International Journal of Services and Operations Management http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=150&year=2012&vol=11&issue=2 Inderscience Publishers Ltd en-uk International Journal of Services and Operations Management 1744-2370 1744-2389 © 2012 Inderscience Publishers Ltd editor@inderscience.com https://www.inderscience.com/images/files/coverImgs/ijsom_scoverijsom.jpg http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=150&year=2012&vol=11&issue=2 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=45196 The paper relates to a study carried out to develop an integrated framework capable of serving as a decision support system to deal with the problem of outsourcing. Initially, a survey was carried out among the Indian industries which revealed that most of the firms followed specific procedures for outsourcing and followed simple qualitative procedures for source selection. However, there was no evidence that they used any quantitative-based decision making tools for justifying outsourcing, selection of vendors, etc. The framework developed is capable of taking into account both qualitative and quantitative factors in making outsourcing decisions. The framework uses multi stage procedure involving analytic hierarchy process (AHP), data envelopment analysis (DEA) and preemptive goal programming (PGP). At the outset, the framework uses an AHP-based methodology to arrive at a decision whether to outsource or not and if outsourced, whom to outsource. This is followed by a DEA-based procedure, wherein the relative efficiencies of the priority sources, identified by AHP are found. Finally, an AHP-PGP formulation identifies the best source for the given targets of the outsourcer. The details of the framework and how was it used with specific cases are presented in this paper. An integrated method using AHP, DEA and GP for evaluating supply sources
K. Sunil Kumar; A. Subash Babu
International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2012) pp. 123 - 150
The paper relates to a study carried out to develop an integrated framework capable of serving as a decision support system to deal with the problem of outsourcing. Initially, a survey was carried out among the Indian industries which revealed that most of the firms followed specific procedures for outsourcing and followed simple qualitative procedures for source selection. However, there was no evidence that they used any quantitative-based decision making tools for justifying outsourcing, selection of vendors, etc. The framework developed is capable of taking into account both qualitative and quantitative factors in making outsourcing decisions. The framework uses multi stage procedure involving analytic hierarchy process (AHP), data envelopment analysis (DEA) and preemptive goal programming (PGP). At the outset, the framework uses an AHP-based methodology to arrive at a decision whether to outsource or not and if outsourced, whom to outsource. This is followed by a DEA-based procedure, wherein the relative efficiencies of the priority sources, identified by AHP are found. Finally, an AHP-PGP formulation identifies the best source for the given targets of the outsourcer. The details of the framework and how was it used with specific cases are presented in this paper.

]]> 10.1504/IJSOM.2012.045196 International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2012) pp. 123 - 150 K. Sunil Kumar; A. Subash Babu Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Trivandrum Kerala – 695016, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai Maharashtra – 400076, India outsourcing factor analysis analytical hierarchy process AHP data envelopment analysis DEA preemptive goal programming PGP decision support systems DSS India source selection supplier selection. 2012-01-31T23:20:50-05:00 11 2 123 150 2012-01-31T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=45197 Metro system in Shanghai is not only providing commute services to over two million people every day, but also serving as an effective means to tackle social and environmental problems prevailing in major cities in the People's Republic of China. As an integral part of the system, metro stations differ in size, structure and general operations, making performances evaluation across stations difficult. We studied the metro system in Shanghai from service contacts perspective and conducted a performance evaluation of selected stations using data envelopment analysis (DEA). In this paper, we present our results and some managerial insights of our analysis. Performance evaluation of metro stations in Shanghai: a service contact perspective
Wenjun Gu; Sanjeev Bordoloi
International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2012) pp. 151 - 169
Metro system in Shanghai is not only providing commute services to over two million people every day, but also serving as an effective means to tackle social and environmental problems prevailing in major cities in the People's Republic of China. As an integral part of the system, metro stations differ in size, structure and general operations, making performances evaluation across stations difficult. We studied the metro system in Shanghai from service contacts perspective and conducted a performance evaluation of selected stations using data envelopment analysis (DEA). In this paper, we present our results and some managerial insights of our analysis.

