(cont.) have a relatively limited impact on throughput and overall utilization measures when compared to strategic flexibility design parameters such as the assignment of long-term job responsibilities to servers. However, we show that this influence on performance is significant enough that...

The environment surrounding companies is constantly changing. and that change forces companies into paradigm shifts. If a company cannot cope with change, it faces the distinct possibility of being be weeded out of the industry. Today, Japanese companies are facing dramatic environmental change....

A central question in supply chain management is how to coordinate activities and inventories over a large number of stages and locations, while providing a high level of service to end customers. One theoretically and practically important methodology for addressing this problem is the...

My employer, Kirin Holding Company (Kirin), turned 100 years old in 2007. At the same year, Kirin changed its company structure into a holding company from Kirin Brewery Company Limited. As the former company name indicates, the beer business is Kirin's core business, generating over 70% of...

This thesis examines the often competitive interests involved in oil contracts and the ensuing strategic dilemmas faced by both the Republic of Congo and international oil companies that operate in that country. Throughout this thesis, we use the Issues-Frameworks-Actions approach to identify,...

There are a variety of challenges facing the energy industry, from decreased access to sovereign reserves, to declining fields, innovation challenges, increased regulation and new energy policies. These challenges pose a threat to the basic industry structure. Oil & gas companies espouse four...

Firm boundaries have been the subject of much scholarly interest in recent years, as firms increasingly hire external, "contingent" workers and outsource previously core activities. However, little empirical research has directly studied what happens differently inside the firm's boundaries,...

As corporate and government organizations move into the 21st Century, they face an environment of growing complexity. However, despite a number of recent and highly visible scandals, the moral and ethical culture associated with contemporary organizational life is not often discussed in either...

The primary goal of this research effort was to integrate several pieces of relatively simple dynamics simulations into a full blown system dynamics simulation of the telecom industry. The economic simulation model was used to analyze potential dynamics, reaching basic qualitative insights on...

The decline of innovation has hampered the growth of many large corporations as they seek to remain competitive in increasingly challenging conditions. To complement, and at times, replace their internal Research and Development activities, corporations have attempted to seek innovation...