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- All Subjects: Supply Chain Management
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- Creators: Printezis, Antonios
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Description
Millennials are the group of people that make up the newer generation of the world's population and they are constantly surrounded by technology, as well as known for having different values than the previous generations. Marketers have to adapt to newer ways to appeal to millennials and secure their loyalty since millennials are always on the lookout for the next best thing and will "trade up for brands that matter, but trade down when brand value is weak", it poses a challenge for the marketing departments of companies (Fromm, J. & Parks, J.). The airline industry is one of the fastest growing sectors as "the total number of people flying on U.S. airlines will increase from 745.5 million in 2014 and grow to 1.15 billion in 2034," which shows that airlines have a wider population to market to, and will need to improve their marketing strategies to differentiate from competitors (Power). The financial sector also has a difficult time reaching out to millennials because "millennials are hesitant to take financial risks," as well as downing in college debt, while not making as much money as previous generations (Fromm, J. & Parks, J.). By looking into the marketing strategies, specifically using social media platforms, of the two industries, an understanding can be gathered of what millennials are attracted to. Along with looking at the marketing strategies of financial and airline industries, I looked at the perspectives of these industries in different countries, which is important to look at because then we can see if the values of millennials vary across different cultures. Countries chosen for research to further examine their cultural differences in terms of marketing practices are the United States and England. The main form of marketing that was used for this research were social media accounts of the companies, and seeing how they used the social networking platforms to reach and engage with their consumers, especially with those of the millennial generation. The companies chosen for further research for the airline industry from England were British Airways, EasyJet, and Virgin Atlantic, while for the U.S. Delta Airlines, Inc., Southwest Airlines, and United were chosen. The companies chosen to further examine within the finance industry from England include Barclay's, HSBC, and Lloyd's Bank, while for the U.S. the banks selected were Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. The companies for this study were chosen because they are among the top five in their industry, as well as all companies that I have had previous interactions with. It was meant to see what the companies at the top of the industry were doing that set them apart from their competitors in terms of social media marketing content and see if there were features they lacked that could be changed or improvements they could make. A survey was also conducted to get a better idea of the attitudes and behaviors of millennials when it comes to the airline and finance industries, as well as towards social media marketing practices.
ContributorsPathak, Krisha Hemanshu (Author) / Kumar, Ajith (Thesis director) / Arora, Hina (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This is a creative thesis project on the topic of the third party logistics industry, and the improvements that are possible through the implementation of goods to person technologies. The scope of the project entails the relationship between Company X, which is a third party logistics provider, and Company Y, a major toy retailer. This thesis identifies current trends for the third party logistics industry such as rising operating costs and average savings achieved through these business relationships. After identifying the negative trends that Company X is vulnerable to such as high human resources costs, and cost of quality issues. Given the findings derived from industry data, a final recommendation was settled on to improve productivity and ultimately reduce the use of temporary labor for Company X. The implementation of a goods to person technology solution provides the opportunity to reduce hours of operation, man hours, as well as direct and indirect costs such as labor. Research has proven that firms operating in the retail industry rely heavily on temporary labor to handle the seasonal demand brought by the holidays, thus this recommendation could be applied to a variety of operations. The data compiled throughout this thesis have major implications for the third party logistics industry and achieving long term profitability in operations management.
ContributorsFonseca, Tanner (Author) / Printezis, Antonios (Thesis director) / Kellso, James (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This piece aims to discuss the roles of emerging geographies within the context of global supply chains, approaching the conversation with a "systems" view, emphasizing three key facets essential to a holistic and interdisciplinary environmental analysis: -The Implications of Governmental & Economic Activities -Supply Chain Enablement Activities, Risk Mitigation in Emerging Nations -Implications Regarding Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility In the appreciation of the interdisciplinary implications that stem from participation in global supply networks, supply chain professionals can position their firms for continued success in the proactive construction of robust and resilient supply chains. Across industries, how will supply networks in emerging geographies continue to evolve? Appreciating the inherent nuances related to the political and economic climate of a region, the extent to which enablement activities must occur, and sustainability/CSR tie-ins will be key to acquire this understanding. This deliverable aims to leverage the work of philosophers, researchers and business personnel as these questions are explored. The author will also introduce a novel method of teaching (IMRS) in the undergraduate business classroom that challenges the students to integrate their prior experiences both in the classroom and in the business world as they learn to craft locally relevant solutions to solve complex global problems.
