2020
Authors
Valente, CM; Sousa, PSA; Moreira, MRA;
Publication
JOURNAL OF MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to research the way in which Lean practices are affecting the performance of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs), analyzing the effects of Lean practices on companies' operational, financial and market performance. Design/methodology/approach An online questionnaire was distributed among Portuguese organizations that fitted the category of SMEs and belonged to the manufacturing sector. A sample of 329 enterprises was analyzed with partial least squares-structural equation modelling. Four hypotheses on the impact of Lean practices on company performance were tested. Findings The results show that the effects of Lean on performance are positive, which stresses the benefits attainable with the implementation of Lean practices. The aggregated implementation of Lean practices, namely, customer involvement, statistical process, continuous flow and total productive maintenance leads to improvements in company's global performance measured by market, financial and operational performance measures, and also improves each of these performance measures individually. It was also noticed that financial capability is one of the indispensable factors for the successful implementation of Lean practices. Originality/value This is the first study that examines the impact of the effect of Lean on operational, financial and market performance in a discriminated and simultaneous way.
2020
Authors
Zimmermann, R; Ferreira, LMDF; Moreira, AC;
Publication
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
Abstract
Purpose This paper aims to investigate supply chain (SC) strategies, analyzing the adoption of lean, agile, leagile and traditional SC strategies with respect to product characteristics, environmental uncertainty, business performance and innovation performance. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents an empirical analysis carried out on a sample of 329 companies. Cluster analysis was applied, based on lean and agile SC characteristics, to identify patterns among different SC strategies. One-way analysis of variance of different constructs by types of SC clusters was conducted to test the research hypotheses. Findings Cluster analysis indicates that the companies studied adopt four types of SC strategies - lean, agile, leagile and traditional. The differences between the clusters are identified and discussed, highlighting that companies adopting a leagile SC strategy present the highest performance, while those that adopt a traditional SC present the lowest; companies adopting an agile SC compete in the most complex and dynamic environments, while companies with a lean SC present a clear predominance of functional rather than innovative products. Originality/value Based on the analysis of the relationship between constructs that have not been addressed previously, the paper adds to the knowledge regarding the role of SC strategies, as well as the antecedents and consequences of their adoption. The results may support managers in the difficult task of choosing the "right" SC strategy.
2020
Authors
Zimmermann, R; Ferreira, LMDF; Moreira, AC;
Publication
JOURNAL OF PURCHASING AND SUPPLY MANAGEMENT
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to study how the fit between innovation capabilities and supply chain (SC) strategies affects business performance. An empirical study based on a sample of 329 companies from Portugal and Brazil was performed to test a theoretical model based on the resource-based view. Linear and hierarchical regression analyses are conducted to test the hypotheses. The different combinations of core and supplementary innovation capabilities and lean and agile SC strategies are empirically tested and discussed. Data reveal that core and supplementary innovation capabilities positively impact on business performance and that SC strategies moderate the relationship between innovation capabilities and business performance. The analysis also shows that the combination of an agile SC strategy and supplementary innovation capabilities offers the greatest opportunities to improve business performance. The results of this study could help managers to choose the most appropriate SC strategy, thus contributing to increasing the impact of innovation capabilities on business performance. This study contributes to the knowledge concerning the consequences of adopting different innovation capabilities and SC strategies on business performance.
2020
Authors
Zimmermann, R; Moreira, AC; Ferreira, LMDF;
Publication
International Journal of Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling
Abstract
Although the relationship between supply chain (SC) and innovation has attracted attention from researchers in recent years, the relationship between innovation capabilities and SC strategies is a subject that has not yet been explored extensively. The main objective of this paper is to examine how SC strategies affect the relationship between innovation capabilities and business performance. The paper, characterised as a conceptual paper with the aim of contributing to theory building, is based on the concept of fit and on the principles of the contingency theory and the resource-based view. Further, a literature review and a theoretical discussion, a theoretical model and a set of research propositions are presented. The theoretical rationale shows the potential for improvement in performance through the relationship between innovation and SC and can be used to boost empirical research on the topic. Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
2020
Authors
Dias, R; Fontes, T; Galvao, T;
Publication
INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS
Abstract
People that do not have access to the transport system and therefore, a facilitated access to goods and services essential to daily life, can be regarded as transport-related social excluded. This is a big issue, namely for groups of people that have physical, sensorial and/or cognitive limitations. This paper provides guidelines to design route planners for socially excluded groups, by promoting social inclusion in public transportation. For this purpose, a set of mock-up user-interfaces of an inclusive inter-modal route planning application were developed. These interfaces will deliver ready availability of information about infrastructures and other journey related data.
2020
Authors
Torgal, M; Dias, TG; Fontes, T;
Publication
Transportation Research Procedia
Abstract
Urban population is increasing fast. This is creating new challenges to public transport systems since some groups of citizens as elderly people may have sensory, cognitive or motor impairments that need to be addressed. This work explores the potential of a Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) system for people with reduced mobility in an urban environment. For this purpose, the Dial-A-Ride Problem (DARP) was implemented using a multivariable minimisation approach. In this approach, an Assigning Request to Vehicles (ARV) algorithm is used to obtain an initial solution. Then a Multi-Objective Tabu Search Algorithm (MOTSA) is applied to the initial solution to search for the non-dominated solution (optimisation phase). In this optimisation phase, the total travelled distance, the deadheading distance and the number of vehicles were minimised. The performance of the model was computed combining different parameters' values of the number of requests, boarding time for each user, the number of seats in each vehicle, vehicle's speed, the total number of iterations, and candidate threshold number (the algorithm's parameter). The computational results found a strong positive correlation between the number of requests and the: total travelled distance (rs = 0.977, p-value<0.001) and the number of vehicles (rs =0.883, p-value<0.001); and a low positive correlation between the number of requests and the optimised total travelled distance (rs =0.331, p-value<0.001) and the optimised number of vehicles (rs =0.340, p-value<0.001). © 2020 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V.
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