Andrea Payaro

In the supplier evaluation process, companies focus on comparing performances. The literature offers various analysis methods, although the matrices used are often subjective and difficult to implement in practice. This article aims to develop an easily implementable model, aimed at meeting the company's need to identify suitable suppliers for integration projects. Integration involves establishing close collaboration and cooperation between suppliers and customers with the goal of reduced inventory levels, shorter delivery times, and improved customer service. Thanks to  the collaboration of a sample of companies, a new model is  proposed. Our research is structured in three phases: identification  of parameters for supplier evaluation; creation of the matrix; evaluation of the satisfaction level reported by the companies that  have used the model. A comparison matrix between ABC classes  and a multi-criteria supplier evaluation index allow the company  to define a set of suppliers with a high probability of integration.  This practical approach has been implemented in approximately 3 companies, and the level of satisfaction reported is high because it demonstrates greater rationality in supplier evaluation.

This paper aims to define a set of key performance indicators (KPI) useful for the implementation of Lean methodologies in large enterprises. Our study considers ten multinational companies that operate in Italy. Companies reveal they need a system that provides at-a-glance views of indicators relevant to monitor the Lean implementation process, in particular to support and to monitor. This paper proposes a model elaborated with the collaboration of manufacturing enterprises. The main target of this paper is the determination of KPIs suitable in different industries. The research has been conducted by the organization of meetings where all companies were represented by own managers. During the meetings, a list of indicators has been presented and a first selection has been operated by managers. After this first selection, the group has checked the validity, reliability, relevance and practicality of every parameter. This paper is a first-stage analysis in the search to find which indicators are the most useful by manufacturing companies. Later another follow-up study will check the importance to use a benchmarking system to compare the results in different industries.

Abstract: Traditionally a product was developed to be manufactured and go through the supply chain to be sold to a customer. However, supply chains are steadily integrating more activities than those concerned with supply alone, like including service and product recovery. Here we will focus on the latter, and especially reverse logistics, i.e. the handling of products, components and materials during the recovery process (Revlog, 1998). Several forces drive reverse logistics, like, competition and marketing motives, direct economic motives and concerns with the environment. At present, in literature it is not present a model that describes which products can easily be recovered and what are the elements that determine the feasibility of recovery process. This study aims to define the product's characteristics that influence the adoption of reverse logistics and to suggest the use of information technologies to support the recovery process. Information and communication technol...

Traditionally a product was developed to be manufactured and go through the supply chain (e.g. manufacturer-wholesalerretailer) to be sold to a customer. However, supply chains are steadily integrating more activities than those concerned with supply alone, like including service and product recovery. Here we will focus on the latter, and especially reverse logistics, i.e. the handling of products, components and materials during the recovery process (see Revlog, 1998-). Several forces drive reverse logistics, like, competition and marketing motives, direct economic motives and concerns with the environment. At present, in literature it is not present a model that describes which products can easily be recovered and what are the elements that determine the feasibility of recovery process. This study aims to define the product's characteristics that influence the adoption of reverse logistics and to suggest the use of information technologies to support the recovery process. Info...

The lean management is doing more with less by empl oying "lean thinking." It involves never ending efforts to eliminate or reduce wastes in design, manufacturing, distribution, and customer service processes. This paper aims to deve lop a tools that help companies to identify the wastes present in their strategies and give a prior ity to different issues identified. Moreover this study, by an explanatory study, aims to measure the result s of the application of this tools in the marketing strategies in a sample of 12 SMEs. The main results are that the companies involved in the project have a positive verdict on the model. In particular , the companies say that the model helps to identif y more quickly which tools use to improve the level o f customer satisfaction. It is easy to use and it can be used by all employees. Above all the model incre ases the level of knowledge of customers and their needs.

