This paper develops an integrated approach, combining quality function deployment (QFD), fuzzy set theory, and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach, to evaluate and select the optimal third-party logistics service providers (3PLs). In the approach, multiple evaluating criteria are derived from the requirements of company stakeholders using a series of house of quality (HOQ). The importance of evaluating criteria is prioritized with respect to the degree of achieving the stakeholder requirements using fuzzy AHP. Based on the ranked criteria, alternative 3PLs are evaluated and compared with each other using fuzzy AHP again to make an optimal selection. The effectiveness of proposed approach is demonstrated by applying it to a Hong Kong based enterprise that supplies hard disk components. The proposed integrated approach outperforms the existing approaches because the outsourcing strategy and 3PLs selection are derived from the corporate/business strategy.

Concept of "organisational learning" has been widely advocated as one of the solutions for organisational development, especially for those companies requiring high level of technology and knowledge. While being applied to the entire organisation, the concept of organisational learning can also be applied to specific function or project teams, which can be named as "project" based organisations. This paper presents a new approach of learning for the project-based teams, which integrates learning and project in one, towards organisational learning ideals. Performance evaluation mechanism is also developed. With the developed evaluation, three dimensions of team performance, within the scope of project action-learning framework would be measured. It would tell the team where it stands at a particular point of time. In order to track the critical variables required to reach the goals, the developed measurement system framework will be adopted in the implementation phase.

In recent years, three key topics under the big umbrella of business process improvement (BPI) have been continuous process improvement (CPI), business process reengineering (BPR), and business process benchmarking (BPB). Each has received much attention and has been supported by a considerable amount of literature and empirical research and findings from business consultants and academics. Within the manufacturing domain, these three topics have been accepted by many manufacturing process analysts striving to improve productivity and efficiency of companies. However, organization structures in manufacturing enterprises are complex and involve many different processes. Their needs may be quite different. One process may require an incremental improvement in critical areas or technology updating in its existing operation while others may need a total enterprise‐wide process revamp. In other words, CPI, BPR, and BPB’s usefulness and applicability may not be universal; one or a combination of the two or three may be more appropriate, depending on the process, organization and its environment. An improvement framework which incorporates the characteristics of the three approaches has been developed. This paper describes the methodology, SUPER, and its use in a real case study.

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PurposeThis paper addresses the importance of a more proactive role of organizational learning (OL) facilitators, learning motivation reinforcer, through a two‐part longitudinal study in a case company. The first part of this study aims to investigate and analyze some unexpected challenges in the project action learning‐driven (PAL) OL implementation in the case company, and the second part seeks to discuss an enhanced role of OL facilitators to cope with the new challenges.Design/methodology/approachA longitudinal case study supplemented with a series of carefully choreographed field research activities, e.g. interviews, on‐site observations, survey tests, was conducted to achieve the research purpose. In the first part of this study, the feedbacks regarding PAL implementation were collected from different PAL stakeholders to identify the problems and barriers that undermined the effectiveness of PAL implementation. In its second part, the proposed facilitator's interventions were introduced in the case company. The results were examined through a controlled group experiment conducted with an on‐going round of PAL implementation.FindingsThe study found that adverse changes in business circumstances and organizational restructurings could dampen staff's motivation toward organization's OL initiatives which would further reduce the OL effectiveness. To redress the situation, a set of facilitator's interventions was developed to reinforce OL members' learning motivation. Study results indicate that the proposed interventions can positively influence the learning motivation of the PAL members in the case company.Practical implicationsThis paper describes the difficulties encountered in a real life OL journey and the role OL facilitators could take on to help overcome them. It provides empirical evidence of how the learning motivation and commitment of OL members can be positively influenced by OL facilitation.Originality/valueThe authors believe such longitudinal case based OL research is rare and valuable to OL theorists and practitioners.