نشریه پژوهش های پیشرفت: سیستم ها و راهبردها
پیاپی 1 (بهار 1399)

With the ever-increasing competition in industries, the importance of supply chain in various companies has increased as well. Nowadays, each company in supply chain competes with rival companies. Regardingly, strategic analysis and organization of supply chain structure is crucial for survival and competition in the business arena. Simulation is among the most widely used research tools on operations which enables system performance analysis before its occurrence. The supply chain can be considered as a system and through its simulation, supply chain system performance can be evaluated before implementation. A four-level supply chain network including retailer, distributor, manufacturer, supplier has been investigated in this paper. Supply chain consists of a single product and demand per customer has been considered equal to one and shortage is not allowed as well. In this supply chain network, if the product sold to a costumer is defective, it will be returned from the costumer and instead, a new product is given to the customer. The defective product is then shipped back to the factory and after inspection, it will be either repaired or disposed. ARNA Software and a research sample in the rotational molding industry have been employed to simulate such supply chain. The simulation in this project aims to create a separate production line to produce a polyethylene tank.

Nowadays Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) seems to be mandatory for organizations to gain environmental legitimacy and to keep maintaining environmental sustainability as well. CSR has a positive effect on organization credibility, and, it can be considered too as the competitive advantage for any firm. for analyzing the impact of competitive strategies on both environment commitment and social engagement dimensions of CSR, it's estimated 381 the minimum size of sample, by cohen's d formula. Finally it's distributed among 450 big and reputable Iranian manufacturing and service corporations in 2015 extracted from IMI, and Gathered data of 393 Iranian manufacturing and service corporations has been analyzed by AMOS. Results indicate that differentiation strategy has the positive impact on social engagement and environmental commitments, yet, cost leadership strategy has the positive effects only on social engagement. Also, the legal nature of the organization which is indicative of establishing firms as governmental or private moderate correlations between differentiation strategies and mentioned distinguished dimensions of CSR. This shows that meaningful differences appear between CSR(s) in Iranian private and governmental firms when they arrange for differentiation strategies.

When deciding on strategic issues related to the organization, administrators of large corporations rely on data of various sources which can be either organization’s divisions and offices or all of its agencies in other cities or countries. In most cases, data in an organization are connected to a data warehouse system and organizations are constantly seeking to expand data warehouses. On the other hand, developing data warehouses from sources with primarily heterogeneous and often intricate and sophisticated technical infrastructure is arduous, requiring an explicit comprehension of organization’s divisions and units. Majority of data warehouse developers do not possess a clear and comprehensive understanding of the goals of the organization and its units as they are not acquainted with all of its departments and even topics. The aim of this article is to elucidate how data warehouses in an organization is developed using soft systems methodology. In the current research, human recourses and information technology experts’ opinions were acquired using soft systems methodology and using the triaxial model, the elements impacting the formation of data warehouse in the human resources unit concerning three contextual, structural and behavioral dimensions have been identified. After the identification of these dimensions, a conceptual model of data warehouse creation and implementation has been designed in the human resources department.

“Strategic thinking” is considered an appropriate organizational leadership approach in nowadays ever-changing and capricious environment. An approach which can advantage the organization in relative to its rivalries and allocate higher market share. Recent studies have revealed that lack of strategic thinking serves as major deficiency in the performance of organizations and this type of thinking actively highlights the profitability for organizations. Creation and development of strategic thinking is among the most highly-demanded deeds in management and this attitude of thinking is crucial in all organizational levels, especially senior management. This research is applied and of descriptive-analytical in terms of purpose and method, respectively. Information collection method was through library studies and the method for field data collection is through questionnaires. The study population consists of 20 of experts in Islamic Azad universities of western Mazandaran province. Following reviewing the theoretical literature, effective indicators of strategic thinking were identified and then they were screened using fuzzy Delphi method and ultimately, 4 main factors with 20 sub-factors were selected. For data analysis, Multi-criteria decision making method, for determining correlations between indicators, DEMATEL, and for weighting and prioritizing the indicators, Network Analysis Process Method (ANP) were employed. The results of the analysis on the data gathered through questionnaires and processed by EXCEL software revealed that the highest weight belongs to strategic intelligence index and sub-index "human resource intelligence".

Annually, extensive budgets and resources in various public and private sectors are dedicated to science and technology related affairs in our country. In order to manage science and technology institutions, Science and technology policymakers (including budget allocations) need to assess those institutions scientific performances. Currently, to strategically control science and technology, existing issues are regarded separately, and their inter-correlation is mostly neglected. Hence, in this study, after listing macro indicators of science and technology measurements, we seek to discover the relationship between these indicators and their classification in different levels. The present study is developmental and descriptive-survey in terms of purpose and method, respectively. The target experts consist of eleven authorities and specialists of the desired subject and they have been purposely selected. In this regard, alongside interviewing the experts and using interpretive structural modeling, these indicators are categorized into five levels. “Financial sources” possesses the highest level of independence, followed by “higher education and its orders”. “Human resources” and “Infrastructure” are ranked third, and “Science production”, “Institutional environment and framework” and “science and technology promotion” belong to the second level of the model. Ultimately, “networking and interactions” and “economic achievements” are placed in the first level, which includes the most dependent factors.

One of the most prominent elements in achieving a standard university for Islamic revolution is by means of faculty members and professors by this standard. In this respect, the present article has covered the design of the system for development and excellence of faculty members of a standard university for Islamic revolution in case of the intended university. For this purpose, soft systems methodology approach has been employed. According to this methodology, the status of the problem is revealed in the first step, and in the second step, it is elucidated by the researcher and it also is depicted using causal loops. In “root definition” section (third step), distinct benefactors, audience, and owners are out-looked, conversion process and constraints are determined, and in the fourth step the intervention manner in the status of the problem is presented in form of a three-layered pattern, which consist of series of canonical measures for development and excellence (first layer), changes in leadership structures and style (second layer), and also in the epistemic system, the images and assumptions of the actors (third layer). Finally, a conceptual model has been presented to implement the system of development and excellence of faculty members. The described model leads to empowerment and preparation of the professors and the creation of the transcendental formation (transcendental images and incentives, sense of identity, dignity, etc.) in them so that they can best serve the roles of a faculty member of a standard university for Islamic revolution