مجله مدیریت تولید و عملیات
سال پانزدهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 38، پاییز 1403)

The creation and development of technology play a significant role as the main source of competitive advantage in any organization. In the most commonly accepted model, the process of technology management is referred to five structured stages including identification, selection, acquisition, exploitation and protection. The stage of identifying and choosing the appropriate technology among alternatives is challenging due to the vast increase in the number of technologies and their complexity. Technology selection means choosing a technology from a set of technologies that support similar tasks. In the defence sector, the rapid changes in technologies in today's world have had tremendous effects, and this makes present and future battles more complicated. The defence research centres have identified several emerging technologies or technological solutions to solve these challenges in different fields. But the important issue for researchers and managers of research centres is that among these technological solutions, which emerging technology should be chosen? What are the selection criteria for these innovative and emerging defence technologies? Therefore, a structural analysis of the criteria and factors involved in the selection process of emerging technology is necessary. Considering the key role of research centres in the creation and development of innovative and emerging defence technologies the necessity of their role in the defence value chain and the governance of modern research in the defence sector, as well as the importance of choosing effective and efficient technologies, this article aims to provide a model for choosing innovative technology and emerging in line with their creation or development in defence research centres. The use of this model in these centres can lead to the evaluation and selection of emerging defence technology in a purposeful, appropriate and accurate manner.

Design/methodology/approach: 

This research has been done using a qualitative-quantitative mixed method, based on the opinions of experts in focus groups and the fuzzy hierarchical analysis technique. In this research, the theoretical literature related to the subject has been reviewed and the desired criteria and factors have been identified. Then, the existing criteria for the localization of technology selection criteria have been provided to a focus group consisting of seven managers, faculty members, and experienced researchers involved in the defence research projects and a new and native classification of the selection criteria has been proposed for emerging defence technology. Next, the weighting and determination of the importance coefficient of the technology selection criteria has been done with the participation of 15 experts using the FAHP method. Finally, to validate the proposed model, a case study has been conducted to select technology in the electrical and electronics research centre, whose experts consisted of five researchers and faculty members.

In this research, the criteria for selecting innovative and emerging technologies suitable for the defence ecosystem were categorized in the form of five criteria, and the results of the research indicated that the technology effectiveness criterion is the most important with an importance factor of 32%, and technological competence, feasibility and development capability, risk, and economic and commercial are respectively the next priorities in the selection of innovative and emerging technologies in defence research projects. To validate the proposed model and in line with the selection of defence technology in the field of electricity and electronics in a defence research centre, the proposed model was used in a practical environment, and based on the calculations, High Power Microwaves (HPM) technology as an innovative and emerging technology was selected among the three technological solutions to solve the technological need and challenge.

Research limitations/implications: 

The limitations and problems of interview data collection and access to the statistical population were due to protection and security restrictions since it was very difficult and time-consuming to involve defence managers and researchers in various fields. Also, in terms of the generalizability of the research results to the specific society, it should be noted that the focus of the current research was on managers and defence researchers in the research centres (supply and technology developers) and the end customers (executive staff of the armed forces) of technological and technological products. The proposed model focused on determining the criteria for selecting emerging technology in defence centres and their importance factor and has not addressed the stages of technology selection. However, in the case study, the authors tried to show how to use this model. Therefore, the issue of technology selection steps, examining the relationships and the intensity of the criteria of innovative and emerging defence technologies can also be considered as a future research subject.

Originality/value: 

From the pattern and criteria of technology selection proposed in this research, it can be inferred that in the selection of novel and emerging defence technology, one should pay attention to quantitative and qualitative criteria with different importance coefficients, and this selection is a multi-criteria and multilateral decision-making. There are technical and technological, socio-political, financial and economic factors in achieving the national and industrial goals of the defence sector. The model proposed focuses more on the specific criteria of defence research centres and the degree of importance and prioritization of emerging technology selection criteria in these centres rather than the creation of the emerging technology process. By addressing the validation of the model in a real environment, the authors attempted to show how to use the proposed model in practice.