]]> 10.1504/IJSOM.2012.045197 International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2012) pp. 151 - 169 Wenjun Gu; Sanjeev Bordoloi Department of Business Administration, University of Illinois, 1200 S Sixth St, Champaign, IL 61820, USA. ' Opus College of Business, University of St Thomas, 1000 LaSalle Ave, Minneapolis MN 55403, USA performance measurement service contact data envelopment analysis DEA metro stations transport modelling sensitivity analysis efficiency frontier efficiency scores China customer perception service perception commuter services. 2012-01-31T23:20:50-05:00 11 2 151 169 2012-01-31T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=45198 The purpose of this paper is to provide practitioners of management and interested researchers insights to the degree of commercialisation in sports and how advertisement has evolved to become a major force in the sports entertainment field though corporate sponsorship and commercialised of athletes. With commercialisation, it gears towards owners, corporate sponsors, and advertisers which play a huge impact on the teams. Three major sporting events are focused upon to see how commercialisation takes a tool on the events. The Super Bowl, Major League Baseball World Series and the NCAA Basketball Tournament are now commercialised more over the few years with the advertiser's ability to target their markets by strategically commercialising the event with advertisements and sponsorships. It was found from an empirical study, females were generally more concerned than their male counterparts that such commercialisation activities do significantly increase the amount of time to finish the game and that such commercialism has negatively impacted athletes' love of the sport in negative ways. Females were statistically more concerned with the increased degree of violence and unsafe behaviours that are depicted in the sporting event commercials. The degree of corporate sponsorships of physical sport facilities seems to be a neutral issue. Exploring the degree of commercialisation associated with sports marketing activities
Amber A. Smith; David P. Synowka; John S. Clark; Alan D. Smith
International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2012) pp. 170 - 200
The purpose of this paper is to provide practitioners of management and interested researchers insights to the degree of commercialisation in sports and how advertisement has evolved to become a major force in the sports entertainment field though corporate sponsorship and commercialised of athletes. With commercialisation, it gears towards owners, corporate sponsors, and advertisers which play a huge impact on the teams. Three major sporting events are focused upon to see how commercialisation takes a tool on the events. The Super Bowl, Major League Baseball World Series and the NCAA Basketball Tournament are now commercialised more over the few years with the advertiser's ability to target their markets by strategically commercialising the event with advertisements and sponsorships. It was found from an empirical study, females were generally more concerned than their male counterparts that such commercialisation activities do significantly increase the amount of time to finish the game and that such commercialism has negatively impacted athletes' love of the sport in negative ways. Females were statistically more concerned with the increased degree of violence and unsafe behaviours that are depicted in the sporting event commercials. The degree of corporate sponsorships of physical sport facilities seems to be a neutral issue.

