Is It Possible to Manage the Product Recovery Processes in an ERP? Analysis of Functional Needs

Evaluation of Critical Success Factors for Enterprise Resource Planning Implementation Using Quantitative Methods in Agricultural Processing Companies

This study aims to evaluate critical success factors (CSFs), considering the perspectives of various stakeholders who are involved in enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation in agricultural processing companies in Central Macedonia (Greece). This evaluation—combined with aspects from the literature—may show how a digital production system can be managed and redesigned to become sustainable for a company. Research was conducted through the use of a specially designed questionnaire that was addressed to various stakeholders in the ERP implementation in agricultural processing companies. Descriptive statistics, Grey Relational Analysis (GRA), and Friedman test methods were used in order for relevant information to be identified and valid conclusions to be drawn. Given the results of the grey relational analysis (GRA), respondents consider 33 out of 37 critical success factors to be “very important”. Friedman test results seem to differ from GRA results in 19 out of 37 factors with regard to their ranking. Based on this, and using two different methods, the most important ERP critical success factors are highlighted. For the objective aim of this paper to be fulfilled, there is a contribution giving insights into stakeholders’ perspectives regarding the management of a digital production system in the field of agricultural processing companies. It also contributes to the literature, as it highlights methods that refer to the evaluation of critical success factors for ERP implementation.

Customer-Centric, Two-Product Split Delivery Vehicle Routing Problem under Consideration of Weighted Customer Waiting Time in Power Industry

This paper introduces a new model of the customer-centric, two-product split delivery vehicle routing problem (CTSDVRP) in the context of a mixed-flow manufacturing system that occurs in the power industry. Different from the general VRP model, the unique characteristics of our model are: (1) two types of products are delivered, and the demand for them is interdependent and based on a bill of materials (BOM); (2) the paper considers a new aspect in customer satisfaction, i.e., the consideration of the production efficiency on the customer side. In our model, customer satisfaction is not measured by the actual customer waiting time, but by the weighted customer waiting time, which is based on the targeted service rate of the end products. We define the targeted service rate as the ratio of the quantity of the end product produced by the corresponding delivery quantities of the two products to the demand of the end product. We propose a hybrid ant colony-genetic optimization algorithm to solve this model with actual data from a case study of the State Grid Corporation of China. Finally, a case study is explored to assess the effectiveness of the CTSDVRP model and highlight some insights. The results show that the CTSDVRP model can improve customer satisfaction and increase the average targeted service rate of the end products effectively.

Does Information-and-Communication-Technology Market Openness Promote Digital Service Exports?

ICT has become an important support for the booming trade in services in the digital era. However, the extent to which trade activities can benefit from ICT will depend on the regulatory constraints and the market-openness level of the ICT market. This study empirically examines the impact of ICT market openness on digital service exports on the basis of bilateral trade data at the industry level from 2007 to 2019 from 50 countries. The results show that: (1) ICT market openness seeks the combination of effective regulation and moderate openness, which is mainly reflected in three policy areas: improving information interconnection and sharing, reducing access restrictions and promoting fair competition; (2) The ICT market openness in both exporting and importing countries can significantly boost digital service exports, but in different ways. Exporting countries expand digital service exports mainly by promoting fair competition, while importing countries have the most obvious positive impact on exports through the reduction of access restrictions; (3) The greater the gap between the ICT development levels, and the lower the bilateral risk levels between the two trading countries, the greater the marginal effect that ICT market openness will have on the promotion of digital service exports. Thus, improving market openness indicates an important direction for ICT regulatory reform, but the impact on digital service exports will vary by specific policy area and by trading-partner country.

Investigating the Impact of International Markets and New Digital Technologies on Business Innovation in Emerging Markets

International markets and digital technologies are considered among the factors affecting business innovation. The emergence and deployment of digital technologies in emerging markets increase the innovation potential in businesses. Companies with an entrepreneurial orientation also strengthen their innovation capabilities. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of international markets and new digital technologies on business innovation in emerging markets, and to estimate the mediating effect of entrepreneurial orientation on this relationship. The present research was applied research in terms of aim and descriptive survey in terms of data collection method and quantitative in terms of the type of collected data. A standard questionnaire was to collect data. The study’s statistical population consisted of all companies providing business services in Tehran, Iran. To analyse the data, the structural equation modelling method with partial least squares method and Smart PLS-3 Software was used. The results revealed that international markets and digital technologies are positively associated with innovation. They also revealed that when a company’s entrepreneurial orientation increases, the digital technologies and international markets will be more involved in mutual relationships.

Preventing Return Fraud in Reverse Logistics—A Case Study of ESPRES Solution by Ethereum

With the rapid development of e-commerce services, online retail has evolved from multi-channel to omni-channel in order to provide customers with more services. However, reverse logistics services (returns and exchanges) have become the target of many fraudulent activities, causing a lot of economic losses for many online retail companies. The current challenge of the traditional countermeasure is it requires a lot of manpower and training resources. In this study, we propose ESPRES, a system that adopts blockchain technology to prevent fraudulent behavior in the process of returns and exchanges with the smart contract and multi-attribute decision-support method to help consumers choose a suitable payment program. A practical implication of this study is that by adopting blockchain technology, a great amount of manpower used on determining whether each return or exchange is fraudulent can be reduced since merchants can check the product ownership. In addition, due to the fact that the footprint of goods cannot be forged, it can also prevent counterfeit or parallel imports of goods.

A Systematic Literature Review on Data and Information Required for Circular Manufacturing Strategies Adoption

In the extant literature, circular economy (CE) is considered a driver for sustainable development of the manufacturing sector, being it an industrial paradigm aiming at regenerating resources. CE is transferred to manufacturing companies through the adoption of different Circular Manufacturing (CM) strategies (e.g., recycling, remanufacturing, etc.). Nowadays, manufacturers are struggling to implement these strategies to limit their resource consumption and pollution generation. To enable their adoption, the extant literature unveiled the importance to control along the entire value chain different types of resource flows (i.e., material, energy, and information). Nevertheless, while for material and energy management some advancements were achieved, information management and sharing remains one of the major barriers in adopting these strategies. The present work, through a systematic literature review, aims to identify the relevant information and data required to support the manufacturer’s decision process in adopting and managing the different CM strategies to pursue the transition towards CM. Furthermore, based on the results obtained, this research proposes a theoretical framework. It elucidates the four main areas to be managed by manufacturers in adopting CM strategies and it provides to the manufacturer an overview of what should be updated and upgraded inside the company to embrace CM strategies.