Lean practices appear to have aided organisations in improving their operations, especially manufacturing companies. This paper reports on an in-depth study comparing Thai medium-size manufacturing companies who use Lean with those which have not yet adopted Lean. In this paper the word “Lean” is used to refer to “lean practices” as well as “lean strategies”. Lean methods include just-in-time (JIT), total productive maintenance (TPM), automation, value-stream mapping (VSM), Kaizen, material requirement planning (MRP), Kanban, 5S and waste elimination. Primary data were obtained through questionnaires which were analysed using a number of statistical processes including factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM). Some 230 medium-sized manufacturing companies were the focal target of this study. Three latent variables, Lean (exogenous variable), product customisation (endogenous) and operational performance (endogenous) are formed in this study. There were 24 parameters and the findings provide further evidence regarding the effects which Lean practices have on product customisation and operational performance of the companies, for example. The methods for analyzing the data favour the proposed structural equation model. The results show that Lean strategies are linked to improved operational performance in the firms which practice them. Management teams in Thai medium-size manufacturing companies which have resisted Lean are encouraged to adopt Lean in order to improve operational performance, particularly in the present economic climate.

In an operating business amidst fierce competition, the operational process needs to be developed and improved in order to reduce logistics costs which are hidden costs in all business activities. This study aimed to investigate guidelines for reducing logistics costs in the industrial business sector, and to develop a structural equations model. It was conducted quantitatively and qualitatively.

Digital Transformation (DT) allows logistics service providers (LSPs) to gain competitive advantages by reducing costs, and creating customer experience, innovation and efficiency. This paper proposes a systematic framework to analyse the obstacle factors hindering DT of Thailand small and medium enterprises freight LSPs. First, thirteen obstacles are identified through the extensive literature and validated by a panel of experts. Second, a nine-level hierarchical structure is determined based on Interpretive Structural Modelling to demonstrate the complex interrelationships among obstacle factors. Finally, thirteen obstacles are categorized regarding the driving and dependence power by employing Matrix Impact of Cross Multiplication Applied to Classification approach. The results indicate a lack of digital culture being the most important obstacle hindering DT, followed by lack of support and commitment from top management and lack of risk taking initiative. This finding could help LSPs who aim for DT to take appropriate steps to alleviate obstacles.

Portfolio optimization aims to minimize risk and maximize return on investment by determining the best combination of securities and proportions. The variance in portfolio optimization models is typically used for a measure of risk. Over the last few decades, portfolio optimization utilizing a variety of risk measures has grown significantly, and many studies have been conducted. Therefore, this paper provides a systematic review of risk measures for portfolio optimization using bibliometric analysis and maps to analyze the evolution and trends of 682 articles published between 2000 and 2022. Throughout this analysis, communication networks among articles, authors, sources, countries, and keywords are explored. Furthermore, a classification of risks and risk measures were presented to demonstrate a comprehensive overview of the field, and the top 50 papers were analyzed to determine which risk measures were most often used in recent studies.

Vendor-managed inventory (VMI) is one of effective and crucial tools to alleviate the demand volatility of stocks problems, reduce time and operating cost in healthcare sector. VMI strategy becomes a necessity for both suppliers and hospitals to sustainably develop and to cope with stock availability and overall reliability process by sharing information. The process and management of VMI is a complicated work which needs substantial degrees of collaboration, expertise, and information sharing. This paper purposes a comprehensive multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) to select the best potential supplier for VMI collaboration in healthcare organization. The study developed MCDM framework consists of (i) Fuzzy Delphi approach to select the appropriate evaluation criteria for VMI supplier selection (ii) Fuzzy Step-wise Weight Assessment Ration Analysis (SWARA) method to determine the relative importance weight of evaluation criteria, (ii) Fuzzy Complex Proportional Assessment of Alternatives (COPRAS) to compare, rank and select the best appropriated supplier. An empirical case study was applied for a local famous public hospital and the best potential supplier was selected. The study reveals that the most evaluation criteria when selecting supplier for VMI in healthcare sector are institutional trust, information sharing and exchanging as well as information technology.

