Kwang-Tae Kim, Hwa-Joong Kim and Seong-Hoon Choi
We consider the problem of assigning ship assembly blocks to storage locations at a ship yard while allowing one-way movement of the blocks. The objective is to minimize the…
Abstract
We consider the problem of assigning ship assembly blocks to storage locations at a ship yard while allowing one-way movement of the blocks. The objective is to minimize the number of blocks obstructing other blocks’ movements. We show that the integer program in a previous study contains errors in identifying obstructive blocks and therefore, suggest another integer program without the error. Also, we suggest construction heuristics and a tabu search algorithm using properties characterizing optimal solutions of subproblems. Computational experiment results indicate that our heuristics outperform the existing algorithm in terms of solution quality.
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Jeong Hoon Choi, Sangdo Choi and Nallan C. Suresh
The objective of this study is to explore the structural attributes of the pharmaceutical industry before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic by examining the relationship between…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this study is to explore the structural attributes of the pharmaceutical industry before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic by examining the relationship between inventory and firm performance and developing a taxonomy of pharmaceutical firms based on the earns-turns matrix.
Design/methodology/approach
This study examines the inventory–firm performance linkage, considering both total inventory and its discrete inventory components in pharmaceutical firms. In addition, this research develops a new taxonomy of pharmaceutical firms based on the earns-turns matrix. A large panel dataset of firms in the US pharmaceutical industry was collected for the period 2000–2019.
Findings
The results reveal that strategic groups identified based on this taxonomy show different levels of profitability and inventory turns in the earns-turns matrix. Most pharmaceutical firms moved from the low-right to the top-left section in the earns-turns matrix, indicating that these firms have generally pursued profitability rather than effective inventory management.
Research limitations/implications
This study explores the structural attributes of the pharmaceutical industry using the earns-turns matrix. This two-dimensional analysis may not, however, capture the full complexity of inventory–firm performance dynamics.
Practical implications
The mapping of strategic groups on the earns-turns matrix provides a useful tool for visual representations of the dynamics of strategic groups in terms of financial performance and inventory management performance. Practitioners can use the earns-turns matrix to benchmark their firm's position against their competitors.
Originality/value
This study broadens the scope of operations management research by introducing the earns-turns matrix as an empirical validation tool for operational and strategic management theories. This study emphasizes the effectiveness of the earns-turns matrix in analyzing strategic groups of pharmaceutical firms.
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Asoke Dey, B.S. Vijayaraman and Jeong Hoon Choi
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems are transforming hospital operations by improving care and reducing costs. However, hospital managers have some concerns about…
Abstract
Purpose
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems are transforming hospital operations by improving care and reducing costs. However, hospital managers have some concerns about adopting RFID technologies. These are cost, return on investment, privacy and other technology issues. This study examines RFID adoption in health-care industry based on the Technology-Organization-Environment framework. This paper aims to demonstrate how US hospitals are adopting RFID technologies and make recommendations, using empirical data.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was sent to Chief Information Officers and the top information technology (IT) executives of US acute care hospitals to determine the extent to which hospitals have implemented RFID technologies including the reasons, concerns and applications of RFID technologies, and the antecedents of RFID adoption in hospitals.
Findings
The study found that a high percentage of respondents have adopted or are considering adopting RFID technology as a new management tool. Organizational and technological factors have strong positive influence on adoption, whereas environmental factors do not significantly affect the adoption decisions. The main reasons for implementing RFID technology are improved hospital operations, including inventory management, asset control, workflow and patient flow. Some of the concerns are cost of RFID tags and cost associated with implementation.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to a small sample (n = 86) of US hospitals. This study should continue to be replicated in the future, as adoption of RFID technologies matures in the health-care sector.
Originality/value
This study informs health-care managers on the challenges and opportunities of RFID by identifying motivations, barriers and issues related to RFID adoption. The findings of this study will expand the emerging literature and provide direction to academicians for further research in technology adoption.
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This paper examines whether and how labour market duality can be alleviated through legislation that prohibits discrimination based on employment type.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines whether and how labour market duality can be alleviated through legislation that prohibits discrimination based on employment type.
