Profit or Growth? Dynamic Order Allocation in a Hybrid Workforce

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eryn Juan He ◽  
Joel Goh
Keyword(s):  
Operations Management ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Growth Dynamics ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Network Effect ◽  
Stochastic Dynamic ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Stochastic Dynamic Program ◽  
Last Mile Delivery

Modern digital technology has enabled the emergence of the hybrid workforce in service organizations, where a firm uses on-demand freelancers to augment its traditional labor supply of employees. Freelancers are typically supplied by an electronic platform. How should demand be allocated between employees and freelancers? Under what conditions is the system (comprising the firm and its platform) sustainable in the long run? We investigate these questions in the context of last-mile delivery. We develop a discrete-time, stochastic dynamic program that captures the system’s profit from serving demand and the platform’s growth dynamics. The dynamic model incorporates a service constraint for the platform and a simple version of a stochastic network effect. We find that the answers to our research questions critically depend on two key parameters: the mean and variance of the cross-network effect. We conduct a numerical study with data from a last-mile delivery firm in Vietnam to illustrate our findings. This paper was accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management.

Hybrid last mile delivery fleets with crowdsourcing: A systems view of managing the cost‐service trade‐off

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent E. Castillo ◽  
John E. Bell ◽  
Diane A. Mollenkopf ◽  
Theodore P. Stank
Keyword(s):  
Service Trade ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Last Mile Delivery ◽  
Systems View

scholarly journals Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Last-Mile Delivery Considering Backhauls

IEEE Access ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
Ahram Jeon ◽  
Joohang Kang ◽  
Byungil Choi ◽  
Nakyung Kim ◽  
Joonyup Eun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Last Mile Delivery

scholarly journals Operations management body of knowledge and its relevance to manufacturing and service organizations

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 373-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurandir Peinado ◽  
Alexandre Reis Graeml ◽  
Fernando Vianna
Keyword(s):  
Operations Management ◽  
Lean Manufacturing ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Work Organization ◽  
The Body ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Companies ◽  
Body Of Knowledge

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the differences in importance assigned by manufacturing or service organizations to topics related to operations management and its attendant body of knowledge. Design/methodology/approach The authors did this by cataloguing and analyzing vacancy announcements related to operations management, presented by manufacturing and services companies in major Brazilian human resources websites. Findings The results show that manufacturing companies primarily hire personnel with skills in routine process management, quality management, lean manufacturing, ergonomics and work organization. Service companies generally seek professionals with knowledge and experience in logistics, supply chain management and project management. Research limitations/implications This study presents some limitations that reduce the power of its conclusions. There is some degree of subjectivity in the interpretation of the contents of the analyzed ads. In order to reduce this problem, the authors who did the tabulation of data marked the situations for which there were some doubts about the classification, discussing them with the other author, until they reached a consensus on the best way to classify each one. Originality/value The discussion about the importance assigned by manufacturing and service companies to the topics of operations management is crucial for not only the results obtained, but also to stimulate the debate on topics that comprise or should comprise the body of knowledge of operations management, and the way they are incorporated into business practice. This provides an additional opportunity to reflect on the potential of operations management in supporting business managers now and in the future.

scholarly journals The Ecological Footprint of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines: Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Germany

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7425
Author(s):  
Peter Kurzweil ◽  
Alfred Müller ◽  
Steffen Wahler
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Ecological Footprint ◽  
Vaccine Dose ◽  
Total Carbon ◽  
Road Transportation ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Cooling Technology ◽  
Chain Organization ◽  
Last Mile Delivery

Compared to the medical, economic and social implications of COVID-19 vaccinations, little attention has been paid to the ecological balance to date. This study is an attempt to estimate the environmental impact of two mRNA vaccines in terms of CO2 equivalents with respect to their different freezing strategies and supply chain organization. Although it is impossible to accurately calculate the actual environmental impact of the new biochemical synthesis technology, it becomes apparent that transport accounts for up to 99% of the total carbon footprint. The emissions for air freight, road transportation and last-mile delivery are nearly as 19 times the emissions generated from ultra-deep freeze technologies, the production of dry ice, glass and medical polymers for packaging. The carbon footprint of a single mRNA vaccine dose injected into a patient is about 0.01 to 0.2 kg CO2 equivalents, depending on the cooling technology and the logistic routes to the vaccination sites in Germany.

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