Nowadays, the importance of achieving sustainable organization with competitive advantage in complex environments has many researchers’ interest. So, in this study, we evaluate different views of MKM and its role to reach SCA within banking industry. This research is relatively the scarce empirical study and adds to its originality. The findings offer valuable insights on the generalizability of MKM in a research setting. In fact, the purpose of this study is to empirically test the effect of the marketing knowledge management (MKM) on sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) within banking industry of Iran. A valid research instrument was utilized to conduct a survey of 150 top- and middle-level managers from Mellat bank of Iran (MBI). With a response rate of 81.3 percent, 122 questionnaires were returned; the number of valid and usable questionnaires was 101. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, MKM were classified into organizational strategies, culture and performance of senior manager, information technology (IT), research and development (R & D), internal customer (personnel), and external customer (client). Moreover, MBI’ SCA was classified into three dimensions: market, customer, finance. Structural equation modelling was utilized to test the stated hypotheses and model. Statistical support was found for the hypothesized relationships. Moreover it has been shown that MKM maintained the greatest effect on the market centered SCA, while it had the least influence on the customer centered.

A state of the art instrumented Drop Weight Impact Tester Machine was developed in Iran University of Science and Technology which measures the energy absorption of composite materials under impact load. The output of the machine is used to draw load- time graph and calculate the amount of energy absorbed by the specimens. The machine was equipped with various sensor systems to measure the velocity of the impactor just before it contacts the specimen and the amount of contact force, and with a data acquisition system to record the force and time history. Capability of testing according to many different types of standards and capability of studying behaviour of the specimen after impact are two important characteristics of this machine. This designed system, after manufacturing and calibration, was installed and successfully utilized.

The purpose of the present study is to introduce a model for competitiveness of suppliers in supply chain through game theory approach in one of the automobile companies of Iran. In this study, the game is based on price and non-price factors and this company is going to estimate the real profit obtained from collaboration with each of supply chain members. This happens by considering the governing competitive condition based on game theory before entering a bit for purchase of ? piece as spare part among 8 companies supplying this piece as the supply chain members. According to experts in this industry, the quality is the main non-price competitiveness factor after price. In the current research models, the model introduced by Lu and Tsao (2011) [Lu, J.C., Tsao, Y.C., & Charoensiriwath, C. (2011). Competition Under manufacturer Service and retail price. Economic Modeling, 28,1256-1264.] with two manufacturers- one distributer, being appropriate for the research data, has been considered as the basis and implemented for case study and then it has been extended to n-manufacturers-one common retailer. Following price elasticity of demand, potential size of market or maximum product demand, retailer price, production price, wholesale price, demand amount, manufacturer and retailer profit are estimated under three scenario of manufacturer Stackelberg, Retailer Sackelberg and Vertical Nash. Therefore, by comparing them, price balance points and optimum level of services are specified and the better optimum scenario can be determined. Sensitivity analysis is performed for new model and manufacturers are ranked based on manufacture profit, Retailer profit and customer satisfaction. Finally, in this research in addition to introducing-person game model, customer satisfaction, which has been presented in the previous models as a missed circle are analyzed.

This paper considers a multi period serial production systems for one product and deals with the problem of planned lead-time calculation in a Material Requirement Planning (MRP) environment under probabilistic lead times. It is assumed that lead times for all stages have the same distribution with different parameters. A MRP approach with periodic order quantity (POQ) policy is used for the supply planning of components. The objective is to minimize the sum of fixed ordering, holding and backlogging costs. A mathematical model is suggested and then an optimal planning lead-time, ordering quantity and periodic time are determined.

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is one of the most popular techniques for measuring the relative efficiencies of a set of decision making units (DMUs), which use different inputs producing various outputs. Ranking of efficient DMUs is one of the most interesting DEA perspectives. However, there are cases where we see some limitations on available resources and the proposed model of this paper is associated with Indicator with Limited Sources (ILS), which affects ranking methods. The ILS exists as fixed amount in a community and the DMUs can own it with their abilities. When a DMU loses the same amount of the indicator, the rest of the DMUs are able to own some without even changing their capacities of other indicators and or vice versa. If a DMU looks for more of the same amount of the indicator, the rest of the DMUs have to supply it without even changing their capacity of other indicators. This paper develops a ranking method based on the ILS for the efficient DMUs, when there is changes either in inputs/ outputs ILS. The implementation of the proposed model is applied for a case study of banking system.

Activity-based costing (ABC) is a method, which identifies activities in a firm and assigns the expenses of each activity with resources to all products and services based on the real consumption by each. This method allocates more overhead costs into direct expenses compared with conventional method. ABC method is normally used for costing as well as monitoring different activities, which involves tracing resource consumption. This paper presents a survey on advances of ABC based method. The study has discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the implementation of ABC based method in different industries. The survey also discusses recent advances on time driven ABC method in health care industries.

A microwave-assisted method was developed for the synthesis of aldol adducts using RuCl3.nH2O-BINAP as an efficient catalyst. Important advantages of this technology include environmentally benign condition, highly accelerated rate of the reaction with an improvement in the chemoselectivity and quality of the products.

A new analytical approach was proposed to monitor the reaction between epoxidized soybean oil and diethylene glycol in the presence of ZnCl2 as an epoxide ring opening catalyst for microwave assisted synthesis of polyol. Infrared spectra of the products were used as the input data, being processed by multivariate curve resolution – alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) for quantitative monitoring. The data obtained in different MW powers were analyzed by MCR factor analysis coupled with ALS optimization procedure. Standard deviation of residuals for experimental data and the variance explained at the optimum condition (r2) were 0.135 and 97.24% respectively.

During the past two decades, there has been a growing concern on environmental issues around the world. Firms try to provide better production plans to recycle their used materials to reduce pollution from environment. In fact, lack of management in municipal solid waste for methods of collecting, disposal and processing of them can be significant damage to the environment, This paper presents a mathematical model for pet waste management, which plays essential role on municipal solid waste. The modeling formulation is a nonlinear probable mathematical programming model for chemical recycling the PET waste. In this model, the optimal amount of waste is determined by considering collected operations of reverse logistics and chemical recycling when demand is under uncertainty.

During the past few decades, many organizations have attempted to increase their productivity
through outsourcing parts of their responsibilities. Outsourcing helps firms reduce their low
value added activities and focus on their high value added activities. It also helps organization
save their time and energy which leads to more efficient units. The idea of outsourcing is more
important for project based organizations where the nature of works is different from a
particular project to another one. This paper presents an integrated balanced score card system
with an adaptation of ELECTRE III method to select suitable resources for outsourcing. The
proposed model of the paper is implemented for a case study of subway system in Iran and the
results are discussed.