The implementation of just-in-time (JIT) principles has been shown to be worthy of analysis due to its potential economic benefits. Yet, while several empirical studies have reported the success of adopting JIT management concepts, little work has been accomplished in offering analytical tools for assisting managers for implementing JIT strategy. This paper proposes a new inventory model to better embrace JIT purchasing. In pursuing this goal, we develop a deterministic single-setup multiple-delivery model for deteriorating items by considering the effect of the time value of money (TVM). We propose a solution procedure to determine the optimal decisions that maximize the discounted profit function of this analytical model, and compare it with some other alternatives. Here, we show the derivation of the mathematical model, the algorithm of the proposed solutions, and the application of the new approach through two numerical experiments. The study reveals that modeling the TVM effect complicates the determination of an optimal JIT inventory policy; nevertheless, we find that accounting for TVM can be decisive in terms of promoting and implementing JIT purchasing agreements.

The Flexible flow shop (FFS) is defined as a multi-stage flow shops with multiple parallel machines. FFS scheduling problem is a complex combinatorial problem which has been intensively studied in many real world industries. This review paper gives a comprehensive exploration review on the FFS scheduling problem and guides the reader by considering and understanding different environmental assumptions, system constraints and objective functions for future research works. The published papers are classified into two categories. First is the FFS system characteristics and constraints including the problem differences and limitation defined by different studies. Second, the scheduling performances evaluation are elaborated and categorized into time, job and multi related objectives. In addition, the resolution approaches that have been used to solve FFS scheduling problems are discussed. This paper gives a comprehensive guide for the reader with respect to future research work on the FFS scheduling problem.

Deteriorating inventory models are used as decision support tools for managers primarily, although not exclusively, in the retail trade. The mathematical modeling of deteriorating items allows managers to analyze their inventory management systems to identify areas that can be improved and to measure the corresponding potential benefits. This study develops an enhanced deteriorating inventory model for optimizing the inventory control strategy of companies operating in sectors with deteriorating products. In contrast with previous studies, our model holistically accounts for the overall financial effect of a company’s policies on product price discounting and on inventory shortages while considering the time value of money (TVM). We aim to find the optimal replenishment strategy and the optimal price reductions that maximize the discounted profit function of this analytical model over a fixed planning horizon. To this end, we use an economic order quantity model to study the effects of the TVM and inflation. The model accounts for pre- and post-deterioration discounts on the selling price for non-instantaneous deteriorating products with the demand rate being a function of time, price-discounts and stock-keeping units. Shortages are allowed and partially backordered, depending on the waiting time until the next replenishment. Additionally, we consider the effect of discounts on the selling price when items have either an instant deterioration or a fixed lifetime. We propose five implementable solutions for obtaining the optimal values, and examine their performance. We present some numerical examples to illustrate the applicability of the models, and carry out a sensitivity analysis. The study reveals that accounting for TVM and inventory shortages is complex and time-consuming; nevertheless, we find that accounting for TVM and shortages can be valuable in terms of increasing the yields of companies. Finally, we provide some important managerial implications to support decision-making processes.

This work is devoted to the study of the Uncertain Quay Crane Scheduling Problem (QCSP), where the loading /unloading times of containers and travel time of quay cranes are considered uncertain. The problem is solved with a Simulation Optimization approach which takes advantage of the great possibilities offered by the simulation to model the real details of the problem and the capacity of the optimization to find solutions with good quality. An Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) meta-heuristic hybridized with a Variable Neighborhood Descent (VND) local search is proposed to determine the assignments of tasks to quay cranes and the sequences of executions of tasks on each crane. Simulation is used inside the optimization algorithm to generate scenarios in agreement with the probabilities of the distributions of the uncertain parameters, thus, we carry out stochastic evaluations of the solutions found by each ant. The proposed optimization algorithm is tested first for the deterministic case on several well-known benchmark instances. Then, in the stochastic case, since no other work studied exactly the same problem with the same assumptions, the Simulation Optimization approach is compared with the deterministic version. The experimental results show that the optimization algorithm is competitive as compared to the existing methods and that the solutions found by the Simulation Optimization approach are more robust than those found by the optimization algorithm.

Designing a production process normally is involved with some important constraints such as uncertainty, trade-off between production costs and quality, customer’s expectations and production tolerances. In this paper, a novel multi-objective robust optimization model is introduced to investigate the best levels of design variables. The primary objective is to minimize the production cost while increasing robustness and performance. The response surface methodology is utilized as a common approximation model to fit the relationship between responses and design variables in the worst-case scenario of uncertainties. The target mean ratio α is applied to ensure the quality of the process by providing the robustness for all types of quality characteristics and with a trade-off between variability and deviance from the ideal point. The Lp metric method is used to integrate all objectives in one overall function. In order to estimate target value of the quality loss by considering production tolerances, the process capability ratio (Cpm) is applied. At the end, a numerical chemical mixture problem is served to show the applicability of the proposed method.

