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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find the optimal power structure that drives green practices in the supply chain and coordinate the costs and benefits of green practices in supply chain under different power structures. Design/methodology/approach: This paper developed a supply chain of one supplier and one manufacturer, in which the supplier and the manufacturer are responsible for the "greening" of products. Then, the game theory modeling method is used to explore the influence of different power structures on green practices in the supply chain. Finally, the authors developed a green cost-sharing contract made by the leader; regarding optimal supply chain profits and green performance, the proposed contracts and the non-coordination situation are compared and tested by a numerical simulation. Findings: The increase of the green practice difficulty of any member in the supply chain will not only reduce the greenness of products at that stage but will also reduce the green investment of the supply chain partner. Becoming a channel leader does not necessarily mean being more profitable than being a follower, and when the green practice difficulty of the leader is less than a certain threshold, ceding dominant power to the follower may benefit both sides. A green cost-sharing contract made by the leader is not necessarily beneficial to all enterprises. Originality/value: This paper helps to better understand the role of the power relation in realizing the industry's green goals and helps decision-makers to achieve win-win cooperation by adjusting power relations and optimizing green cost-sharing contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In some environments, the failure rate of a system depends not only on time but also on the system condition, such as vibrational level, efficiency and the number of random shocks, each of which causes failure. In this situation, systems can keep working, though they fail gradually. So, the purpose of this paper is modeling multi-state system reliability analysis in capacitor bank under fatal and nonfatal shocks by a simulation approach. Design/methodology/approach: In some situations, there may be several levels of failure where the system performance diminishes gradually. However, if the level of failure is beyond a certain threshold, the system may stop working. Transition from one faulty stage to the next can lead the system to more rapid degradation. Thus, in failure analysis, the authors need to consider the transition rate from these stages in order to model the failure process. Findings: This study aims to perform multi-state system reliability analysis in energy storage facilities of SAIPA Corporation. This is performed to extract a predictive model for failure behavior as well as to analyze the effect of shocks on deterioration. The results indicate that the reliability of the system improved by 6%. Originality/value: The results of this study can provide more confidence for critical system designers who are engaged on the proper system performance beyond economic design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Arrow–Pratt approximation to the risk premium is only valid for small risks. In this paper we consider a second approximation, based on risk-neutral probabilities and which requires no greater information than the Arrow–Pratt approximation, that works well for both small and large risks. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is theoretical in nature, although it also provides illustrative numerical simulations. Findings: The new approximation proposed here appears to be significantly superior to Arrow–Pratt for approximating the true value of the risk premium when the risk is large. It may also approximate better even for relatively small risks. Originality/value: As far as we are aware, there are no other known approximations for the risk premium when the risk involved is large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze whether negotiators stick to one single negotiation style or whether their styles vary during the negotiation process. The paper seeks to identify different combinations of phase-specific negotiation styles and investigates the relationship between these combinations and negotiation performance and satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a large online negotiation simulation that allows a phase-specific analysis of negotiation styles via an elaborate coding scheme.Findings The findings reveal that negotiators generally do not limit themselves to a single negotiation style. Instead, they vary their style in the course of different negotiation phases. The authors distinguish between five distinct phase-specific negotiation style patterns that differ with regard to their impact on negotiation performance but not negotiation satisfaction.Research limitations/implications The study demonstrates that a phase-specific analysis of negotiation styles allows deeper insights into a negotiator’s style behavior. For future studies, the authors recommend taking a phase-specific view when analyzing negotiation styles.Practical implications Negotiation practitioners get to know different phase-specific negotiation style patterns and get insights into which pattern is the most promising for negotiation performance. As a result, they can acquire this phase-specific negotiation style pattern to enhance their performance.Originality/value The paper contributes to existing negotiation style literature, because it is the first to analyze negotiation styles from a phase-specific point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study explores how a market-like organizational system realizes efficient and/or effective development by investigating the efficiency/effectiveness trade-off in micro-level exchanges. Design/methodology/approach: The study is motivated by two principles: reciprocity and similarity. Reciprocal benefits drive exchanges. Accordingly, two agents for a potential exchange should have different resources. However, differences in resources usually