ContributorsVaney, Rachel Lee (Author) / Maltz, Arnold (Thesis director) / Kellso, James (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
New Venture Group, a student-run consulting organization at ASU, collaborated with representatives from Intel Corporation to determine current best supplier management practices in the area of capital equipment procurement. The New Venture Group team accomplished this goal by completing the following deliverables: (1) Research and consolidate best practices for managing capital equipment suppliers. (2) Interview suppliers of capital equipment in the semiconductor industry to understand their motivators. (3) Examine top supply chain companies that utilize capital equipment manufacturers within their procurement systems. (4) Gather data and knowledge in conjunction with Intel Corporation's current practices to improve the effectiveness of the company's supplier management techniques regarding capital equipment manufacturers. The thesis report outlines the key insights and recommendations that our team extracted from the research that we performed. Our team analyzed peer-reviewed journal articles, conducted interviews with suppliers of capital equipment to semiconductor manufacturers, and surveyed buyers at top companies to reach important key insights. We then used these insights to develop the following strategies to improve Intel's capital equipment supplier management structure: All Suppliers 1. Allow high-performance suppliers to select one reward from an established portfolio of incentives. 2. Increase measurement frequency for specific metrics. 3. Use collaborative two-way measurement with a corresponding balanced scorecard. Key Suppliers of Critical Products 4. Conduct gap analysis through supplier self-assessments. 5. Implement collaborative target pricing. 6. Delegate an Ombudsman. 7. Create a value map to determine the strengths and incentivize collaboration. 8. Create comparison charts comparing supplier technological competencies versus Intel's product developments. 9. Establish a systematized product development process and strategic sourcing strategy that supports the continuation of Moore's Law.
ContributorsSantiago, Bryce (Co-author) / Chen, Jenny (Co-author) / Chang, Karen (Co-author) / Baldridge, Stephen (Co-author) / Laub, Jeffrey (Thesis director) / Brooks, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor, Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Amazon Prime Air is the innovative new service that promises automated drone delivery in thirty minutes or less. The platform has not yet been brought to market, but there is a plethora compelling data available that suggests it will be a unique and highly disruptive business segment for Amazon. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the framework laid out by Amazon.com, Inc. for their anticipated Prime Air drone delivery platform, and offer our recommendations for what steps the e-commerce giant should take moving forward. Following a brief recap of the company's founding and a breakdown of its various business segments, we will begin our analysis by examining past strategic decisions that Amazon has made which have directly contributed to their current market position. It is our goal to construct a narrative of what events lead the company to begin developing a fleet of automated delivery vehicles. Following this history lesson, we will review and criticize the existing elements of Amazon's Prime Air platform, and explore any possible alternatives that they could have taken to optimize the development of this exciting new technology. Criticisms will touch upon elements such as cost efficiencies, brand management, and utilization of infrastructure to name but a few. These criticisms will be based upon data sourced from Amazon's available material as well as comments from market analysts and journalists. The culminating element of our analysis will be to offer our professional recommendations as to what we believe the next logical steps that Amazon should take for their Prime Air platform. These recommendations will be informed by our criticisms and our understanding of Amazon as a corporation. This chapter will be largely concerned with guiding Amazon towards a fully optimized drone delivery platform. Our recommendations will be based upon our extensive experience concerning cost and logistical efficiencies, as well as our knowledge of Amazon as a corporation. We will offer succinct suggestions for Amazon's immediate needs as well as long-term solutions to lingering obstacles that they may face.
ContributorsMcCaleb, Nicholas (Co-author) / Glynn, Reagan (Co-author) / Choi, Thomas (Thesis director) / Rogers, Dale (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to gain a greater understanding of Ph. D research and how general research in the field of supply chain management and operations is being conducted in 2017. In order to gain a greater understanding, this thesis contains summaries and personal perspectives on four different supply chain management and operations seminars from visiting professors. There is also an expanded examination of the research area from the fourth seminar, process compliance. Multiple literature sources were used to construct a perspective on process development, process standardization, and process compliance origins and current state.
