Established in 1988, the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence recognises organisations in the USA, Mexico and Canada for the successful implementation of world-class practices. The Shingo Prize emphasises the improvement of operations and processes, the adoption of proven world-class...

The purpose of this study was to bring understanding to what Lean and sustainable practices are most efficient and popular within printing companies. The information and data collected provides insight into what companies are doing to be Lean. The data exhibits what Lean and sustainable...

This paper reports the results of a study carried out to assess the benefits, impediments and major critical success factors in adopting business to consumer e-business solutions. A case study method of investigation was used, and the experiences of six online companies and two bricks and mortar...

The increasing awareness of data mining technology, along with the attendant increase in the capturing, warehousing, and utilization of historical data to support evidence-based decision making, is leading many organizations to recognize that the effective use of data is the key element in the...

Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is a collaborative project delivery process that reduces waste and maximizes value creation by harnessing the expertise and experience of all relevant stakeholders throughout the design and construction process of a given project. The owner, designer, builder,...

Anecdotal data affirms that companies applying Lean Six Sigma in their operations not only deliver higher quality products and services, but also obtain superior financial results. The goal of this research was to empirically verify anecdotal data. The study proposed to analyze a group of...

Bucket pricing entails a prepaid price and a maximum consumption limit, which requires consumers to make advance purchase decisions before their consumption needs are fully revealed. We propose a dynamic model that involves how consumers form expectations of future consumption needs, learn to...

The body of literature surrounding emotional labor, defined as service employees’ effort to manage their emotions to meet organizational goals (Hochschild, 1983; Morris & Feldman, 1996), exhibits a severe lack of studies examining intercultural service encounters (i.e., service episodes in which a...

The work of this dissertation is concerned with the study of the effectiveness ofparadigms of production flexibility to either improve system performance or mitigatesystem risk. A brief introduction to the concept of operational flexibility is provided inChapter I. In Chapter II, we consider a...

Managing commodity price uncertainty is an integral part of many firms' business process. Firms adopt a variety of operational strategies to manage this uncertainty, subject to operational constraints such as finite procurement and processing capacities. The availability of financial derivative...