To achieve continuous growth in a project-oriented organization, managing projects individually does not work well. By combining multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDM) and strategic analysis, the present research examines the challenges of selecting and managing the project portfolio in the Nano Development Headquarters, emphasizing the importance of optimal use of limited resources and reducing investment risk. Its main goal is to develop a model for evaluating and prioritizing projects based on the greatest synergies and values and improving the effectiveness of decisions in line with strategic goals.

This research uses a hybrid approach that includes the implementation of a scientific framework with five steps. At first, using the SWOT analysis, three key strategies were formulated to manage the portfolio of nano projects: portfolio of multidisciplinary cooperation, portfolio of commercialization of nano products and portfolio of connection between nano and everyday life. The projects were categorized using the concepts of synergies and the benefits map. Then, using the Electre method, the projects were prioritized based on 10 criteria and included in the final basket. Finally, a balanced portfolio of projects was selected and a roadmap for better management of this portfolio was presented.

The research showed that among the 32 initial projects, 7 projects were removed and 3 other projects were also abandoned due to non-compliance with the key criteria. According to the SWOT matrix, four options were presented and three strategies were developed based on that. The categorization of projects was done based on the concepts of synergy and proximity of projects to strategic goals and the intended value created through the logical map of benefits. The final grouping of the projects in three categories: pearls, oysters, and white elephants was done with the opinion of experts, and with the update of the final basket, the definite priority of each project in each basket was included in the portfolio roadmap. With this approach, an optimal combination of projects in portfolios was created, and the order of projects was determined. The presented model was able to create an optimal combination of projects and determine their execution order by considering the primary criteria, risk analysis, probability of success, earnings, and return on investment (ROI). Also, the roadmap of the project portfolio was drawn to help better management and achieve strategic goals. The final finding from the data analysis is that initially, basket 2 (D5, B3, A3, E5, E1, E2, D2, A1, C2) started with project D5 and at the end of the first three years of basket 1 (B6, A4, E4, B2, A5, D1, B5, E3, E6) with project B6 will start simultaneously with projects E5 and E1 and the start time of basket 3 (E7, D7, E8, C1) in the middle of the second schedule with project E7 with the implementation of projects D2, A1, E4, and B2. The maximum execution time for basket 1 is ten, for basket 2 eight, and for basket 3 six years.

Research limitations/implications: 

Access to data, experts' lack of familiarity with project portfolio management concepts, and the unpredictability of nanotechnology and changing criteria are some of the limitations of this research. The research is specifically focused on the field of nanotechnology, but it can be easily extended to other fields with personalization. In this research, the concepts of project portfolio management, synergy of projects, and logical map of benefits have been used for writing. It is suggested that in future research, aspects of uncertainty in the decision-making process allocation of resources and project schedule should be addressed with modelling.

Practical implications: 

By providing a comprehensive model for project portfolio management, managers can make better decisions in selecting and prioritizing projects. This helps to increase efficiency and reduce risks associated with projects. It also helps companies get closer to their business goals and grow and develop their business by creating synergies.

Social implications:

 In addition to the positive effects on improving public health, the environment, and increasing the quality of life, the correct selection of the portfolio of nano projects will help project-oriented companies to achieve higher standards in the fields of safety, health, and environment (SHE) by using project portfolio management. At a larger level, it helps government and policymakers make more informed decisions to invest in and support nanotechnology projects that directly lead to economic and social development.

Originality/value: 

This research is added to the literature on project management because it provides a comprehensive and new framework for selecting the project portfolio from different angles and can be a valuable resource for researchers and managers. Overall, this research provides a useful framework for organizations seeking to optimize their project portfolios.

This paper aims to study the different structures of collecting products used in the closed-loop supply chain to maximize the profit of the chain members, especially the manufacturer, using the game theory. Therefore, to obtain the equilibrium points of the decision variables of the manufacturer and the retailer, different structures of a collection of used products have been investigated in single-channel, dual-channel and triple-channel.