In contemporary entrepreneurial environment based on customer retention, the growth of the Internet has pushed the most dynamic businesses to compete in the electronic market. The recent evolvement of the Internet as a new major distribution channel has obtained much attention, as the online channel calls the viability of traditional stationary retailing into question. Today, since innovation is a key factor in the Digital Age, the presence in the digital marketplace is essential for retailers, also in the food retailing. The paper aims to analyze the online commerce for food groceries and compare the evolution from 2017 to 2019. The sample represents the 99% of Italian brands of brick and mortar supermarkets and hypermarket. The first study was conducted in 2017, after two years the paper has analyzed the same sample and reported how many groceries retailers have adopted the online selling. Through the visit of every Internet site and some interviews to managers, this paper proposes the reasons why only a limited number of grocery brands sell food over Internet. Moreover, this paper calculates the cost (in Italy) to prepare the expense and satisfy the order of a customer. Characteristics of goods (freshness, perishability, cold chain warranty, etc.), expensive operations needed to prepare the delivery, the cost of delivery, and difficult reverse logistics are the main causes of low adoption of e-commerce. Online groceries retailers are concentrated around big cities in particular in the north Italy (Milan, Turin, Genoa, etc.). Expense is prepared inside the retail by the employees. Some shops use the drive-in model and only a limited number of cases deliver to home. The few cases of food e-commerce offer the delivery only in a limited area of big cities. At the end, this paper demonstrates the logistics cost (picking, packing and transport) in Italy is higher than the price of the service and this strategy isn't profitable for companies.

Logistics is a one of the common function that companies usually outsourced. The decision to keep this function in-house or contract with one or many third-party logistics (3PL) companies is entirely strategic and can dramatically impact any organization's bottom line. 3PL users report an average of 44% of their total logistics expenditures are related to outsourcing. 72% of firms are increasing their use of outsourced logistics services in 2015, which is up slightly from the average reported in recent years. Most developed outsourcing logistics market belongs to the U.S. with 88%. It is followed by Asia 48%, and Europe – 46% (O’Reilly, 2010). In Italy some industries can reach the 70%, in particular food, groceries and fashion (Osservatorio Contract Logistics del Politecnico di Milano). There are many researches about logistics and large enterprises. There are less studies about Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and logistics outsourcing. SMEs play a major role in the I...

Logistics is a one of the common function that companies usually outsourced. The decision to keep this function in-house or contract with one or many third-party logistics (3PL) companies is entirely strategic and can dramatically impact any organization's bottom line. 3PL users report an average of 44% of their total logistics expenditures are related to outsourcing. 72% of firms are increasing their use of outsourced logistics services in 2015, which is up slightly from the average reported in recent years. Most developed outsourcing logistics market belongs to the U.S. with 88%. It is followed by Asia 48%, and Europe – 46% (O’Reilly, 2010). In Italy some industries can reach the 70%, in particular food, groceries and fashion (Osservatorio Contract Logistics del Politecnico di Milano). There are many researches about logistics and large enterprises. There are less studies about Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and logistics outsourcing. SMEs play a major role in the I...

Supply Chain Management (SCM) has become an integral part of strategy for all organizations irrespective of their size and sector in the present globalized and networked economy. The vast bulk of literature in supply chain management focuses, implicitly, on the vertical flow of products from source to the final consumer.

The lean management is doing more with less by employing " lean thinking. " It involves never ending efforts to eliminate or reduce wastes in design, manufacturing, distribution, and customer service processes. This paper aims to: Adapt to marketing the wastes identified in the lean; Propose some tools that can contribute to the reduction or the elimination of wastes present in the marketing strategies; Measure the results of the application of these tools in the marketing strategies in a sample of 10 SMEs. Ten SMEs situated in the north east area of Italy are using this classification to identify the wastes in their marketing strategies. The main results are an increasing customer satisfaction, the standardization of processes and the reduction of process cycle time. Companies use mainly value stream mapping or makigami to eliminate non value added activities in their process. Two companies are adopting some CPFR applications. They reduced the number of out of shelf per month. All enterprises declare that this classification is a useful method to take evidence on non value added activities.

