DEA and Monte Carlo simulation approach towards green car selection

A multi-product and multi-period aggregate production plan: a case of automobile component manufacturing firm

Purpose

The study attempts to develop a multi-product multi-period (MPMP) aggregate production plan (APP) to fulfill the customers' demand in terms of throughput and lead time for achieving market competence.

Design/methodology/approach

This research proposes an integrated Fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP), multi-objective linear programming (MOLP), and simulation approach. Initially, FAHP is used to select the essential objectives a firm desires to achieve. Adopting the MOLP, an APP is formulated for the firm under study. Later, the simulation model of a firm is created in a discrete-event simulation (DES) software Arena© to evaluate the applicability of the proposed APP. A comparative analysis of the manufacturing performance levels (namely throughput, lead time, and resource utilization) achieved through the implication of an existing production plan and proposed APP is conducted further.

Findings

The findings from the study depict that the proposed MOLP-based APP can satisfy the customers' requirement (namely throughput and lead time) and improve the level of resource utilization compared with the firm's existing production plan.

Research limitations/implications

The proposed research facilitates researchers and practitioners to understand the process of developing MOLP-based MPMP APP and analyzing its applicability through simulation technique to be utilized for developing APP at their firm.

Originality/value

An integrated FAHP-MOLP-simulation framework is the novel contribution to the literature on production planning. It can be extended to solve strategic, tactical, and operational problems in different domains like service, healthcare, supply chain, logistics, and project management.

Investigating the role of electric vehicle knowledge in consumer adoption: evidence from an emerging market

Purpose

The use of electric vehicles has received popularity as alternative fuel vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy cost, which are expected to perform a crucial role in the near future of emerging mobility markets. The purpose of this empirical study is to analyse the role of electric vehicle knowledge in predicting consumer adoption intention directly and indirectly in the backdrop of an emerging market.

Design/methodology/approach

The study approached an extended version of “Technology acceptance model” (TAM) based on the integrated framework of “knowledge-beliefs-intention”. The model was tested via direct and indirect path analyses with the data collected from Indian respondents using an online survey.

Findings

The results indicate the robustness of the present research model, which shows that consumer adoption is significantly driven by electric vehicle knowledge, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived risk. Electric vehicle knowledge has emerged as the most powerful cognitive measure, which directly affects the adoption intention along with the measures of “TAM”. Additionally, this also poses a higher indirect effect on adoption intention in the integrated model.

Research limitations/implications

The study has focused on potential young and educated consumers, which may not be warranted to generalise the research findings, while youth or millennials are more receptive to adopt innovative and clean technology products like electric vehicle. Based on the findings, implications are offered for encouraging electric vehicles in the backdrop of emerging automobile markets.

Originality/value

Concerning this cognitive phenomenon of knowledge, scant literature has been explored the role of subjective knowledge in consumer adoption for electric vehicles, particularly in the emerging markets like India. Thus, the present study analyses how consumers' knowledge about electric vehicle affects their decision to adopt this in the near future of Indian zero-emission mobility market.

Multi-Criteria Decision Making for Sustainability and Value Assessment in Early PSS Design

Sustainability is increasingly recognized as a key innovation capability in the organization. However, it is not always evident for manufacturers how sustainability targets shall be “mixed and matched” with more traditional objectives—such as quality, time, cost, and performances—when designing and developing solutions. The emergence of “servitization” and product-service systems (PSS) further emphasizes the need for making thoughtful trade-offs between technical aspects, business strategies, and environmental benefits of a design. The objective of this paper is to investigate how multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) models shall be applied to down-select PSS concepts from a value perspective, by considering sustainability as one of the attributes of a design contributing to the overall value of a solution. Emerging from the findings of a multiple case study in the aerospace and construction sector, the paper presents a five-step iterative process to support decision making for sustainable PSS design, which was further applied to design an electrical load carrier. The findings show that the proposed approach creates a “hub” where argumentations related to “value” and “sustainability” of PSS solution concepts can be systematically captured in a way that supports the discussion on the appropriate quantification strategy.

Identification and evaluation of determinants of competitiveness in the Indian auto-component industry

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify dimensions of competitiveness, factors affecting the competitiveness and building the framework of competitiveness for the Indian auto-component industry and further develop and validate a survey instrument based on the identified factors.

Design/methodology/approach

Dimensions of competitiveness and factors affecting it are extracted out after extensive literature review. A theoretical framework is developed using these factors. A survey instrument is developed based on the theoretical framework and validated through a pilot survey.

Findings

In total, 30 variables are found to be reliable in establishing the potential indicators of competitiveness. There are three significant contributions to the theory of competitiveness. It provides a theoretical framework of competitiveness to address the current market conditions of volatility. Second, it incorporates the dimensions like supply chain management, presence of global value chains and employee empowerment. Third, it clearly identifies the dimensions of competitiveness relevant in current context, like ethical behavior of firms, protection of intellectual property and innovation.

Practical implications

The proposed approach provides a good basis for assessing the competitive performance of the companies. This can help researchers and practitioners in deciding how to improve the competitiveness of a company.

Originality/value

The research proposes a theoretical framework for measuring the competitiveness of firms from a specific industry. This study indicates the factors affecting the competitiveness of Indian auto-component industry. The findings can be useful for both researchers and practitioners.

Public sector R&D and relative efficiency measurement of global comparators working on similar research streams

Purpose

Deriving a measure of efficiency of public-funded organizations (primarily not-for-profit organizations) and ranking these efficiency measures have been major subjects of debate and discussion. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relative performances of public-funded research and development (R&D) organizations functioning across multiple countries working on similar research streams. The authors use multiple measures of inputs and outputs for this purpose.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use the data envelopment analysis (DEA) as the primary methodology of analysis The keywords highlighting the major research areas in the field of non-metrology, conducted by National Physical Laboratory (NPL), India, were utilized to select the global comparators working on similar research streams. These global comparators were three R&D organizations located in the USA and one each located in Germany and Japan. The relative efficiencies of the organizations were assessed with the following output variables – external cash flow, and the numbers of technologies transferred, publications and patents; and the following input variables – amount of grants received from the parent body, and the number of scientific personnel working in these public R&D organizations. The authors follow the output-oriented measure of efficiency at constant return to scale and variable return to scale, along with scale efficiencies.

Findings

The performance of NPL, India under multiple dimensions has been evaluated relative to its global comparators – the National Institute for Materials Science, Japan; the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA; Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Germany; the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, USA; and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA. The study indicates suggested measures and a set of targets to achieve the best possible performance for NPL and other R&D organizations. In most cases of efficient local but not so efficient global efficiency scores indicate that, on an average, the actual scale of production has diverged from the most productive scale size.

Research limitations/implications

The approach highlights the utilization of the DEA methodology for relative R&D performance assessment of global comparators. The discriminatory analysis has brought into sharp focus the dichotomy between local efficiency and global efficiency scores of these units and issues of scale size and regional disparities. The outcome of this approach is dependent upon correct selection of input and output variables and data availability.

Practical implications

The study results have profound implications for the management of public R&D institutions across nations working on similar-focused research streams, but functioning within different societal, economic, and political contexts.

Originality/value

The present work, being perhaps one of the few multinational studies of relative performance assessment of pubic-funded R&D organizations working on similar research streams, signifies the relevance of such an approach in the field of R&D/innovation management. This has opened up new avenues for further research in this area.