ContributorsBerg, Paul Joseph (Author) / Taylor, Todd (Thesis director) / Printezis, Antonios (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The main compelling question to this thesis was to determine if there is a relationship between the amount of sensitivity received in ones college experience to how easily one transitions to a full time role upon graduation. Furthermore to determine if there is measurable difference, what can educators do to close the gap to better serve students. The conduction of this thesis was done through a survey via Google Forms targeting three groups. The three groups were Alpha Kappa Psi at Arizona State University, Delta Sigma Pi at Penn State University and the Supply Chain Development Program at Dell in Austin, Texas. These groups allowed for a wide range of demographics in participants from all over the US and with many different business majors. There were two main sections in the survey, personal experiences with professors and personal experiences with peers. Both asked multiple different hard data questions (multiple choice, numerical rating, drop down) and short answer questions (open ended.) The goal was to gauge participant's experiences with their professors and their peers in terms of sensitivity and see if it helped or hindered their experience transitioning to a full time role. The results for the hard data indicated that there was a significant correlation between better professors being more sensitive and worse professors exercising very little sensitivity. The open ended responses indicated that students preferred professors that gave less sensitive and academic approach and more real life experiences to help them transition to their job. There were many issues to if the open-ended responses specifically addressed sensitivity versus other topics. Three other topics that were clearly alternately identified were class behavior, job relevancy, and professor influence/resistance. Overall from the research completed in this study it can be concluded that sensitivity does not significantly affect the performance in the transition from college to working in a profession environment.
ContributorsGhinos, Christina Eva (Author) / Kellso, James (Thesis director) / Thorn, Taylor (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Digital identification technology is the unsung hero of the LEAN manufacturing, Six sigma quality, and supply chain management movements. By tethering the physical to the digital world digital identification has helped usher industry into the information age. Today this technology continues to become more pervasive and advanced, in the future it is likely that it will have an even larger role to play. In this paper ten sources of current (last 12 months) academic literature will be reviewed in conjunction with two GE cases taken from personal experience in order to better understand the current applications and future trajectory of digital identification. The basis of this paper will be derived from understanding how the most prevalent form of digital identification, barcode is used to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of internal and external business operations. This "current state" knowledge will act as a benchmark to understand the potential diffusion and impact of future digital tracking technologies. The exploration of "up and coming" technologies will lead into a RFID technology deep dive encompassing its current applications and the frictions preventing widespread (barcode scale) implementation. In conclusion the "future state" of how RFID and more complex embedded communication devices will expand the scope of benefits granted by digital identification through a phenomenon known as the internet of things, along with the factors effecting its adoption will be discussed.
ContributorsCampbell, Ross Bradley (Author) / Printezis, Antonios (Thesis director) / Taylor, Todd (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This thesis, through a thorough literature and content review, discusses the various ways that data analytics and supply chain management intersect. Both fields have been around for a while, but are incredibly aided by the information age we live in today. Today's ERP systems and supply chain software packages use advanced analytic techniques and algorithms to optimize every aspect of supply chain management. This includes aspects like inventory optimization, portfolio management, network design, production scheduling, fleet planning, supplier evaluation, and others. The benefit of these analytic techniques is a reduction in costs as well as an improvement in overall supply chain performance and efficiencies. The paper begins with a short historical context on business analytics and optimization then moves on to the impact and application of analytics in the supply chain today. Following that the implications of big data are explored, along with how a company might begin to take advantage of big data and what challenges a firm may face along the way. The current tools used by supply chain professionals are then discussed. There is then a section on the most up and coming technologies; the internet of things, blockchain technology, additive manufacturing (3D printing), and machine learning; and how those technologies may further enable the successful use of analytics to improve supply chain management. Companies that do take advantage of analytics in their supply chains are sure to maintain a competitive advantage over those firms that fail to do so.
ContributorsCotton, Ryan Aaron (Author) / Taylor, Todd (Thesis director) / Arora, Hina (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
During the summer of 2016 I had an internship in the Fab Materials Planning group (FMP) at Intel Corporation. FMP generates long-range (6-24 months) forecasts for chemical and gas materials used in the chip fabrication process. These forecasts are sent to Commodity Mangers (CMs) in a separate department where they communicate the forecast and any constraints to Intel suppliers. The intern manager of the group, Scott Keithley, created a prototype of a model to redefine how FMP determines which materials require a forecast update (forecasting cadence). However, the model prototype was complex to use, not intuitive, and did not receive positive feedback from the rest of the team or external stakeholders. This thesis will detail the steps I took in identifying the main problem the model was intended to address, how I approached the problem, and some of the major iterations I took to modify the model. It will also go over the final model dashboard and the results of the model use and integration. An improvement analysis and the intended and unintended consequences of the model will also be included. The results of this model demonstrate that statistical process control, a traditionally operational analysis, can be used to generate a forecasting cadence. It will also verify that an intuitive user interface is vital to the end user adoption and integration of an analytics based model into an established process flow. This model will generate an estimated time savings of 900 hours per year as well as giving FMP the ability to be more proactive in its forecasting approach.
ContributorsMatson, Rilee Nicole (Author) / Kellso, James (Thesis director) / Keithley, Scott (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12