This paper analyses the role of online satisfaction (e-satisfaction) as a mediator in the relationship between website brand equity, online brand experience (e-brand experience) and online loyalty (e-loyalty) in the context of shopping online in Vietnam. The data for this study were gathered through mail questionnaires which were distributed to target participants who reported their consumption experience with shopping online through website. The survey was conducted at three big cities of Vietnam with the sample size at 928. We used structural equation model (SEM) to evaluate the suitability of the theoretical model under analysis with respect to the empirical data, and examined the significance of the hypotheses. The results showed that the estimations of the standardized regression coefficients in which e-brand experience has the largest impact on e-satisfaction and brand awareness has the biggest effect on e-loyalty. Otherwise, e-satisfaction plays a key role in mediating between website brand equity, e-brand experience and e-loyalty.

The Flexible flow shop (FFS) is defined as a multi-stage flow shops with multiple parallel machines. FFS scheduling problem is a complex combinatorial problem which has been intensively studied in many real world industries. This review paper gives a comprehensive exploration review on the FFS scheduling problem and guides the reader by considering and understanding different environmental assumptions, system constraints and objective functions for future research works. The published papers are classified into two categories. First is the FFS system characteristics and constraints including the problem differences and limitation defined by different studies. Second, the scheduling performances evaluation are elaborated and categorized into time, job and multi related objectives. In addition, the resolution approaches that have been used to solve FFS scheduling problems are discussed. This paper gives a comprehensive guide for the reader with respect to future research work on the FFS scheduling problem.

The supply chain of MSME products in the context of export penetration is very important, but MSME actors have not been able to meet all export needs. This study aims to: 1) analyze the supply chain of MSMEs in the context of export penetration in the era of the covid-19 pandemic, and 2) examine the potential of MSMEs to develop in terms of corporate legality, industrial design, and brand registration, as well as the use of digital marketing. This research method was quantitative research with survey approach and normative empirical study. The population of this study was 134 MSMEs, samples from 63 MSMEs in Central Java (Brebes), West Java (Bogor), and the Special Region of Yogyakarta (Bantul). Quantitative data analysis used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach and analyzed with Smart PLS 3.3 software. The results of the study show: 1) the supply chain needs of MSMEs in penetrating the export market in the era of the covid-19 pandemic are very difficult; 2) MSMEs must be able to meet all export needs to create a balanced supply chain, 3) in order to prepare export-oriented MSMEs, they must first motivate and educate, establish policies that support their legality and export management.

Project Risk Management contains processes ranging from planning to control. It is applied to identify risks, analyze them, and design responses to change the occurrence rate and/or the effect of project risks. It is important for project managers to analyze the effects of the risks in projects and also consider project risks in their decisions. If project risks are not addressed during the risk management process, issues such as schedule delays, cost overruns, and even project failure may occur. This paper aims to introduce a Markov method to integrate project risk analysis and risk response planning. This method is applied to forecast the following status of the project when limited information about the project is available. Moreover, earned value management (EVM) methods were used to include various types of project risks through the project lifecycle. The model also offers the capability to choose the most effective risk response for managing project risks through the application of the Markov decision process (MDP). Eventually, we introduce a case study to demonstrate functionality and effectiveness of the presented approach. Solving the model allows for identifying the best set of risk response strategies tailored to each specific project state. The computational results illustrate that the current state of the project has a significant impact in the process of risk response planning. Since uncertainty is the inherent characteristic of projects, the use of the project’s current state is more reliable than the previous status of projects, and the Markov method is applied in this research because it uses the current state for its modelling. Using this method, managers can predict the future state of projects and find the best response in each status of projects.

Research on shallot planting feeding technology is an integral part of the shallot planter associations in which determines the suitable drop of shallot seeds to the planting mechanism. The shape of shallot seed will affect the process of selecting the feeding mechanism and feeding funnel shape. The dynamics study of shallot seeds in the feeding funnel and their movement (that is dependent on the profile and mass property of seeds) is important for manufacturing and running a good mechanism. The shallots will then be transferred by the feeding mechanism to the planting mechanism with a suitable falling trajectory. In this research, design and calculation of dynamics of the feeding mechanism of the shallot seeds is investigated using dynamics equations and also Autodesk Inventor Professional and Matlab Simulink codes. The suitable ranges of feeding mechanism parameters are obtained for the analyzed shallot seeds in terms of the specific shape, weight and mass center coordinates of the seeds.