Design/methodology/approach:

 In this research, pricing in the reverse supply chain has been investigated in terms of different structures of product collection. Three categories of single-channel structure, dual-channel structure and triple-channel structure have been considered. In all structures, there is a manufacturer and a retailer. In the first structure, the manufacturer collects the products. In the second and third structures, the product collection operation has been assigned to the retailer and the third party, respectively. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth structures, the collection of products is done in combination with two separate channels. In the fourth and fifth structures, respectively, the manufacturer together with a retailer and the manufacturer together with a third- party have done the work of collecting the products. In the sixth structure, the responsibility of collecting the products has been assigned to the retailer and the third company simultaneously. In the seventh structure, the manufacturer together with the retailer and the third party carried out the product collection operation. The solution approach has been Stackelberg’s game theory, in which the manufacturer is the leader and the retailer and the third party are the followers. First, the equilibrium values ​​of the decision variables were obtained simultaneously for the retailer and the third party and were placed in the manufacturer's profit function. Then the equilibrium values ​​of the decision variables have been obtained.

The results indicated that in single-channel structures if the basic market demand is lower than the product collection cost factor, it would be better for the manufacturer to collect the used products alone. In two-channel structures, the manufacturer is better off collecting the used products jointly with the retailer or third party. Also, a threshold for the product collection cost coefficient has been determined, above which the producer will benefit from using the three-channel structure.

Research limitations/implications: 

Government interference, the lack of knowledge of a suitable collection structure, etc., are major challenges to managers in choosing the appropriate collection approach. Therefore, one of the important decisions faced by manufacturing companies is how to design a proper structure for collecting used products.  For future work, more manufacturers and retailers can be used. It is also possible to outsource the inspection work to a retailer or a third party. Also, other structures can be examined, for example, in a structure where there are several manufacturers and several retailers, structures with more than triple channels can be considered.

Practical implications: 

Comparing the mathematical and parametric analysis in a supply chain where the manufacturer plays the main role, it would be better for the manufacturer to collect the products himself. But if it is to be outsourced. It would be better for him and the retailer to do the collection. Also, if the manufacturer is supposed to work with a retailer and a third party, he prefers to outsource the work to the retailer and the third party rather than doing it with the third party.Social implications - There are many reasons why recycling and collecting used products are important. It can help reduce carbon footprint, save energy, prevent pollution, reduce greenhouse gases, and more.

Originality/value: 

In this research, in addition to examining single-channel and dual-channel structures, the triple-channel structure was studied and their results were analysed. In this research, due to the product inspection cost, it was observed that in single-channel structures, the first structure (the structure in which, the manufacturer collects products) creates the most profit for the manufacturer and the supply chain compared to other single-channel structures. In similar studies, the second structure (the retailer is a collector's member) creates the most profit for the manufacturer and the supply chain. Also, in this research, for the first time, all the collection structures were analysed and investigated to distinguish the known structures based on mathematical and parametric analysis.

Medicine is the most significant tool for completing the treatment cycle while rationalizing the use of medicine is one of the most challenging goals of any country's health system, especially Iran. The influence of the government and the health insurance companies on drug consumption control is highly recommended. By rationalizing the payment subsidy for each type of medicine, the government and the insurance organizations can optimally control medicine consumption by monitoring the doctor's prescription and pharmacy sales and making a rational decision for the reimbursement amount for each medication type. This study aims to investigate the rationalization of drug consumption based on the government subsidies for drugs and the supervisory role that insurance organizations have in the prescription and sale of drug management.

Design/methodology/approach: 

The factors influencing drug consumption have been collected based on a literature review. The cause-and-effect and stock-and-flow diagrams have been drawn considering the concepts of systems thinking and system dynamics. System dynamics is the most appropriate approach to look at the problem of drug consumption systemically so that the role of insurance organizations and the government can be considered simultaneously. For simulating the model, the data related to amoxicillin capsules, which is one of the most widely used antibiotics in Iran, has been used. The validation of the model has been done using the model structure verification test, dimensional consistency test, and limit condition test. Finally, three scenarios have been defined, and the model’s behaviour has been checked based on the scenarios.

Initially, it was assumed that the government allocates subsidies to medicines based on consumer and insurance costs. The government subsidy percentage based on consumer expenditure and insurance expenses is 30% and 20%, respectively, and the insurance reimbursement percentage is 30%. Three scenarios were presented to control drug use. In the first scenario, it was assumed that the insurance reimbursement percentage would reach 15% from 30% (base case). The insurance should pay only 15% of the drug price (Run 1). In the second scenario, it was assumed that the government subsidy percentage based on insurance costs would decrease from 20% to 10% (Run2). In the third scenario, it was assumed that the government subsidy percentage based on consumer spending would decrease from 30% to 20% (Run3). The comparison of the findings of the scenarios indicated that the second scenario was chosen as the best one. By reducing the percentage of government subsidies for medicine based on insurance costs, consumption can be controlled, government costs can be reduced, and insurance and consumer costs will not increase much.