cause lack of trust, which hinders the efficient occurrence of exchanges. Alternatively, if two parties have similar resource positions, they can conduct an exchange efficiently. Nevertheless, the similarity makes the exchange less effective. Therefore, an efficiency/effectiveness trade-off exists in micro-level exchanges. To understand how different focuses on the efficiency/effectiveness trade-off shape the macro-level performance, the author develops a complex adaptive systems model for computer simulations. Findings: The author finds that an efficiency-focus institution facilitates a market-like organizational system's rapid emergence but hinders the system's effective development. Research limitations/implications: The study develops a model of how a dyadic exchange happens (or not) between any two parties in a competitive and uncertain environment and how the micro-level exchanges aggregate, suggesting one specific way to understand the micro-to-macro process of a market-like organizational system's economic dynamism. Future research is expected to improve the model with different contingencies. Practical implications: The study's findings suggest that the efficiency-focus institution and the effectiveness-focus institution should be used at different times in a market-like organizational system's development process. Originality/value: The study investigates the macro-level consequences building upon the micro-level efficiency/effectiveness trade-off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a novel application of cluster theory and cluster methodology to evaluate large infrastructure investments. The complementing clusters approach, which builds on the notion of infrastructure as connecting isolated “economic islands”, is able to assess the potential for value creation effects of new infrastructure investment. Design/methodology/approach – The author uses simulation analysis based on a unique data set encompassing all employees and employers, as well as cluster mapping, for every pair of “economic islands” being connected by the examined infrastructure investments. The empirical setting is of large fjord crossings in Western Norway, the so-called E39 project. Findings – The empirical findings show that productivity gains are higher when an integrated labor market hosting complementary clusters is formed. Limitations remain regarding the economic integration path. Research limitations/implications – The authors provide an ex-ante analysis using information over the past 10 years. Following the expected infrastructure investments, future research should examine the extent to which productivity gains materialized and the reasons underlying the achieved materialization levels. Practical implications – Current evaluation of large infrastructure investments focuses on transportation economics effects, technical feasibility and environmental consequences. The authors complement this current practice by advancing a theoretically grounded value creation perspective that can affect future evaluation practices. Originality/value – Cluster complementarity-based evaluation is a novel methodology that is applicable to investment decisions which are central for economic development. Cluster analysis of infrastructure investments provides new and valuable data for making such investments decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to focus on the consumers’ decision process to clarify the salient attributes within the in-store environment of small independent grocers. Thus, the relative importance among environmental factors and their explicit monetary values is clarified.Design/methodology/approach The conjoint approach was applied to form a set of hypothetical environments virtualised through an interactive computer-aided simulation. Each of the 241 respondents was asked to evaluate their patronage intention on the basis of a given set of 18 virtual environments.Findings The results revealed the greater importance of the social environment in comparison to design and ambient cues, which consumers use in determining their patronage of stores. The final recommended environment offers some explicit value added to customers.Originality/value In contrast to most environmental studies, this study considered consumers’ decision processes, using conjoint analysis to clarify the relative importance and value of the environmental aspects affecting small independent grocers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to extend prior supply chain research by describing the process of innovation knowledge increase in supply chain network. More specifically, this study investigates the role of network density, and views the knowledge increase as the process of knowledge diffusion and knowledge innovation.Design/methodology/approach A multi-agent model, which demonstrates the process of knowledge increase in supply chain network, was established, and simulated by using NetLogo simulation platform.Findings The results indicate that the network density will promote the knowledge increase of the supply chain when it is high or low. In the meantime, these results show that the inhibition of knowledge diffusion and knowledge innovation will appear when network density is moderate.Originality/value Although previous research has identified the importance of knowledge increase in promoting sustainable development of supply chain, far less attention was given to the study of the effect of network structure on the knowledge increase in supply chain. This study thus fulfills the research gap by providing a description of the process of knowledge increase with the consideration of network density. The conclusion is of great significance for the choice of network density for sustainable development of supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a decision support tool to use with design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) and design for supply chain (DfSC) such that the Supply Chain (SC) configuration for a personalized product can be optimized under various demand uncertainties. Design/methodology/approach – A