Customer satisfaction is one of the most important issues concerning business organizations of all types, which is justified by the customer-orientation philosophy and the main principles of continuous improvement of modern enterprises. Nowadays most companies operate multiple channels including Internet. For companies, receiving a complaint by Internet is particularly attractive as online complaint management increases both the efficiency and effectivity of complaint management. Moreover, complaint channel choice and online consumer complaining behavior have received only limited attention. The aim of this paper is to verify the after sale service of 138 companies producers of consumer goods. In particular, this study measures the response time and the quality of the answer after a complaint sent by email or web form. The sample is composed of food (no fresh, no private label) goods and they are randomly selected from the shelf of supermarket. In our sample, a small percentage of companies don't write the Internet site or an email address on the product's label (14%). Only large enterprises and multinational companies answer in less than 24-48 hours. Often they personalize the reply and only in few cases they surprise their customer with something the customer doesn't wait. Probably, small and medium enterprises don't consider the customer service a main component of the business.

The lean management is doing more with less by employing “lean thinking.” It involves never ending efforts to eliminate or reduce wastes  in design, manufacturing, distribution, and customer service processes. This paper aims to develop a tools that help companies to identify the wastes present in their strategies and give a priority to different issues identified. Moreover this study, by an explanatory study, aims to measure the results of the application of this tools in the marketing strategies in a sample of 12 SMEs. The main results are that the companies involved in the project have a positive verdict on the model. In particular, the companies say that the model helps to identify more quickly which tools use to improve the level of customer satisfaction. It is easy to use and it can be used by all employees. Above all the model increases the level of knowledge of customers and their needs.

Customer satisfaction is one of the most important issues concerning business organizations of all types, which is justified by the customer- orientation philosophy and the main principles of continuous improvement of modern enterprises. Nowadays most companies operate multiple channels including Internet. For companies, receiving a complaint by Internet is particularly attractive as online complaint management increases both the efficiency and effectivity of complaint management. Moreover, complaint channel choice and online consumer complaining behavior have received only limited attention.
The aim of this paper is to verify the after sale service of 138 companies producers of consumer goods. In particular, this study measures the response time and the quality of the answer after a complaint sent by email or web form. The sample is composed of food (no fresh, no private label) goods and they are randomly selected from the shelf of supermarket.
In our sample, a small percentage of companies don’t write the Internet site or an email address on the product’s label (14%). Only large enterprises and multinational companies answer in less than 24-48 hours. Often they personalize the reply and only in few cases they surprise their customer with something the customer doesn’t wait. Probably, small and medium enterprises don’t consider the customer service a main component of the business.

This paper presents key performance indicator (KPI) concept for the
implementation of Lean methodologies in large enterprises. Within ten case studies the
concept is developed and improved. The purpose of the measurement system is to create a
dashboard that provides at-a-glance views of indicators relevant to monitor the Lean
implementation process. This paper proposes a model elaborated with the collaboration of
large Italian manufacturing enterprises.
The main target of this paper is the determination of KPIs that are the most useable and
most suitable in different industries to support and monitor lean implementations. The
research has been conducted by the organization of meetings where all companies were
represented by own managers. During the meetings, a list of indicators has been presented
and a first selection has been operated by managers. After this first selection, the group have
checked the validity, reliability, relevance and practicality of every parameter.
This paper is a first-stage analysis in the search to find which indicators are the most useful
by manufacturing companies. Later another follow-up study will check the importance to use
a benchmarking system to compare the results in different.

Il processo di fulfillment, definito come l'insieme di attività che ha inizio nel momento dell'invio dell'ordine, integra flussi di prodotto, come la movimentazione e la spedizione, con servizi di cura (customer care) e di supporto al cliente. Al fine di migliorare l'esecuzione e il controllo del processo di fulfillment, partendo da un'analisi della supply chain, si proporrà un modello in grado di mettere in evidenza le fasi che lo costituiscono. Tale modello diviene necessario soprattutto nel momento in cui si devono definire i parametri necessari per la misurazione delle prestazioni. Le più grandi aziende stanno scoprendo un nuovo modo di gestire i processi per aumentare il proprio vantaggio competitivo. Tale gestione viene denominata supply chain management e comprende tutte quelle attività che portano il prodotto in modo efficiente al mercato e generano la soddisfazione nei clienti. Nel tempo la nozione di supply chain ha progressivamente richiamato semp...

