In today’s climate of fierce competition, there is a necessity to pay especial attention on customer demands either in manufacturing or service sector. Managers in service sector are under pressure in terms of environmental factors, they focus on customers’ satisfaction and this has led to the continuous improvement in the performance of service organizations. Meanwhile, customers’ expectations should be properly understood and measured. There have been various efforts to measure the quality of services using the SERVQUAL model. In this study, we try to investigate the concepts and factors influencing the quality of services according to modified SERVQUAL model and then utilize the proposed model of Grey Analytic Hierarchy Process (G-AHP) and Multilevel Grey Evaluation in order to evaluate the quality of services in the framework of Grey Systems Theory (GST). In order to propose our method, we will conduct a case study of the performance of service quality in higher education institutions of Isfahan-Iran.

Flexible job shop scheduling problem is a key factor of using efficiently in production systems. This paper attempts to simultaneously optimize three objectives including minimization of the make span, total workload and maximum workload of jobs. Since the multi objective flexible job shop scheduling problem is strongly NP-Hard, an integrated heuristic approach has been used to solve it. The proposed approach was based on a floating search procedure that has used some heuristic algorithms. Within floating search procedure utilize local heuristic algorithms; it makes the considered problem into two sections including assigning and sequencing sub problem. First of all search is done upon assignment space achieving an acceptable solution and then search would continue on sequencing space based on a heuristic algorithm. This paper has used a multi-objective approach for producing Pareto solution. Thus proposed approach was adapted on NSGA II algorithm and evaluated Pareto-archives. The elements and parameters of the proposed algorithms were adjusted upon preliminary experiments. Finally, computational results were used to analyze efficiency of the proposed algorithm and this results showed that the proposed algorithm capable to produce efficient solutions.

Today, supply chains have been widely welcomed by industry researchers and the results of applying it may increase throughput, reduce cost, increase speed to meet customers’ needs and create competitive opportunities. This paper identifies a scientific method, which operates efficiently and effectively manages supply chain operations. In this paper, a computer simulation model is analyzed for analyzing the supply chain and the results are examined, accordingly. Using Taguchi design of experiment and running the proposed model under L27 scenarios, a two-objective optimization was performed on the estimated response surfaces, leading to a 60% increase in productivity and 40% reduction in waiting time.

Demand uncertainty obliges all participants through a supply chain to make decisions under uncertainty. These decisions extend across price, investment, production, and inventory quantities. We take account of competition between two supply chains under demand uncertainty. These chains internally are involved in vertical pricing competition; however, they externally participate in horizontal pricing and service level competitions by offering a single-type product to the market. Since firms may have various attitudes against demand uncertainty and its related risks, different risk structures for competitive supply chains are considered. We assume that risk-averse firms are able to decrease demand uncertainty by information gathered from market research. For risk-averse participants in a chain, market research investment is an appropriate ground for vertical coordination, which diminishes risk through a supply chain. Optimal strategies based on game theory are obtained for different risk structures; furthermore, for each structure the effects of risk sensitivity as well as market research efficiency on these optimal strategies are investigated. Finally, we propose two scenarios for information sharing between risk-averse participants.

This paper presents an empirical investigation for line balancing in aluminum industry. Assembly line problems (ALB) are divided into three types, single-model assembly lines to handle (easy) problems to build a product that is designed to build one kind of product, multiple and mixed model to design for different kinds of products. This paper is an effort to describe comprehensively the solution to the problem for single-model assembly lines using some practical software package named FLB. The primary objective of aluminum assembly line balancing is optimal deployment activities subject to various limitations. The preliminary results of this paper indicate that the implementation of line balancing could reduce make span, significantly.

Research in the field of export marketing suggests that resources play an important role in providing necessary investments for development of businesses for exporting goods and services. The present study examines the factors influencing brand advantage for export ventures in small and medium firms (SMEs) located in city of Tehran, Iran. In this survey, we choose a sample of 256 managers of the SMEs randomly and distribute a questionnaire among them in Likert scale. Cronbach alpha has been calculated as 0.770, which is well above the minimum desirable level. Using principal component analysis, the study has detected six factors including organizational advantages, future studies, position of the firm in the market, product capability, the consumer & apos; s image and development tools influencing the most on export development. The implementation of structural equation modeling has also determined positive as well as negative impact of the factors on export ventures.

This paper presents an empirical investigation to identify and rank the factors of information market development systems influencing on the market share development. The population of this survey includes all managers who work for SMEs in city of Tehran, Iran. The study selects a sample of 230 people randomly and a questionnaire is distributed among them in Likert scale. Cronbach alpha has been calculated as 0.814, which is well above the minimum desirable level. Using structural equation modeling the study has determined seven factors including valid data, information, strategic information, organizational information, supportive information, customer information, development information and data analysis, which influence market share development.

Enterprise Resource Planning System is an important investment for organizations and determines future competitiveness and performance of a firm, which could be substantially effective. The primary objective of enterprise resource planning systems is to consolidate operational procedures among various departments, management information systems and resource allocation of the companies. Given the fact that the selection process for enterprise resource planning system is a multi-criteria decision problem and there are some ambiguities with various criteria, the use of fuzzy logic is inevitable, therefore, in this study, the main indices and standardized evaluation software enterprise resource planning system identification were used to rank six software packages including Oracle, SAP, SSA Global Solution, Sage Group, Microsoft Business Solution, People Soft focus. The results indicate that the highest priority is associated with the SAP software.

In decision making when multiple criteria are determined, the best choice depends on having complete information and proper decision-making technique. The permutation method is one of the popular techniques used in the context of multiple criteria decision making (MCDM). In this paper, a method is presented where there is more than one vector of weights for the criteria and there are uncertainties associated with criteria weights or there are multiple decision makers. We first take different weight vectors to create a multi-objective problem and then we solve them simultaneously to achieve appropriate Pareto solutions of the permutation method. Therefore, MOPSO and NSGA-II algorithms are utilized to find non-dominated solutions. Some examples in different sizes are considered to compare the efficiency of the proposed methods. Results show that by increasing the number of options and considering the computational time, the proposed methods perform better compared with the exact method. Moreover, NSGA-II is more efficient than MOPSO for the considered problem.

An integrated information system based DSS is developed for Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions in India. The system has been web structured with the most suitable newly developed modules. A DSS model has been developed for solving semi-structured and unstructured problems including decision making with regard to various programmes and activities operating in the ODLIs. The DSS model designed for problem solving is generally based on quantitative formulas, whereas for problems involving imprecision and uncertainty, a fuzzy theory based DSS is employed. The computer operated system thus developed would help the ODLI management to quickly identify programmes and activities that require immediate attention. It shall also provide guidance for obtaining the most appropriate managerial decisions without any loss of time. As a result, the various subsystems operating in the ODLI are able to administer its activities more efficiently and effectively to enhance the overall performance of the concerned ODL institution to a new level.