]]> 10.1504/IJSOM.2012.045198 International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2012) pp. 170 - 200 Amber A. Smith; David P. Synowka; John S. Clark; Alan D. Smith Department of Marketing and Sport Management, Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, PA 15219-3099, USA. ' Department of Marketing and Sport Management, Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, PA 15219-3099, USA. ' Department of Marketing and Sport Management, Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, PA 15219-3099, USA. ' Department of Management and Marketing, Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, PA 15219-3099, USA business strategy commercialisation empirical service marketing sports management sport marketing corporate sponsorship Super Bowl Major League Baseball World Series NCAA Basketball Tournament advertisements adverts gender violence unsafe behaviour game time athlete perceptions. 2012-01-31T23:20:50-05:00 11 2 170 200 2012-01-31T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=45199 During the recent years, competition is intensified due to the globalisation and entry of several players in markets. This situation has facilitated the modern customers to demand innovative products and models in varied volumes. In order to fulfil this customer demand, it is necessary for the traditional manufacturing companies to practice agile manufacturing (AM) principles. On adoption of AM, a traditional company can exhibit agility by which it reacts quickly to meet the customers' dynamic demands. AM has to be implemented by the traditional manufacturing companies by acquiring several criteria. Some of them may not exist or may exist feebly in traditional manufacturing companies. In this situation, the traditional manufacturing companies need to assess the level at which agility is practiced. In order to fulfil this need, a 30 criteria AM assessment tool is contributed in this paper. Using this tool, the total agility level in a pneumatic enabling products manufacturing company was assessed. After a comprehensive analysis, the drag and failure factors that prevent this company from becoming agile were identified. Subsequently, the mitigating actions and success ingredients for suppressing and overcoming them were evolved and suggested as proposals. Most of these proposals were acceptable to the management of this company. Thirty criteria-based assessment of agility in a pneumatic enabling products manufacturing company
C.G. Sreenivasa; S.R. Devadasan; R. Murugesh
International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2012) pp. 201 - 221
During the recent years, competition is intensified due to the globalisation and entry of several players in markets. This situation has facilitated the modern customers to demand innovative products and models in varied volumes. In order to fulfil this customer demand, it is necessary for the traditional manufacturing companies to practice agile manufacturing (AM) principles. On adoption of AM, a traditional company can exhibit agility by which it reacts quickly to meet the customers' dynamic demands. AM has to be implemented by the traditional manufacturing companies by acquiring several criteria. Some of them may not exist or may exist feebly in traditional manufacturing companies. In this situation, the traditional manufacturing companies need to assess the level at which agility is practiced. In order to fulfil this need, a 30 criteria AM assessment tool is contributed in this paper. Using this tool, the total agility level in a pneumatic enabling products manufacturing company was assessed. After a comprehensive analysis, the drag and failure factors that prevent this company from becoming agile were identified. Subsequently, the mitigating actions and success ingredients for suppressing and overcoming them were evolved and suggested as proposals. Most of these proposals were acceptable to the management of this company.

]]> 10.1504/IJSOM.2012.045199 International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2012) pp. 201 - 221 C.G. Sreenivasa; S.R. Devadasan; R. Murugesh Department of Production Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore – 641 004, Tamil Nadu, India. ' Department of Production Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore – 641 004, Tamil Nadu, India. ' Darshan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Rajkot – 363650, Gujarat, India agile manufacturing agility assessment lean manufacturing pneumatics pull systems case study air dryers drain valves filters compressed air treatment India. 2012-01-31T23:20:50-05:00 11 2 201 221 2012-01-31T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=45200 The purpose of this paper is to better understand the relationships among ISO 9001 certification, competitive dimensions and profitability by focusing on two major industries in the USA. In this study, data was collected from 441 ISO 9001 registered manufacturing companies, of which, 295 companies belong to the electronics industry and 119 companies to the chemical industry. One important result of this research is that there is evidence that ISO 9001 registration efforts benefit a firm's competitiveness. However, achieving ISO 9001 certification alone will not lead to higher profitability. In the chemical industry, companies attain better financial performance by making improvements in costs. For electronics firms, higher profits can be obtained through enhancing the quality of their products, reducing cost of doing business and providing greater flexibility to their customers. Relationships among ISO 9001, competitive dimensions and profitability
S. Bruce Han; Khim L. Sim; Maling Ebrahimpour
International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2012) pp. 222 - 236
The purpose of this paper is to better understand the relationships among ISO 9001 certification, competitive dimensions and profitability by focusing on two major industries in the USA. In this study, data was collected from 441 ISO 9001 registered manufacturing companies, of which, 295 companies belong to the electronics industry and 119 companies to the chemical industry. One important result of this research is that there is evidence that ISO 9001 registration efforts benefit a firm's competitiveness. However, achieving ISO 9001 certification alone will not lead to higher profitability. In the chemical industry, companies attain better financial performance by making improvements in costs. For electronics firms, higher profits can be obtained through enhancing the quality of their products, reducing cost of doing business and providing greater flexibility to their customers.

]]> 10.1504/IJSOM.2012.045200 International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2012) pp. 222 - 236 S. Bruce Han; Khim L. Sim; Maling Ebrahimpour Girard School of Business and International Commerce, Merrimack College, North Andover, MA 01845, USA. ' College of Business and Economics, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA. ' College of Business, University of South Florida – St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, USA ISO 9001 quality management quality standards cost flexibility dependability profitability quality certification competitiveness manufacturing firms electronics industry chemical industry product quality financial performance. 2012-01-31T23:20:50-05:00 11 2 222 236 2012-01-31T23:20:50-05:00