No abstract

Blood Inventory Management has attracted significant interest from the Operations Research profession during the last 15 years. A number of methodological contributions have been made in the areas of inventory theory and combinatoric optimization that can be of use to other products or systems. These contributions include the development of exact and approximate ordering and issuing policies for an inventory system, the analysis of LIFO or multi-product systems, and various forms of distribution scheduling. In addition, many of these results have been implemented, either as decision rules for efficient blood management in a hospital, or as decision support systems for hierarchical planning in a Regional Blood Center. In this paper we attempt a review of the recent Operations Research contributions to blood inventory management theory and practice. Whereas many problems have been solved, others remain open and new ones keep being created with advances in medical technology and practices. Our approach is not to present an exhaustive review of all the literature in the field, but rather to address several important issues from a unified perspective of theory and practice, and point out new areas for further research.health care: blood bank, inventory: perishable items, probability: stochastic model applications

PurposeCompetitive advantage depends largely on the ability to activate and use organisational resources. As a result, the focus in the strategic management, organisational behaviour and human resource management literature has turned to the internal capabilities of organisations including a particular focus on employees' competencies. This paper seeks to analyse and discuss a forward‐looking, dynamic and proactive approach to competency modelling explicitly aligned with strategic business needs and oriented to long‐term future success.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on a longitudinal research project sponsored by a leading Greek bank, currently undergoing fundamental corporate restructuring. This paper describes how the competency model was developed and how it facilitated strategy implementation and change by supporting communication, employee understanding of business goals, and the incorporation of new behaviours, roles and competencies in operations.FindingsA forward‐looking and proactive approach to competency modelling is presented and discussed in the context of a large‐scale organisational change. The organisational core competencies required for a business to compete successfully in the banking sector are defined and discussed. The right mix of skills and behaviours that the individuals would need to possess in order to produce and support those core competencies is also analysed and discussed.Originality/valueTraditional approach to competency management, which is analogous to job analysis, focuses on competencies of successful individuals, rather than on competencies that are needed to support an organisation to meet its short‐ or long‐term objectives. It is important to realise that there is a need to shift toward a forward‐looking and proactive approach to competency modelling and present a competency methodology that supports this need.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to conduct an investigation into knowledge-sharing mechanisms by empirically testing the role that context plays in the transfer of actionable knowledge, and, in turn, for innovation.Design/methodology/approach -A multiple-respondents survey was performed in 72 business units of companies belonging to the ICT, pharmaceutical and food industries in Greece. In total, 295 useful questionnaires were collected using a multiple respondent strategy. All constructs were measured with multi-item scales and validated using exploratory factor analyses. A total of seven hypotheses were generated following a literature review on the key determinants of context for effective knowledge sharing. The hypotheses were tested using ordinary least squares regression. Findings -The research shows that when units pursue knowledge transfer between their different actors, contextual factors such as trust, motivation to transfer knowledge, management support and learning orientation are crucial for fostering knowledge transfer and innovation. This contribution is important since the need for developing an organizational context where knowledge transfer and innovation flourish is constantly put forth in the business press, while the empirical and research based evidence for its importance has been scarce.Research limitations/implications -There is a research need in knowledge sharing theory to define and identify an integrated model concerning the contextual factors that enable the knowledge sharing process. Having established a firm relationship between organizational context and innovation, the research also sets a foundation for further exploring the organization-environment link in terms of leveraging organizational knowledge dynamics.Originality/value -The research is a first attempt to show that the construct ''perceived usefulness of knowledge'' is a critical proxy of knowledge transfer effectiveness, as well as to find support for its positive relation to innovation.

This paper presents a solution methodology for the heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem with time windows. The objective is to minimize the total distribution costs, or similarly to determine the optimal fleet size and mix that minimizes both the total distance travelled by vehicles and the fixed vehicle costs, such that all problem's constraints are satisfied. The problem is solved using a two-phase solution framework based upon a hybridized Tabu Search, within a new Reactive Variable Neighborhood Search metaheuristic algorithm. Computational experiments on benchmark data sets yield high quality solutions, illustrating the effectiveness of the approach and its applicability to realistic routing problems.