simulation-based methodology is proposed in this industry-university cooperative research. Through identifying the company requirements with interview, an application programming interface (API) and simulation model were developed to solve the DfAM and DfSC problems of case company. Based on customer preference, the SC configuration is analyzed and suggestions are developed according to simulation results at the product design. Findings – Results show the supplementary capacity of the additive manufacturing (AM) process improves the SC performance in terms of lead time and total cost. This work identifies the research gap between AM and SC, and gives a comprehensive investigation of different performance indicators, such as order fulfill rate and waste rate. Research limitations/implications – Metal AM technology was not in the mass production stage at the time of this study. Thus, this research mainly emphasizes a nonmetal AM process. Practical implications – AM technology can improve SC performance through its supplementary capacity and help the SC to be more flexible, robust and resilient in terms of lead time and total cost. This research implements an API to assist decision making. The findings of this research provide case company a valuable reference while branching its business. Originality/value – This is the first study that considers both DfAM and DfSC with the integration of an API. It also addresses the demand fluctuation level and stochastic demand of a personalized product in a unique approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Agent-based computer simulation gives new possibilities to model service supply chains which combine flow of people, geographical elements, demand patterns and service rates. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate by using an example how agent-based modeling can be used for health service supply chain design. Design/methodology/approach – Generic structure of agent-based service supply chain modeling is described. The presented example is healthcare supply chain with service distribution and service location problem. Main focus in presentation on model building, actual case data are not discussed. Findings – In context of service supply chain, agent-based modeling has advantages compared to traditional discrete event approach. Agent-based simulation allows modeling of interactions of autonomous agents. Practical implications – Reach of service for each geographical area may be used as a constraint for building service distribution network. Service supply chains consist of service providers and flow of customers with given geographical locations. Key performance indicators can be assessed in combination with service footprint. Originality/value – Availability of geographical population data and agent-based simulation gives new possibility for service supply chain models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand and explain how firms use simulation-based decision support systems (DSSs) to optimize container space utilization. Design/methodology/approach – Using a case study of a logistics company, this research analyzed the application of optimization software through simulation to make efficient loading decisions. The current study attempted to find a method for optimizing and making a loading plan to achieve higher container space utilization using a simulation method. Findings – A simulation-based DSS and application of an optimization method contributes to the reduction of container shipment volume, and saves logistic costs and its delivery time. This research offers a method for optimizing a loading decision to optimize container space utilization. Research limitations/implications – The present study is based on a single case study of only one specific type of product, i.e., motorcycle spares parts within a specific industry. Practical implications – Apart from adding value to the shipment process and improving the efficiency of loading plans, with the use of optimization software, the collaboration between buyers and suppliers can be encouraged to reduce response time and bringing transparency in the pricing process of the shipment. Originality/value – This research addresses a key concern in the transportation industry: how to reduce the logistics costs and the delivery time. This study demonstrates how a simulation-based tool can be used to reduce freight cost, cycle time, instill waste minimization and improve overall value addition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – In transportation and distribution systems, the shipment decisions, fleet capacity, and storage capacity are interrelated in a complex way, especially when the authors take into account uncertainty of the demand rate and shipment lead time. While shipment planning is tactical or operational in nature, increasing storage capacity often requires top management’s authority. The purpose of this paper is to present a new method to integrate both operational and strategic decision parameters, namely shipment planning and storage capacity decision under uncertainty. The ultimate goal is to provide a near optimal solution that leads to a striking balance between the total logistics costs and product availability, critical in maritime logistics of bulk shipment of commodity items. