Innovation has long been considered crucial for companies to gain a competitive edge in the global marketplace. Unfortunately, a solid understanding of the system of innovation does not exist. The literature lacks formal definitions and methodologies for the system of innovation. Many surrogates...

Effective decision-making is a key prerequisite for a successful organization. Today's organizations are large and continue to grow in size and scope. This development leads to higher complexity in managing and controlling organizations. Consequentially, selecting the right course of action has...

In this dissertation, I developed a unified complex network framework for environmental decision-making. I focused on complex network systems arising in the context of green logistics, including global supply chains, and electronic waste recycling. The framework that I developed is able to...

This dissertation addresses the crucial problem of how environmental policy uncertainty influences investments in energy technological change. The rising level of carbon emissions due to increasing global energy consumption calls for policy shift. In order to stem the negative consequences on...

This paper examines the underlying logic behind the rules configured in a RFID middleware to support “smart business processes” in one retail supply chain. Through a detailed investigation of the underlying business processes, we will demonstrate how businesses rules can be defined,...

This research is based on the premises that teams can be designed to optimize its performance, and appropriate team coordination is a significant factor to team outcome performance. Contingency theory argues that the effectiveness of a team depends on the right fit of the team design factors to...

This dissertation delivers a framework to diagnose the Bull-Whip Effect (BWE) in supply chains and then identify methods to minimize it. Such a framework is needed because in spite of the significant amount of literature discussing the bull-whip effect, many companies continue to experience the...

The span of control is the most discussed single concept in classical and modern management theory. In specifying conditions for organizational effectiveness, the span of control has generally been regarded as a critical factor. Existing research work has focused mainly on qualitative methods to...

The increasing emphasis on mass customization, shortened product lifecycles, synchronized supply chains, when coupled with advances in information system, is driving most firms towards make-to-order (MTO) operations. Increasing global competition, lower profit margins, and higher customer...

In recent decades, warranties have become more important in deciding the overall product quality. In this thesis, we use warranty as the planning tool to improve product quality during the customer phase. We develop an analytical framework that consists of systematic planning methods to reduce...