Electronic business is the process which uses Internet technology to simplify certain company processes, improve productivity and increase efficiency. It allows companies to easily communicate with their suppliers, buyers and customers, to integrate “back-office” systems with those used for transactions, to accurately transmit information and to carry out data analysis in order to increase their competitiveness.The aim of this work

Electronic business is the process which uses Internet technology to simplify certain company processes, improve productivity and increase efficiency. It allows companies to easily communicate with their suppliers, buyers and customers, to integrate “back-office” systems with those used for transactions, to accurately transmit information and to carry out data analysis in order to increase their competitiveness.The aim of this work

Logistics is a one of the common function that companies usually outsourced. The decision to keep this function in-house or contract with one or many third-party logistics (3PL) companies is entirely strategic and can dramatically impact any organization's bottom line. 3PL users report an average of 44% of their total logistics expenditures are related to outsourcing. 72% of firms are increasing their use of outsourced logistics services in 2015, which is up slightly from the average reported in recent years. Most developed outsourcing logistics market belongs to the U.S. with 88%. It is followed by Asia 48%, and Europe – 46% (O’Reilly, 2010). In Italy some industries can reach the 70%, in particular food, groceries and fashion (Osservatorio Contract Logistics del Politecnico di Milano). There are many researches about logistics and large enterprises. There are less studies about Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and logistics outsourcing. SMEs play a major role in the Italian economic system. Their business activities have become an important component of the Italian economy.
This paper aims to depict the adoption level of outsourcing by Italian SMEs. By direct interviews to 30 companies’ representatives we investigate which services or processes are outsourced. We investigate the reasons why companies adopt or don’t adopt the externalization. Moreover, for every company we calculate the logistics costs of simple logistics processes. In effect, we wish to compare the logistics costs communicated by the firms and the same costs calculated with ABC (Activity Based Cost) model. This research demonstrate that SMEs adopt 3PLs only for transportation. SMEs do not know all the logistics services offered by 3PLs and SMEs think the services are dedicated only to large enterprises. Finally, many companies are not able to calculate logistics costs, then they cannot compare a 3PL offer with their real costs.

The new 7-steps model to design supply chain organization after lockdown or crises. INSIEME means:
1) I: Investigation.
2) N: Network.
3) S: Support and Security.
4) I: Innovation.
5) E: Elimination.
6) M: Measurements.
7) E: Execution.

For a product to sell, it has to respond to the needs of a group of people, called consumers. This then raises the question: have all consumer needs already been satisfied? Are there still opportunities to propose new products?
In the stores or shops where we go to buy what we need, sales assistants have the task of convincing us to buy certain goods. Why are sales assistants so important in the selling process? Is competence or an attractive appearance more important?
Out of all the places we shop, supermarkets are certainly the most fascinating: thousands of products artistically displayed in a carousel of lights, fragrances and colours.
When paying at the checkout, customers give the cashier their loyalty card or rewards card. As well as collecting points, what else is this simple tool used for? What can loyalty cards reveal about our lives
The best-selling products in shops are often those that help us save time. How much do consumers spend on products that mean more free time? Do they really help save time?
Everyone likes to receive the VIP treatment. However, do businesses treat all customers the same, or are there differences? Do those who buy more get better service?
The market is changing continuously because society is changing and so are its needs. Do women feel represented by the products they are offered? Are seniors a resource for society?
Marketers know more than ever about what goes on inside a consumer’s brain when buying. Can businesses steer people’s behaviour? Will consumers continue to be able to use their "own heads" to make decisions?
Fear makes consumers act less rationally. Can fear be used to sell products? Does bad news help sell more than good news?
Some things to know before you buy. What makes a product “natural”? Does a special offer mean that consumers save money? Can you be really sure that a product is “made in Italy”? Can you lose a lot of weight in a short time without risking your health?
The Internet has become a means for socialising, shopping, keeping informed. The true potential of the net is yet to be explored, given the many new electronic devices that can now access it. Online shopping is growing exponentially. Nevertheless, some products are easy to buy online, while others are still better bought at the local store.