This study used a limited number of variables for each subsystem. Prioritization methods can be used in future studies to consider more significant variables.Practical implications: This study concentrated on the critical roles of the government and insurance organizations in controlling drug consumption. The drug studied in this research was amoxicillin. It is a widely used antibiotic drug in Iran. The use of this drug needs to be managed. Otherwise, due to the drug resistance that it creates, it will bring a high cost to the country's health system. It is recommended that insurance organizations have reasonable supervision over the doctors' prescriptions and over-the-counter sales of medicine by pharmacies. The government should also allocate subsidies to medicine based on availability, price, excessive consumption, etc.

Social implications:

 Health systems, in addition to improving the health of society, are also responsible for maintaining them against the financial costs of receiving health services. This is achieved through government subsidies for drugs as well as insurance reimbursements. Another argument is that the medicine's low price may cause its excessive consumption, society endangering, and increased insurance costs by the government. In the long run, other costs due to excessive medicine consumption are imposed on health systems. For example, reducing the price of antibiotics and their excessive use may cause drug resistance and irreparable consequences. Iran is one of the top 10 countries in the world in terms of drug consumption. Approximately 20% of the total consumption of drugs in Iran is arbitrary, and the average amount of drugs prescribed in the prescription of each Iranian patient is about 4 times the average consumption per capita of developing countries. This amount of excessive drug consumption will not only have harmful effects on society but will also impose high costs on the health system, government, and insurance organizations. The exact allocation of subsidies and the reimbursement of insurance organizations for drugs not only rationalizes the price of drugs but also controls the excessive use of drugs. Also, it enables the government and insurers to allocate subsidies and insurance drug reimbursements for incurable diseases. It is important to note that controlling the excessive use of drugs such as antibiotics will also prevent drug resistance.

Originality/value:

 The value of this research comes from the fact that it considers the factors affecting drug consumption and the cause-and-effect relationships undertaken among these factors. In the previous studies, there was no systematic and comprehensive look (influence of the government and insurance organizations) on the issue of drug consumption.

This study aims to reduce and manage the risks in a sustainable supply chain of refineries and to adopt appropriate strategies to deal with the sanctions.

The present study is typically practical in terms of purpose and quantitative in terms of approach, consisting of interviews and questionnaires, and exploratory in nature. The statistical population studied included all top managers of the engineering, safety, health, environment and passive defence, research and technology, and operations and exploitation departments of Abadan Oil Refining Company. By using numerous questionnaires and taking advantage of the opinions of experts and experts in the oil refining industry, in this study, five main categories of sustainable supply chain risks and their 13 sub-factors were identified. After extracting sustainable supply chain risks from the literature using the fuzzy Delphi technique, the list of these risks was refined according to the economic conditions of Iran based on the opinions of experts. Then, the risk items and subsets identified in the previous step were weighted and prioritized using the SWARA technique.

It was found that using bipolar neutrosophic number sets is more effective than other methods when dealing with complex, ambiguous, and inadequate information. This technique can process positive and negative information simultaneously. The results indicated that the best strategies to deal with sanctions are reconstruction and major repairs in production lines, “focusing on research and development of products and processes”, and “reducing insurance premiums for domestic producers”. Also, the findings of SWARA's technique denoted that among the main risks, "lack of infrastructure" is the top priority and the "critical" risk is the last priority.

One limitation that should be considered is that the findings of this study were conducted in Abadan Oil Refining Company. Therefore, examining this approach in other companies might lead to different results. Given that this study was conducted at a specific period, caution should be exercised in generalizing the results in the long term and in the future. In this research, the Fuzzy Delphi, SWARA, Bipolar Neutrosophic and TOPSIS techniques were applied. Therefore, if a study is conducted using other approaches or other risks and strategies, the results might be different.