Nowadays, The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been adopted in more than 160 countries. In fact, most ASEAN countries have adopted IFRS. The studies have noted the benefits of applying IFRS such as: Improving the quality of information on financial statements; Attract capital and enhance business cooperation opportunities, increase competitiveness, international integration in the world market; improve business performance, improve management and information quality; reflecting more reasonable business value; helping countries save cost of drafting, quickly integrate into international accounting standards; improve the quality of human resources in the field of auditing and financial accounting. Vietnam is a member of ASEM, APEC, WTO, AEC, etc. but the country is one of the few countries that has not yet announced an official roadmap for IFRS adoption. So IFRS adoption is necessary to proactively integrate more deeply into the regional and world economy. The Ministry of Finance of Vietnam has planned to adopt IFRS for listed firms, foreign-invested enterprises, public enterprises from 2022. In fact, some firms in Vietnam have voluntarily adopted IFRS as required during the operation process with related parties. This paper aims to identify factors that affect the adopting IFRS in Vietnamese listed firms. The authors used mixed research method by logistic regression model. Data was collected from 154 audited financial statements in 2018. The results show that some financial ratios such as return on equities (ROE) affect to IFRS adoption in listed firms of Vietnam. Therefore, if Vietnamese listed firms need to adopt IFRS effectively in the future, the Ministry of Finance should issue regulations for mandatory IFRS adoption to large firms with high rates of profitable on equity, promoting quality of auditing companies and audit program that are based on IFRS standards.

This study aims to investigate the impact of job competencies in achieving team work collaboration in Jordanian industrial companies. The study population includes all 6 Jordanian industrial companies at Aljezah distract, Jordan. A random sample of the employees including managers, deputies, assistants and sector managers is selected from the Jordanian industrial companies with the population of 130 individuals. To achieve the study objectives, the researcher uses quantitative, descriptive and analytical methods through several statistical tools to test the study hypotheses. The results show that competencies, knowledge, skills and atti-tudes, among the employees of Jordanian industrial companies played essential role in achieving the team work collaboration. The study also finds significant differences on the effects on team work collaboration dimensions; including culture differences, time differences and language on job performance. The researcher recommends the organizations to enhance job competencies in the Jordanian industrial companies to improve the performance of the businesses by acquiring appropriate knowledge and skills in achieving the team work collaboration.

The transformational leadership style as practiced by the organization leaders was examined in their role to enhance employees’ competency for organization performance. A quantitative approach is used in this study using a survey approach through the distribution of a set of questionnaires. In this study, the sample comprised of 232 supervisors from three food manufacturing industries in various supervisory levels, departments, and sections within the production line. The hypotheses were analyzed using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and partial least squares (PLS-SEM) SmartPLS version 3.0. The statistical analysis results confirm that there was a significant relationship between transformational leadership styles, employees’ competency with organizational performance. The study also confirmed that the transformational leadership styles as practiced substantially contributed to employee competency. Based on the PLS-SEM’s results, this study provides evidence that transformational leadership styles also substantially contributed to organization performance. The study also found that employee competency has contributed to organization performance. Based on the mediation analysis results, the study finds that employee competency mediates the relationship between transformational leadership style and organization performance. These results add to an understanding of the role of transformational leadership style and employee competency in contributing to a higher productivity and organization performance.

This study aims to examine and analyze the effect of the Investment Opportunity Set (IOS) on the corporation funding policies and also finds out whether or not the institutional ownership moderates the role of family ownership on IOS and company funding policies. The population includes all go-public companies listed on the IDX over the period 2008-2016. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling method. The processing data used regression equations with panel data models and Eviews analysis tools. The results show that IOS had a negative effect on the funding policies. This makes the company with a lower debt to equity ratio on its capital structure policy to use the equity financing to reduce the agency problems. Institutional ownership moderates the influence of IOS on the funding policies. This proves that the institutional ownership balances need to replace the role of debt in monitoring the managers and reducing the agency problems in the company. The family ownership does not moderate the influence of IOS on the funding policies because in the ownership, the family tends to take opportunities for the personal interests and form a weak ownership structure so that the agency problems rises and disrupts the company performance.

This study attempts to provide empirical findings for the advantages of implementing Bal-anced Scorecard System (BSC) combined with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for ser-vice providers in determining the effects of BSC and CSR on businesses performance (BP). The concept of BSC is employed to evaluate the perceived importance of the relationship between the BSC and BP to facilitate the goals of service providers. BSC covers key perspectives, including financial perspective, customer perspective, internal process perspective, growth and ideal learning perspective towards service quality. CSR can influence goals of business directly and indirectly by different paths, including: Firstly, from CSR to Goals directly; secondly, from CSR to the Financial dimension and then to Goals; thirdly, from CSR to Learning & Growth and to Goals; and fourthly, from CSR through Learning & Growth, including causal relationship effects that affect the Financial dimension, then to Goals. To achieve the objectives, the study designs a questionnaire and distributes it randomly to three major groups of stakeholders (i.e., two hundred customers, seventy employees and thirty managers). This study uses CSR variable and BSC perspective variables which is frequently employed to assess the performance of financial perspective, customer perspective, internal business process perspective, learning and growth perspective. Using ordinary least squares regression and the sample of three groups of stakeholders, the results show that the changes towards sustainability occur in this country. The stakeholders of firms hold the perception that CSR can help firms reach their goals and visions. Secondly, the study contributes to the literature of performance measurement systems in the service industry. Our findings provide empirical evidence for the suggestion that BSC can help service firms achieve their goals and visions. The combination of CSR and BSC in this study can become a foundation to discover more for service firms in developing countries. Thirdly, our approach concentrates on important stakeholders, which can illustrate differences in the perceptions of important stakeholders about CSR, BSC dimensions, goals, and visions. Furthermore, this helps to enhance the chances to develop the appropriate visions and goals for their business.