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The idea of implementing supply chain management (SCM) principles for the construction industry was embraced by construction stakeholders to enhance the sector's performance. The analysis from the literature revealed that the implementation of SCM in the construction industry enhances the industry's value in terms of cost-saving, time savings, material management, risk management and others. The construction supply chain (CSC) can be managed using the pull or push system. This chapter also discusses the origin and proliferation of SCM into the construction industry. The chapter revealed that the concept of SCM has passed through five different eras: the creation era, the use of ERP, globalisation stage, specialisation stage and electronic stage. The findings from the literature revealed that we are presently in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) era. At this stage, the SCM witnesses the adoption of technologies and principles driven by the 4IR. This chapter also revealed that the practice of SCM in the construction industry is centred around integration, collaboration, communication and the structure of the supply chain (SC). The forms and challenges hindering the adoption of these practices were also discussed extensively in this chapter.

The learning outcomes are as follows: develop an understanding of challenges faced by organizations regarding strategic planning; examine the strategies formulated by organizations that can enable wider adoption of a service offering; analyse service quality gaps that will provide new insights; and evaluate the strategic choices that would impact the growth of the organization.

Peter Bushwash International (PBI) was an organization that managed 60 tennis centres in 25 countries. With a staff of 100 tennis coaches worldwide, over 3 million students participated in PBI’s tennis programs. Cesar Morales was appointed the Technical Director on a two-year contract for the PBI’s new tennis centre in Bangalore (India). Morales had to decide if a decentralized strategy (hub-and-spoke model) would create broader growth for the PBI tennis program instead of operating as a premium hub with fewer students.

The case was written for organizational strategy, marketing and service quality courses for undergraduate business students (BBA).

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management Science.

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of Joule heating on boundary layer flow and melting heat transfer of Prandtl fluid over a stretching sheet in the presence of fluid particles suspension. The transformed boundary layer equations are solved numerically by RKF-45 method. The influence of the non-dimensional parameters on velocity and temperature growths in the boundary layer region is analyzed in detail and the results are shown graphically. The results indicate that the larger estimation of α and β reduces for both velocity and temperature profile. Further, the rate of heat transfer decreases by increasing melting parameter.

The converted set of boundary layer equations is solved numerically by RKF-45 method. Obtained numerical results for flow and heat transfer characteristics are deliberated for various physical parameters. Furthermore, the skin friction coefficient and Nusselt number are also presented.

It is found that the heat transfer rates are advanced in the occurrence of non-linear radiation camper to linear radiation. Also, it is noticed that velocity profile increases by increasing Prandtl parameter but establishes opposite results for temperature profile.

The authors intend to analyze the boundary layer flow and melting heat transfer of a Prandtl fluid over a stretching surface in the presence of fluid particles suspension. The governing systems of partial differential equations have been transformed to a set of coupled ordinary differential equations by applying appropriate similarity transformations. The reduced equations are solved numerically. The pertinent parameters are discussed through graphs and plotted graphs. The present results are compared with the existing limiting solutions, showing good agreement with each other.

Surface roughness, normally defined by the R_a and R_t/R_max parameters, is an important topic in the manufacturing engineering, for controlling produced components. This paper presents a study of the influence of cutting parameters on surface roughness in turning of glass‐fibre‐reinforced plastics (GFRPs). A plan of experiments was performed on controlled machining with cutting parameters prefixed in workpiece. A statistical technique, using orthogonal arrays and analysis of variance, has been employed to investigate the influence of cutting parameters on surface roughness in turning GFRPs tubes using polycrystalline diamond cutting tools. The objective was to obtain the contribution percentages of the cutting parameters (cutting velocity and feed rate) on the surface roughness in GFRPs workpiece.

The purpose of this paper is to consider heat and mass transfer on magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) Williamson fluid flow over a slendering stretching sheet with variable thickness in the presence of radiation and chemical reaction. All pertinent flow parameters are discussed and their influence on the hydrodynamics, thermal and concentration boundary layer are presented with the aid of the diagram.

The governing partial differential equations are reduced into a system of ordinary differential equations with the help of suitable similarity variables. A discrete version of the homotopy analysis method (HAM) called the spectral homotopy analysis method (SHAM) was used to solve the transformed equations. SHAM is efficient, and it converges faster than the HAM. The SHAM provides flexibility when solving linear ordinary differential equations with the use of the Chebyshev spectral collocation method.

The findings revealed that an increase in the variable thermal conductivity hike the temperature and the thermal boundary layer thickness, whereas the reverse is the case for velocity close to the wall.

The uniqueness of this paper is the exploration of combined effects of heat and mass transfer on MHD Williamson fluid flow over a slendering stretching sheet. The Williamson fluid term in the momentum equation is expressed as a linear function and the viscosity and thermal conductivity are considered to vary in the boundary layer.

The impact of climate disasters (e.g., floods, storms, or landslides), which are generally of low intensity and high frequency, should not be overlooked in developing countries. Global experiences related to the damage due to these disasters indicate that such events can be devastating in communities that are vulnerable to hazardous impacts. Cumulative effects of climate disasters are a sign of a potential catastrophe. Moreover, the recent increase in these events poses additional issues that increase the cost of local public administration, including emergency operation and infrastructure recovery. This chapter explains key problems related to climate disasters that are increasing, particularly in the local area of developing countries, and clarifies the need to incorporate climate disaster risk reduction into public development planning and practice. The chapter also provides descriptions of the research location, approaches of the study, and the structure of this book.

Present investigation based on the flow of electrically conducting Williamson nanofluid embedded in a porous medium past a linearly horizontal stretching sheet. In addition to that, the combined effect of thermophoresis, Brownian motion, thermal radiation and chemical reaction is considered in both energy and solutal transfer equation, respectively.

With suitable choice of nondimensional variables the governing equations for the velocity, temperature, species concentration fields, as well as rate shear stress at the plate, rate of heat and mass transfer are expressed in the nondimensional form. These transformed coupled nonlinear differential equations are solved semi-analytically using variation parameter method.

The behavior of characterizing parameters such as magnetic parameter, melting parameter, porous matrix, Brownian motion, thermophoretic parameter, radiation, Lewis number and chemical particular case present result validates with earlier established results and found to be in good agreement. Finally reaction parameter is demonstrated via graphs and numerical results are presented in tabular form.

The said work is an original work of the authors.