on the literature review, seven propositions for CPFR research are put forward.
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Raul Poler, Jorge E. Hernandez, Josefa Mula and Francisco C. Lario
This paper seeks to propose an overall model of collaborative forecasting for networked manufacturing enterprises.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to propose an overall model of collaborative forecasting for networked manufacturing enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
Contributions by several authors to collaborative forecasting have been analysed from different viewpoints. A collaborative‐forecasting model for networked manufacturing enterprises has been proposed and validated by means of a simulation study.
Findings
This model significantly reduces the inventory levels of the whole network and improves customer service.
Research limitations/implications
Simulation experiments were done with the enterprise network herein described. Future research will include the simulation of more complex enterprise network scenarios with different characteristics.
Practical implications
The model can be implemented node‐to‐node, since not all the companies in the network have to participate, thus facilitating implementation and propagation throughout the network.
Originality/value
The paper proposes a new structured planning and forecasting collaboration model for networked manufacturing enterprises.
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The author analyses the strategies developed by workers and unions to obtain representation and the successes and limitations of the strategies, in a context of platform work such…
Abstract
Purpose
The author analyses the strategies developed by workers and unions to obtain representation and the successes and limitations of the strategies, in a context of platform work such as Spanish dominated by labour relations of employee workers.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical material is the result of a series of in-depth interviews conducted between August 2020 and September 2021 with 41 workers, 15 of them union delegates, in addition to 4 union members and a labour lawyer. From these interviews, the author obtains a detailed account of the working conditions and the different phases that unionism has gone through in its objective of obtaining representation in a completely new sector.
Findings
The author found that employment in the relationship does not solve all the problems of platform work, especially those related to algorithmic control, but employment in the relationship provides advantages such as the right to representation. Workers play an important role in union strategies.
Originality/value
This study is the first in Spain, where platform work in passenger transport includes the employment relationship as a legal contracting mechanism.