While explaining the neutrosophic method of bipolarity, the results can be used by managers in making policies in various economic fields, especially the oil refining industry. As a future research subject, the risks and strategies proposed in this study can be used to assess sustainable supply chain risks in other units in different industries to determine the model's validity. Based on the research findings, this study suggested focusing on the first three strategies that had higher priorities: i) renovation and major repairs in production lines; ii) establishing companies that can verify product quality and issue approvals at the international level, and iii) reducing insurance premiums for domestic producers. The proposed strategies are practically valuable for policymakers and managers who intend to enhance their ability against sanctions.

Sanctions have had a negative impact on the business revenues. Therefore, adopting the right strategies to counter and neutralize sanctions will improve corporate revenues. Increasing corporate revenues will enable them to fulfil their social responsibilities better and improve public satisfaction and societal well-being.

Most previous studies have examined barriers or presented models, while the innovation of this research can be explained in terms of identifying, categorizing, and prioritizing sustainable supply chain risks using bipolar neutrosophic hierarchical analysis in the Abadan oil refinery, a subject which had been neglected by researchers. The most important advantages of the present study include the combined and scaled reasoning method, rapid calculation, application of different weights of risks and strategies, inclusion of qualitative and quantitative indicators, high accuracy, and ranking and prioritization of risks and strategies.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is considered a modern concept in the production industry, based on which the physical and digital worlds are connected using the potential of the Internet. Since this technology is new, its acceptance and implementation in the oil and gas industry are associated with barriers. Therefore, this study aims to identify and analyze such barriers.

This study has been performed with a mixed approach in two phases. The qualitative phase was conducted to identify the barriers to using the Internet of Things in the oil and gas industry, and the quantitative phase was conducted to model and analyze the scenario. To identify and extract the barriers to using IoT in the oil and gas industry, it is identified through a literature review and content analysis method. In this research, 58 articles were analyzed and 10 industrial and academic experts analysed extracted barriers by using the Fuzzy cognitive mapping method. To analyze the scenarios, two categories of backward and forward scenarios have been designed. FCMapper software has been used for scenario design.

The results of the content analysis showed 10 barriers, which are subcategories of four aspects. The barriers identified are "limited coordination and collaboration" "lack of automation in organizations", "insufficient leadership support", "weak staff knowledge and abilities", "limited scalability", "opposition to change", "lack of Certain rules and standards for the adoption of the IoT", "the cost of data storage and analysis", "the high cost of implementation and maintenance", "security and confidentiality issues". Finally, these barriers were categorized into four main subcategories: "Organizational", "Integration", "Economic" and "Technical". The results of the fuzzy cognitive mapping method indicate that the barrier "security and confidentiality issues" with a factor of 4.34 has the highest level of influence, and the barrier "high implementation and maintenance cost" with a factor of 4.95 has the highest level of influence, and the barrier "security and confidentiality issues" has the highest centrality with a coefficient of 6.45.

Like any other research, this research has been faced with limitations. Considering that the research was limited to a specific industry, its findings may be affected by the opinions and biases of experts involved in the process, and we cannot generalize the results to another industry. Another limitation of this research is the complexity and time-consuming methods used in it. The methods of content analysis and fuzzy cognitive map may be complex and require sufficient time and a high level of expertise to use them, which can limit their application in some fields.

Considering that the IOT is an emerging and new technology, the adoption of this concept in the oil and gas industry can have several operational advantages, such as reducing testing and calibration time, minimizing production downtime, improving performance, and predicting maintenance performance. One of the important barriers to the use of IoT in the oil and gas industry is "security and data confidentiality" issues in different parts, and this issue causes the unwillingness of stakeholders and decision-makers to use this technology. Conducting research in the field of raising and increasing the security of these systems and ways to increase the security of privacy will greatly help in solving this barrier.

The study offers valuable insights for researchers, managers, and policymakers in the oil and gas industry concerning the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. To facilitate the adoption of IoT in the oil and gas industry, companies should invest in comprehensive training programs for managers and stakeholders to improve awareness and understanding of IoT technologies and their benefits.

Since several barriers have prevented the widespread adoption of the IOT in the oil and gas industry, in this research, the identification and extraction of these factors have been done comprehensively for the first time. Modelling and scenario analysis of these barriers with fuzzy cognitive mapping were also performed for the first time.