Design/methodology/approach
In 2007, the Korean government undertook a labour reform banning discriminatory treatment against fixed-term, part-time and dispatched workers. By exploiting a gradual implementation of the anti-discrimination law by firm size targeting a subset of non-regular workers, the paper identifies the treatment effects of the anti-discrimination law, taking a difference-in-difference-in-differences approach.
Findings
The results suggest that the anti-discrimination law significantly increases hourly wages and the probabilities of being covered by national pension, health insurance, and employment insurance for targeted non-regular workers in small firms relative to other workers. Anticipatory behaviours of employers and selective transitions of employees in response to the implementation of the anti-discrimination law do not underlie the estimated effects. The presence of labour unions contributes to reducing gaps in labour conditions between regular workers and targeted non-regular workers.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on causal impacts of equal pay legislation on the gaps in labour conditions between different categories of workers, using a difference-in-difference-in-differences estimation.
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Steven Leon and Hoon Choi
This study aims to examine how the number of choices consumers have influences provider satisfaction, plan satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth (WOM) in the health insurance…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how the number of choices consumers have influences provider satisfaction, plan satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth (WOM) in the health insurance industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Partial least squares (PLS) and structural equation modeling (SmartPLS) was used to conduct multi-group analysis to analyze the structural models. Data were collected online using Amazon mechanical turk, resulting in 425 respondents.
Findings
This study finds that the number of choices consumers have impacts the strength of provider and plan satisfaction and positive WOM. Also, this study finds that provider satisfaction is generally more impactful than plan satisfaction when generating positive WOM.
Originality/value
This study extends reactance theory, satisfaction and WOM based on choice options to the health insurance industry where credence attributes are prevalent and the analysis includes two satisfaction constructs in the structural model, whereas multiple satisfaction constructs are often overlooked.
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J. Lucy Lee, Si Hoon Choi, Suzy Jeong and Namho Ko
The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of artificial intelligence (A.I.) awareness, advertisement models and source-message incongruence on consumer evaluations…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of artificial intelligence (A.I.) awareness, advertisement models and source-message incongruence on consumer evaluations of A.I.-generated advertisements. It explores how these factors interact in shaping consumer perceptions and advertising effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
A 2 (source-message (in)congruence: incongruent vs. congruent) x 3 (A.I. awareness: unawareness, pre-advertisement, post-advertisement) x 3 (advertisement model: traditional human, virtual human, digital twin) between-subjects design was employed in this study. Using stratified random sampling, a total of 231 undergraduate students were recruited from course groups and randomly assigned to one of nine experimental treatments, each involving the viewing of a specific A.I.-generated advertisement followed by a survey. Data were analyzed using two-way ANCOVA and regression analyses, controlling for participants' involvement in sports and brand.
Findings
The results indicated that A.I. awareness timing, advertisement model types and source-message incongruence significantly affected consumer evaluations of advertisements. A.I. awareness generally had a positive impact on evaluations, with the most favorable outcomes when awareness of the A.I.-generated nature occurred after viewing the advertisement. Virtual human models were rated the lowest, while digital twin and traditional human models received similarly positive evaluations. Source-message incongruence negatively influenced evaluations. An interaction effect was observed between A.I. awareness timing and advertisement model types under high source-message incongruence, where virtual human models showed the highest effectiveness when A.I. awareness occurred after viewing.
Originality/value
Given that sports are characterized by the transcendence of human limitations and the emphasis on physical and emotional challenges – elements that A.I. cannot replicate – it is essential to examine how sports consumers perceive A.I., which, despite offering efficiency and personalization advantages, contrasts with the fundamentally human nature of athletic performance. This research contributes to the literature on A.I.-generated advertising by uniquely investigating the interaction between A.I. awareness timing and advertisement model types within the context of source-message incongruence. It offers critical insights for practitioners and researchers on strategically timing A.I.-generated ad disclosures and selecting appropriate advertisement models to optimize their effectiveness. By addressing these underexplored variables, the study enhances understanding of consumer perceptions and provides a foundation for more effective A.I. integration in advertising practices.
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Sima Fortsch, Elena Khapalova, Robert Carden and Jeong Hoon Choi
The objective of this study is to mitigate the risks of a blood shortage. The authors designed two simulation studies to identify the superior methodology that can decrease the…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this study is to mitigate the risks of a blood shortage. The authors designed two simulation studies to identify the superior methodology that can decrease the impact of a massive national donor shortage.