The agricultural sector is directly affected by climate variables. The presence of climate variability causes a considerable risk to agricultural productivities. Thus, risk management is an alternative to reduce risks, including optimizing the allocation of farmland and choosing crop insurance for a specific planting date. The purpose of this study is to investigate the agricultural risk management through risk measure of climate variability using the Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) in rice production. This paper investigated several possible considerations of agricultural insurance premiums based on losses climate index. We concluded that the climate index insurance policy is the best choice that farmers can choose for each planting date, the higher the significance value considered, the more the value of Value-at-Risk and Conditional Value-at-Risk.

This study aimed to identify the effect of Total Quality Management (TQM) practices on their dimensions on employee performance who worked for Qatar Ministry of Interior, with the moderating share of knowledge. The components of TQM include customer focus, employee participation, continuous improvement, leadership & good vision and operations manage-ment. The study uses a quantitative research, where 280 questionnaires are collected from respondents to obtain the necessary information for testing the hypotheses of the study. Multiple regression and gradient regression are used to analyze the research data. The results indicate that TQM practices with its dimensions had effects on employee performance through knowledge sharing. The results of this study contribute to develop and implement different strategic directions that enhance the performance of employees through the adoption of TQM and the dissemination of a culture of knowledge sharing.

This paper presents a Mori-Tanaka-based statistical methodology to predict the effective Young modulus of carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-reinforced composites considering three variables: weight content, reinforcement dispersion and orientation. Last two variables are quantified by two parameters, namely, free-path distance between nano-reinforcements and orientation angle regarding the loading direction. To validate the present methodology, samples of multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs)-reinforced polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-matrix composite were manufactured by mixing solution. The MWCNT/PVA Young modulus was measured by nano-indentation, while the MWCNTs Young modulus was quantified by micro-Raman spectroscopy. Both stretched and unstretched composite specimens were fabricated. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and in-plane image analysis were used to obtain fitting coefficients of log-normal frequency distribution functions for the free-path distance and orientation angle. It was evidenced that numerical results fit well to measured values of effective Young modulus of MWCNTs and MWCNT/PVA, with exception of some particular cases where significant differences were found. Microstructural heterogeneities, cluster formation, polymer chains alignment, errors associated with the dispersion, orientation and mechanical characterization procedures, as well as idealization and statistical errors, were identified as possible causes of these differences. Finally, using the proposed methodology and the dispersion and orientation distribution functions experimentally obtained, the effective Young modulus is estimated for three kinds of thermoplastic matrices (polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene ketone, and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene) with different kinds of nanotubes (single wall, double wall, and multi-walled), at different weight contents, finding the superior mechanical performance for double-walled CNTs-reinforced composites and the lower one for multi-walled CNTs-reinforced ones.

The ranking of decision-making units (DMUs) is one of the main issues in data envelopment analysis (DEA). Hence, many different ranking models have been proposed. However, each of these ranking models may produce different ranking results for similar problems. Therefore, it is wise to try different ranking models and aggregate the results of each ranking model that provides more reliable results in solving the ranking problems. In this paper, a novel ranking method (Aggregating the results of aggressive and benevolent models) based on the CRITIC method is proposed. To prove the applicability of the proposed ranking method, it is examined in three numerical examples, six nursing homes, fourteen international passenger airlines and seven biomass materials for processing into fuel briquettes. First, benevolent and aggressive models were used to calculate the efficiency rating for each DMU. As a result, the decision matrix was generated. In the decision matrix, the results of benevolent and aggressive models were viewed as criteria and DMUs were viewed as alternatives. Then, the weights of each criterion were generated by the CRITIC method. Finally, each DMU was ranked. In a comparative analysis, the proposed method can lead to achieving a more reliable decision than the method which is based on a stand-alone method.

Operating in today’s turbulent and competitive world marketplaces, manufacturers must find the best production scheme and delivery policy to meet timely client’s multiproduct requirements and minimize the total manufacturing-shipment expenses. This study proposes a two-stage delayed differentiation model for a multiproduct manufacturer-retailer coordinated supply chain featuring the adjustable-rate for making common parts and a multi-shipment policy for transporting finished goods. The aim is to help present-day manufacturers achieve their operational goals mentioned above. The mathematical techniques help us build a specific model to explicitly represent the problem and derive its overall operating expense. Then, the convexity of the total expense is verified by Hessian matrix equations. The differential calculus helps derive the cost-minimized fabrication-shipment decision. This study offers an example to demonstrate the applicability and capabilities of our proposed model numerically. The following crucial information has been made available to the managers to facilitate their operating decision makings: (1) the problem’s best fabrication-shipment policy; (2) the collective influence of various common part’s completion rates and values on the problem’s total expenses and optimal fabrication-shipment policy; (3) the impact of various adjustable-rates in stage one on utilization and stage one’s uptime; (4) the details of cost contributors to the problem; and (5) the collective impacts of critical features on the problem’s performance.