Supply chain management (SCM) practices have become strategic resources and capabilities for enhancing both competitive advantage logistic performance (ORGPER). However, it is not clear how SC Practices influence logistic performance in the agribusiness context. However, the mechanism of SCMPs effects is not yet understood since extant literature has produced mixed results. Hence, this study sought to test the impact of mediation of the competitive advantage of relations between SCMP and Reperform the point of view of Kenya's dairy supply chain. The study examined four estimates that were tested using partial minimum square structural equation modeling (PLS-SAME) techniques to work out the purpose of the study. Across-departmental survey design has been used to collect preliminary data from109 dairy cooperatives in thirteen major dairy producing counties in Kenya. The results reveal that SCM practice has a positive and significant effect on CA(P=0.730) and ORGPER (P=0.237). In addition, THERE is a positive, statistically significant effect on THECAORGPER (P=0.522). Further results show that CA mediates the relationship between SCMP and ORGPER. Consequently, the study concludes that SCMPs first generate CA, which in turn enhances ORGPER in a logistic sense. Theoretically, the study provides insights on the resource-based view theory as well as a conceptual framework for its validation. Similarly, the study informs managers and policymakers in knowing specific SCMPs to focus on to enhance CA and ORGPER of the dairy cooperatives in Kenya.

The relationship between the organization and its clients is the life of every enterprise, whether it is a multinational corporation of several billion employees and a multi-million-deposit business or sole traders with a handful of daily customers. The relationship between the organization and its traditions is the key concern. Between these two cases, consumer relationship management (CRM) is the same in theory and may differ significantly. Both the company and consumers have some factors to meet, such as the desires and expectations of all sides, before forming a contract. We need to earn a profit to succeed and to improve clients expect excellent support, better goods and reasonable pricing. The implementation of a CRM program will impact consumer service and customer knowledge for various purposes. Likewise, adopting a CRM strategy would definitely affect consumer loyalty and awareness. CRM guarantees that consumers are happy and strengthens ties between the company and its clients. Such practices improve the partnership between customers and sales representatives. The study carried out the quantitative approach in the delivery of the questionnaire to more than 100 bank customers. In concise and inferential statistics, the data were handled using the SPSS statistical method. Data indicates that the strong relationship between consumer loyalty and customer happiness of CRM technologies occurs and the stronger the overall customer satisfaction score, the larger the volume of CRM technology deployed.

This study investigated the impact of triple project constraints including time, cost, and quality on construction projects. The main goal was to examine several construction-related barriers, most of which were caused by time delays, cost overruns, and poor project quality. In addition, improper cost estimation planning can occasionally result in overestimation or underestimation, which can cause construction projects to be delayed or tasks to go unfinished. To improve the construction industry's routine and produce successful projects that satisfy its stakeholders, the study aims to investigate the impact of project cost, project quality, and project time with a moderating function for organizational support. A questionnaire survey was held, and overall findings indicate that managing triple constraints significantly impacts on the success of construction projects. Organizational support also moderates the detrimental effects of project cost, project quality, and project duration on the success of construction projects.

Infectious waste disposal remains one of the most serious problems in the medical, social and environmental domains of almost every country. Selection of new suitable locations and finding the optimal set of transport routes for a fleet of vehicles to transport infectious waste material, location routing problem for infectious waste disposal, is one of the major problems in hazardous waste management. Determining locations for infectious waste disposal is a difficult and complex process, because it requires combining both intangible and tangible factors. Additionally, it depends on several criteria and various regulations. This facility location problem for infectious waste disposal is complicated, and it cannot be addressed using any stand-alone technique. Based on a case study, 107 hospitals and 6 candidate municipalities in Upper-Northeastern Thailand, we considered criteria such as infrastructure, geology and social & environmental criteria, evaluating global priority weights using the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (Fuzzy AHP). After that, a new multi-objective facility location problem model which hybridizes fuzzy AHP and goal programming (GP), namely the HGP model, was tested. Finally, the vehicle routing problem (VRP) for a case study was formulated, and it was tested using a hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) which hybridizes the push forward insertion heuristic (PFIH), genetic algorithm (GA) and three local searches including 2-opt, insertion-move and interexchange-move. The results show that both the HGP and HGA can lead to select new suitable locations and to find the optimal set of transport routes for vehicles delivering infectious waste material. The novelty of the proposed methodologies, HGP, is the simultaneous combination of relevant factors that are difficult to interpret and cost factors in order to determine new suitable locations, and HGA can be applied to determine the transport routes which provide a minimum number of vehicles and minimum transportation cost under the actual situation efficiently in this case.