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use simulation as research method. The authors develop a simulation model to investigate the effects of various factors on costs and service levels of a distribution system. The model mimics the transportation and distribution problems of bulk cement in a major cement company in Indonesia consisting of a silo at the port of origin, two silos at two ports of destination, and a number of ships that transport the bulk cement. The authors develop a number of “what-if” scenarios by varying the storage capacity at the port of origin as well as at the ports of destinations, number of ships operated, operating hours of ports, and dispatching rules for the ships. Each scenario is evaluated in terms of costs and service level. A full factorial experiment has been conducted and analysis of variance has been used to analyze the results. Findings – The results suggest that the number of ships deployed, silo capacity, working hours of ports, and the dispatching rules of ships significantly affect both total costs and service level. Interestingly, operating fewer ships enables the company to achieve almost the same service level and gaining substantial cost savings if constraints in other part of the system are alleviated, i.e., storage capacities and working hours of ports are extended. Practical implications – Cost is a competitive factor for bulk items like cement, and thus the proposed scenarios could be implemented by the company to substantially reduce the transportation and distribution costs. Alleviating storage capacity constraint is obviously an idea that needs to be considered when optimizing shipment planning alone could not give significant improvements. Originality/value – Existing research has so far focussed on the optimization of shipment planning/scheduling, and considers shipment planning/scheduling as the objective function while treating the storage capacity as constraints. The simulation model enables “what-if” analyses to be performed and has overcome the difficulties and impracticalities of analytical methods especially when the system incorporates stochastic variables exhibited in the case example. The use of efficient frontier analysis for analyzing the simulation results is a novel idea which has been proven to be effective in screening non-dominated solutions. This has provided the authors with near optimal solutions to trade-off logistics costs and service levels (availability), with minimal experimentation times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use lean principles and simulation optimization on solving a combined hospital emergency department (ED) layout design and staff assignment problem. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on value stream mapping for the design and analysis of the ED. Subsequently, the authors investigate cellular manufacturing design, which addresses the decisions of continuous steps in a cell simultaneously and considers the optimal staff assignment. A simulation based on the case study is used for these methodologies. Simulation optimization is then used to optimize the staff assignments, minimize the waiting time and maximize the service level. Findings – The linear layout outperformed in both waiting time and service level. The patients’ average waiting time is reduced from 78 to 38 minutes. The service level increased from 54.86 to 88.55 percent. Moreover, the number of nurses was reduced from nine to six. Research limitations/implications – First, the tests for model accuracy were performed using the actual arrival rate; however, seasonal variation should be reflected. Second, the staffing levels varied were not tracked. Third, the accuracy of individual patient treatment paths can be dynamic. Fourth, the 25 percent of delays in transferring a patient to an inpatient bed will be discussed in future studies. Practical implications – A practical case is adopted for empirical illustrations. Originality/value – The proposed methodology innovatively solved a practical application and the results are promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The MAC layer misbehavior of the IEEE 802.11 standard can have a negative impact on the wireless network’s performance, similar to the effects of denial of service attacks. The goal of this misbehavior was handling the protocol to increase the greedy nodes transmission rate at the expense of the other honest nodes. In fact, nodes in IEEE 802.11 standard should wait for a random backoff interval time to access to the channel before initiating any transmission. Greedy nodes use a malicious technique to reduce the channel waiting time and occupy the channel. This paper introduces a new scheme to detect such malicious behavior, which is based on statistical process control (SPC) borrowed from the industrial field in a quality management context. To the best of our knowledge, this approach has not been proposed in state of the art, reports concerning the detection of greedy behaviors in mobile ad hoc networks. The approach has the power to identify greedy nodes in real time by using a graphical tool called «control chart» that measures the throughput and the inter-packet interval time for each node, and raises an alert if this measure is over a defined threshold. The validation of all obtained results is performed in the network simulator NS2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This study aims to investigate the use of deceptive negotiation tactics to explain why teams can attain higher negotiation profits than individual negotiators. The study distinguishes deception by commission (i.e. active misrepresentation of preferences) from deception by omission (i.e. passive misrepresentation of preferences).Design/methodology/approach The sample used to test the mediation hypothesis was made up of data from two electronically mediated negotiation simulations encompassing 75 negotiation dyads with 278 participants. The methodology involved coding deceptive negotiation tactics from the log files by counting utterances related to indifference options that enabled negotiation parties to deceive.Findings The results show that teams do apply deceptive negotiation tactics more frequently than individual negotiators and that this behavior helps them increase their negotiation profits.Originality/value The findings are valuable for two reasons. First, the study included controls for other important antecedents of deceptive behavior and negotiation outcome (e.g. negotiators’ nationalities, first bids). Consequently, the empirical results underline the importance of considering team size to understand its impact on profits through the use of deceptive tactics. Second, although this study does show that deception increases negotiation profits, the absolute level of deception is rather small (on average just one deceptive statement per negotiation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]