A retail supply chain risk assessment conceptual model

Supply chains are increasingly relying on information and communications technologies and in particular electronic commerce to facilitate transactions between supply chain partners. The adoption of these enabling technologies brings several enhancements to the conduct of business including gains in efficiency. However there are also drawbacks inherent in these technologies that include threats that are imposed on businesses that use them. This paper presents a study on retail supply chains and the risks and vulnerabilities that cooperating supply chain partners are exposed to when adopting these technologies. In particular, the paper discusses the various threats and vulnerabilities of retail supply and presents a conceptual model of such risks.

A conceptual framework of e-fraud control in an integrated supply chain

The integration of supply chains offers many benefits; yet, it may also render organisations more vulnerable to electronic fraud (e-fraud). E-fraud can drain on organisations’ financial resources, and can have a significant adverse effect on the ability to achieve their strategic objectives. Therefore, efraud control should be part of corporate board-level due diligence, and should be integrated into organisations’ practices and business plans.
Management is responsible for taking into consideration the relevant cultural, strategic and implementation elements that inter-relate with each other and to coordinating the human, technological and financial resources necessary to designing and implementing policies and procedures for controlling e-fraud. Due to the characteristics of integrated supply chains, a move from the traditional vertical approach to a systemic, horizontal-vertical approach is necessary. Although the e-fraud risk cannot be eliminated, risk mitigation policies and processes tailored to an organisation’s particular vulnerabilities can significantly reduce the risk and may even preclude certain classes of frauds.
In this paper, a conceptual framework of e-fraud control in an integrated supply chain is proposed. The proposed conceptual framework can help managers and practitioners better understand the issues and plan the activities involved in a systemic, horizontal-vertical approach to e-fraud control in an integrated supply chain, and can be a basis upon which empirical studies can be build.

Investigation of the value chain for creative products : a phenomenological study of the perceptions of music intermediaries

During the past decade, innovative digital technology and Internet marketplaces have created a variety of 'phenomena' of businesses, media and institutions considered to be important interaction channels in the music industry, along with an influx of Peer-to-Peer services such as Napster, and Kazaa shifting the business models of major music labels and distributors. Considering the Australian Music Association reported an annual retail turnover of approximately $300 million in 1992 and later in 1999, an increase in figures reported at $396.8 million with the inclusion of music DVD sales, the notion of value-adding to a music product emerges as a profitable venture at each length of the music industry's value chain. In spite of this, Australian studies have often overlooked the underlying perceptions, fears and ideas of those working within the value chain, especially regarding the impact of new technology on their roles. This paper identifies the perceptions of various intermediaries within the Australian Music Industry, identifying common themes and viewpoints amongst the study's participants. Consequently, the paper concluded that the perception of value in the music industry is somewhat influenced by a variety of factors, including music knowledge, communication and dependence on intermediaries to name a few. Common themes were revealed throughout the study include the perception of competitive advantage, new opportunities from new technology and the notion of defining a gimmick versus Value-Adding emerged as indicative of adding value from the study participants.

The application of soft systems methodology to supply chain management

This chapter reflects upon techniques that might facilitate improved strategic decision making in a supply chain management (SCM) environment. In particular, it presents the integration of a selection of techniques adapted from an approach to systems-based problem solving that has emerged primarily in the UK over the last 20-30 years—the soft systems methodology (SSM). The results reported indicate that SSM techniques can complement existing SCM decision-making tools. In particular, this chapter outlines a framework for integrating some SSM techniques with approaches based upon the supply-chain operations reference-model (SCOR) .

Development and application of polymerase chain reaction-based assays for Rathayibacter Toxicus and a Bacteriophage associated with annual ryegrass (Lolium Rigidum) toxicity

Annual ryegrass toxicity (ARGT) is responsible for significant stock losses in South Australia and Western Australia. The toxicity is caused by corynetoxins produced by the bacterium Rathayibacter toxicus (with the possible involvement of a bacteriophage), which infects annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays, compatible with an existing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the corynetoxins, have been developed and used to screen L. rigidum for both the presence of R. toxicus and for the bacteriophage isolate NCPPB 3778. The results from analysing bacterially infected galls from toxic grain screenings showed a positive correlation between the presence of the bacterium and corynetoxins but not with the bacteriophage. Analysis of pasture-derived samples of annual ryegrass showed about a 50% correlation of corynetoxins with bacterial presence and about a 5% correlation of phage with the presence of the bacterium. These observations support the potential application of the PCR-based assays in providing a useful, complementary tool in the assessment of the likelihood of pasture and feed to cause ARGT and to enable a better understanding of the complex aetiology of ARGT.

Identifying supply chain management and e-commerce opportunities at PaperCo Australia

Established supply chain management techniques such as Quick Response (QR) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) have proven the potential benefits of reorganizing an organization’s processes to take advantage of the characteristics of electronic information exchange. As the Internet and other proprietary networks expand, however, organizations have the opportunity to use this enabling infrastructure to exchange other, more varied types of information than traditional electronic data interchange (EDI) messages. This is especially true of companies with global operations and interests, which lead to a more diverse set of trading activities. This case presents the experiences of a large Australian paper products manufacturer in implementing an electronic document exchange strategy for supply chain management, including the drivers for change which spurred their actions, and describes the issues associated with trying to support existing and future requirements for document exchange across a wide variety of trading partners. The experiences of PaperCo will be relevant to organizations with diverse trading partners, especially small to medium enterprises (SMEs).

The first spacer-bridged tetraorganodistannoxanes with a mixed double ladder structure

The reaction of Me₃SiCH₂Cl₂Sn(CH₂)₃SnCl₂Ph (6) with (tBu₂SnO)₃ gave a statistical mixture of the corresponding tetraorganodistannoxanes whereas the reaction of the spacer-bridged ditin tetrachlorides RCl₂Sn(CH₂)₄SnCl₂R (3, R = Me₃CCH₂; 4, R = Me₂CHCH₂; 10, R = Me₃SiCH₂) with the polymeric spacer-bridged ditin oxides [R(O)Sn(CH₂)₄Sn(O)R]_n (7, R = Me₂CHCH₂; 8, R = Me₃CCH₂; 11, R = Me₃SiCH₂) provided the mixed double ladder compounds {[R(Cl)Sn(CH₂)₄Sn(Cl)R][R(Cl)Sn(CH₂)₄Sn(Cl)R']O₂}₂ (9, R = Me₃CCH₂, R' = Me₂CHCH₂; 12, R = Me₃CCH₂, R' = Me₃SiCH₂) in almost quantitative yield. In solution, 9 and 12 are in equilibrium with their corresponding dimers, as was evidenced by ¹¹⁹Sn NMR spectroscopy, molecular mass determination, and electrospray mass spectrometry. The molecular structures of 9 and 12 were established by single crystal X-ray diffraction.