Design/methodology/approach
The simulation designs are triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The first simulation examines the company’s choice of strategic partners (regionally and nationally), and the second inspects creating a national coordinated effort to organize a pooled blood inventory that would require blood centers to contribute a small percentage of their monthly donations to become a member.
Findings
The results indicate that both methods can significantly manage the risk of stockouts regardless of the availability of safety inventory in a blood center; however, although more effective in reducing the number of shortages per month, creating a national blood pool causes the shortages to be recognized earlier than desired.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to the literature by focusing on the potential risk of blood shortage because it directly impacts healthcare, hospitals’ costs and their ability to provide care. Though a handful of researchers have targeted the study of the blood supply chain, there is not any article that is similar to this study.
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Thi Quynh Mai Pham, Gyei Kark Park and Kyoung-Hoon Choi
The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated model to measure the operational efficiency of the top 40 container ports in the world for a five-year continuous period…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated model to measure the operational efficiency of the top 40 container ports in the world for a five-year continuous period using a two-stage uncertainty data envelopment analysis (UDEA) combined with fuzzy C-means clustering method (FCM).
Design/methodology/approach
UDEA model is adopted for measuring the efficiency of container ports to overcome the limitation of the basic model, which is unable to handle uncertain data that are easy to meet in practice. FCM algorithm is implemented to find similar distribution efficiency scores of two stages and the cluster similar efficiency scores of container ports into various groups.
Findings
The combination of the two-stage UDEA model and the FCM algorithm provided a more comprehensive view when evaluating the performance of container ports. The UDEA results show that most of the container ports have reduced their profitability level in the second stage and most of the efficient container ports have turned into inefficient ones because of their small scale.
Originality/value
This paper proposes using the two-stage UDEA model to evaluate port efficiency based on two main aspects of productivity and profitability. Moreover, it combines DEA and FCM algorithms to offer a more comprehensive view when measuring the performance of container ports.
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Juho-Petteri Huhtala, Pekka Mattila, Antti Sihvonen and Henrikki Tikkanen
Over the past 50 years, a substantial interest has been put to research on how innovation spreads within social networks over time (see Rogers, 1962, 2010). Our initial aim was to…
Abstract
Over the past 50 years, a substantial interest has been put to research on how innovation spreads within social networks over time (see Rogers, 1962, 2010). Our initial aim was to examine innovation diffusion in industrial networks. We operationalized the research through a case study of an advertising network by using systematic combining as the approach (Dubois & Gadde, 2002, 2014). From the initial focus of innovation diffusion, the rematching of data and theory led us to focus on the barriers of innovation diffusion. By doing so, we found out that multilevel strategizing appears to be an important phenomenon in understanding dynamics of innovation diffusion within industrial networks. Specifically, strategizing occurs in two levels: (1) the groups within the network compete for position, and (2) actors within a group compete for position by trying to differentiate themselves from other group actors. A strategic mismatch between the two levels leads the network to become decelerated or even static in diffusing new innovations (Abrahamsen, Henneberg, & Naudè, 2012). Uncovering these findings would not have been possible without the use of systematic combining and the constant matching between theoretical and empirical domains.
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Changhui Choi, Dong-Hoon Shin and Changki Kim
The main objectives of this paper are to measure weather-risks in Korean city-gas industry, whose revenue is strongly correlated with temperature changes, and show how managing…
Abstract
The main objectives of this paper are to measure weather-risks in Korean city-gas industry, whose revenue is strongly correlated with temperature changes, and show how managing weather-related risks using weather derivatives (priced using a utility indifference pricing technique) affects Korean city-gas industry's volatility of cash-flow through computational tests.
Since the fluctuation in temperature is the major risk factor for Korean city-gas providers (who are mostly nongovernmental companies), they can considered as strong potential participants in weather-derivatives' market. Therefore, it is worthwhile to investigate the impact of temperature changes on city-gas demands and the effectiveness of the application of weather-derivatives to city-gas providers' revenue. Our tests indicate that hedging weather-risks using weather derivatives can not only reduce the volatility of cash-flow but also increase cash income for Korean city-gas providers.