In the wake of unprecedented global disruptions, selecting the right suppliers has become pivotal for business resilience. This book offers a comprehensive guide, navigating the complexities of supplier relationships in an uncertain world. From redefined criteria to cutting-edge tools like AI and blockchain, this book equips businesses with strategic insights to build agile and sustainable supply chains. Essential reading for leaders shaping the future of supply chain management.

The global economy has experienced many challenges in recent times, particularly in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as dwindling demand, supply chain disruptions, declining growth rates, further pandemic waves, and increasing poverty and inequality to name but a few. Four years after the pandemic, economies are still struggling to achieve sustainable economic growth and development. While much has been written about the impact of COVID-19 on various sectors and economies, this is the first book to underscore the post-COVID global uncertainties that are still occurring on the world stage and further, to present the recent challenges such as geo-political tensions, war, economic disturbances, climate change, the energy crisis in Europe, recession in developed economies and its effect on developing and least developed economies. The book starts by setting the grounds for further discussion of the present challenges as well as future implications. In addition to examining the immediate issues which occurred with the onset of the pandemic, it explores these from the perspective of developed, developing, and least developed countries. The wide-ranging topics covered by the book include the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War, China’s increasing economic dominance in neighbouring countries, the economic collapse of Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the factors that led to the technology layoffs and the future of global employees and economies. The book goes beyond looking at sector-specific factors and broadly outlines country-specific instabilities, policy choices and the way forward. The book will be of interest to students of macroeconomics, development and international economics, and international relations as well as researchers and policymakers.

This book provides research results and shares experiences in the area of supply chain management. It addresses topics such as risk reduction of lesser marginal profits, disrupted supply chain management, and potential points of business failure. This book explores the “new normal” of the business supply chain. The didactic approach informs global enterprises on how to deal with the most significant issues in the current supply chain management. The book shows an in-depth analysis of post-COVID opportunities and challenges and acts as an initiative for readers to understand the risks, opportunities, and concerns resulting from the pandemic situation and is a key driver for business management among industry professionals and enterprises. Readers will learn new insights and procedures to better manage multitier supply chains, predictability, and estimation of binding capacity. The book details modeling and technology-based customer demand and response management solutions. New techniques, methods, and perspectives dealing with the estimation, acceleration or deceleration, and flexibility of logistics capacity are particularly emphasized throughout the manuscript. Real-world cases dealing with various aspects of the new normal for supply chains are analyzed. The book is useful for industry professionals and enterprise firms in business management to effectively understand risks, opportunities, and concerning the pandemic situation.

This 4-volume set, IFIP AICT 689-692, constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International IFIP WG 5.7 Conference on Advances in Production Management Systems, APMS 2023, held in Trondheim, Norway, during September 17–21, 2023. The 213 full papers presented in these volumes were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 224 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: Part I : Lean Management in the Industry 4.0 Era; Crossroads and Paradoxes in the Digital Lean Manufacturing World; Digital Transformation Approaches in Production Management; Managing Digitalization of Production Systems; Workforce Evolutionary Pathways in Smart Manufacturing Systems; Next Generation Human-Centered Manufacturing and Logistics Systems for the Operator 5.0; and SME 5.0: Exploring Pathways to the Next Level of Intelligent, Sustainable, and Human-Centered SMEs. Part II : Digitally Enabled and Sustainable Service and Operations Management in PSS Lifecycle; Exploring Digital Servitization in Manufacturing; Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS) Business Models in the Manufacturing Industry; Digital Twin Concepts in Production and Services; Experiential Learning in Engineering Education; Lean in Healthcare; Additive Manufacturing in Operations and Supply Chain Management; and Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing. Part III : Towards Next-Generation Production and SCM in Yard and Construction Industries; Transforming Engineer-to-Order Projects, Supply Chains and Ecosystems; Modelling Supply Chain and Production Systems; Advances in Dynamic Scheduling Technologies for Smart Manufacturing; and Smart Production Planning and Control. Part IV : Circular Manufacturing and Industrial Eco-Efficiency; Smart Manufacturing to Support Circular Economy; Product Information Management and Extended Producer Responsibility; Product and Asset Life Cycle Management for Sustainable and Resilient Manufacturing Systems; Sustainable Mass Customization in the Era of Industry 5.0; Food and Bio-Manufacturing; Battery Production Development and Management; Operations and SCM in Energy-Intensive Production for a Sustainable Future; and Resilience Management in Supply Chains.

Stresses quantitative models and methods used in supply chain management Highlights global supplier selection and vendor management techniques Discusses the use of multiple criteria decision-making models used in supply chain management Provides a new chapter on health and humanitarian supply chains, including disaster management and logistics modeling Offers exercises at the end of every chapter and a solutions manual and PowerPoint slides for qualified textbook adoptions

Zadeh introduced in 1965 the theory of fuzzy sets, in which truth values are modelled by numbers in the unit interval [0, 1], for tackling mathematically the frequently appearing in everyday life partial truths. In a second stage, when membership functions were reinterpreted as possibility distributions, fuzzy sets were extensively used to embrace uncertainty modelling. Uncertainty is defined as the shortage of precise knowledge or complete information and possibility theory is devoted to the handling of incomplete information. Zadeh articulated the relationship between possibility and probability, noticing that what is probable must preliminarily be possible. Following the Zadeh’s fuzzy set, various generalizations (intuitionistic, neutrosophic, rough, soft sets, etc.) have been introduced enabling a more effective management of all types of the existing in real world uncertainty. This book presents recent theoretical advances and applications of fuzzy sets and their extensions to Science, Humanities and Education. This book: Presents a qualitative assessment of big data in the education sector using linguistic Quadri partitioned single valued neutrosophic soft sets. Showcases application of n-cylindrical fuzzy neutrosophic sets in education using neutrosophic affinity degree and neutrosophic similarity Index. Covers scientific evaluation of student academic performance using single value neutrosophic Markov chain. Illustrates multi-granulation single-valued neutrosophic probabilistic rough sets for teamwork assessment. Examines estimation of distribution algorithm based on multiple attribute group decision-making to evaluate teaching quality. It is primarily written for Senior undergraduate and graduate students and academic researchers in the fields of electrical engineering, electronics and communication engineering, computer science and engineering.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an overwhelming impact on business operations such as global supply chain management, remote work, emerging economic and financial models, and international expansion plans. It is essential to thoroughly analyze the current state of international business operations so that they may progress in this era of uncertainty. Analyzing International Business Operations in the Post-Pandemic Era provides a synthesis of multiple international business functions and issues in the post-pandemic era that culminated in a single volume based on empirical research, theoretical development, and business practice. It discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has altered international business operations. Covering topics such as deglobalization, corporate behavior, and resilient global supply chains, this premier reference source is an essential resource for economists, business leaders and managers, entrepreneurs, government officials, students and educators of higher education, libraries, researchers, and academicians.