Independent Journal of Management and Production

12

Authors: Abdolreza Gholamali, Dariush Abbasi, Sima Sarafi Zanjani

Biotechnology is expected to change production methods, the products themselves and the structure of the industries in the new economies. Hopefully, countries in the Middle-East, Latin America, Asia and Africa have already recognized the importance of biotechnology's promise. In this sense, the importance of externalities which might affect the success or failure of these companies becomes an issue of paramount importance. In the present study, we will try to identify the main external factors which could lead in the success of biotechnology firms in Iran. To do so, the research follows a qualitative research design to answer this main question. Based on our findings, critical success factors are categorized in the following categories: General Environment (GE), Political Position (PP), Economic Position (EP), and Market Position (MP).

18

Authors: Andreas Dittmar Weise, Charles Albino Schultz, Andréa Cristina Trierweiller, Rudimar Antunes da Rocha, Blênio Cesar Severo Peixe

Words like Business Management (BM) and Facility Management (FM) are well known as separate management methods. FM offers transparency about their property costs and exploitation, starting from the planning phase until its demolition. The investor sees this in the property invested capital and its recoverable yield. This means they also want a profit with their real estates. Besides this, changes in the social and environmental requirements become necessary to adapt the properties. The solution is called Intelligent Building. Its primary aim is to collect and select previous knowledge and information about Facility Management and Business Management. It is an application, mainly with sight to characterize and describe the possibilities of use of intelligent buildings as a combination of Facility and Business Management. This paper is an indirect survey carried out through a documental procedure in the form of a bibliographic research and theoretician study. Intelligent Building as combination of FM and BM is new, but in our times necessary to satisfy the needs of the demand. This type of building needs to be flexible in its structure and services, open for changes in environmental requirements, e.g. saving energy, and needs a lot of technology to realize their functions. Consequently, it will be sustainable for a value enhancement. With a Computer Aided Facilities Management system this is possible and the company will be more flexible in relation to the competitors and future changes.

20

Authors: Francisco Gaudêncio Mendonça Freires

This article deals with the influence of economies of scale and postponement on the efficiency and effectiveness of reverse logistics systems (RLSs). In a global way, it aims to provide an understanding of RLSs to generate knowledge of practical and theoretical character. Starting from a generic model of circular flow of materials, the system studied is positioned between the final consumer and the traditional or direct supply chain. It is a qualitative approach over two case studies carried out in Portugal and Brazil dealing with scraptires. One deals with management system while the other deals with the reverse logistics system. As conclusions, the efficiency of RLSs is aided by economies of scale. Postponement has positive effects on efficiency by increasing the system capacity reducing logistics costs which indirectly leads to economies of scale, having a positive influence on the effectiveness of RLSs. According to what has been stated in this paper, the coordination between the direct and reverse flow is a typical case of a closed circuit.

21

Authors: Minelle Enéas da Silva, Paola Schmitt Figueiró, Marcio Luis Miron Jappe, Luis Felipe Nascimento

The paper aims to study alternative forms of production and consumption and their convergence as a way to create a new system’s dynamic. Firstly there is a theoretical discussion of the themes, then empirical evidence is discussed to make the case, and finally findings are discussed. The alternative forms of production and consumption, such as social business and collaborative consumption, are proven to be economically viable, and may satisfy also social and environmental concerns, in alignment with sustainable development concepts. This suggests they represent an opportunity to leverage a significant transformation in the whole system. The analysis performed can serve to the elaboration of public policies for development, by fomenting these alternative forms; to incentivize entrepreneurs to create similar enterprises to create positive impact and simultaneously generate profits. The empirical evidence we collect is restricted. For further and more conclusive findings we must increase the range of the examples researched.

23

Authors: Fellipe Silva Martins, Wagner Cezar Lucato

Brazilian agricultural cooperatives have seen an unprecedented growth in production in the last decade which has led to several different product diversification strategies. Almost all studies in Brazil focus on the financial outcome of these strategies but few empirical studies have addressed them properly. Even fewer researches have dealt with the causes and possible strategies for the diversification of such cooperatives and their impact on their strategic planning. Hence, this paper aims at comprehending the different strategies in operations management for production diversification in coffee-producing cooperatives in south-eastern Brazil. This was done through a multi-case analysis comprising 6 coffee-producing cooperatives. The research analysed both verbal (through interviews) and non-verbal (multi-criteria decision analysis) responses to the causes of their diversification behaviours. It was possible to find out that most of the cooperatives’ rationale for diversifying is their pre-emptive response to financial crisis followed by increasing the number of associates as a strategy to overcome this economic struggle.

24

Authors: Rony Peterson da Rocha, Fabrício Wesley da Rocha, Mauro Antônio S. S. Ravagnani, Paulo Roberto Paraíso, Cid Marcos Gonçalves Andrade

In the chemical industry, the necessity for scheduling is becoming more pronounced, especially in batch production mode. Nowadays, planning industrial activities is a necessity for survival. Intense competition requires diversified products and delivery in accordance with the requirements of consumers. These activities require quick decision making and the lowest possible cost, through an efficient Production Scheduling. So, this work addresses the Permutation Flow Shop scheduling problem, characterized as Production Scheduling in Batch Process (PSBP), with the objective of minimizing the total time to complete the schedule (Makespan). A method to approach the problem of production scheduling is to turn it into Mixed Integer Linear Programming- MILP, and to solve it using commercial mathematical programming packages. In this study an electronic spreadsheet with user-friendly interface (ESUFI) was developed in Microsoft Excel. The ease of manipulation of the ESUFI is quite evident, as with the use of VBA language a user-friendly interface could be created between the user and the spreadsheet itself. The results showed that it is possible to use the ESUFI for small problems.