Gyula Vastag

Corvinus University of Budapest

A structured conceptualization method, concept mapping, is applied to visualize the conceptual domain of explicit and tacit quality linkages in a complex, causally ambiguous production system of a premium automotive OEM. Experts, intimately familiar with all facets of the conceptual domain, defined sources of quality problems and rated their impact...

Production management teams often face unfamiliar situations where each team member must understand new phenomena individually before the team can make mutually understandable and acceptable decisions. Contradicting subjective judgments can distort the group’s decision-making process because team members understand situations differently and are ge...

A magyar szénipar jövőképe az elmúlt években jelentősen átalakult. A szénalapú villamosenergia- termelés csökkenését a gazdasági környezet mellett a változó energiapolitikai (elsősorban szigorodó környezetvédelmi) megfontolások vezérlik. Jogi-szabályozási oldalról a szénipar helyzetét komplex rendszerként ajánljuk értelmezni, ahol az affirmatív (tá...

Complex networks and complex adaptive systems theories come from hard sciences. The question arises whether these viewpoints can add anything to the understanding of the operation and failures of continental normativity governing the public sector. In the first part, this paper intends to demonstrate for the first time via industry-specific example...

This paper introduces concept mapping – one form of ‘structured conceptualization’ – through describing and structuring improvement options of Hungarian government service centres (in Hungarian, these service centres are also known as ‘government windows’ or ‘kormányablakok’). Hungarian service centres are implementations of the ‘one-stop shop’ con...

Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCMs) is an appropriate tool to describe, qualitatively analyze or simulate the behavior of complex systems. FCMs are bipolar fuzzy graphs: their building blocks are the concepts and the arcs. Concepts represent the most important components of the system, the weighted arcs define the strength and direction of cause-effect rela...

This paper, using the formation of the national public utility company as an example, describes some key strategy shifts in the Hungarian energy policy. Whereas the centralised, state-controlled national public utility is merely five years old; still, it has already a ‘long’ and thought-provoking history. While public utilities traditionally focuse...

Dobos–Michalkó–Nováky [2019] „habitus-metria” cikkükben gondolatébresztő módon mutatják be a magyar egyetemi habilitációs eljárások publikációs követelményeinek heterogén jellegét. Rámutatnak, hogy Magyarországon bár „erőteljes habilitációs igény” észlelhető, a habilitációs követelményrendszer nem egységes. Cikkük célja, hogy egy olyan vitát kezdem...

A cikk a Nemzetközi Közmenedzsment Hálózat (IPMN) 2015. évi konferenciáján előadott és beadott dolgozatainak empirikus elemzésével járul hozzá a közigazgatás-tudományon belül zaj- ló viták két eleméhez. Egyrészt a konferencián bemutatott tanulmányok elméleti, koncepcioná- lis és kutatás-módszertani hátterének elemzésével vizsgáljuk, hogy a tudomány...

The paper, using measurements from multiple shipments, explores challenges global supply chains face in intermodal shipping environments. Specifically, data (e.g., vibration levels, shocks, changes of temperature and relative humidity) from truck and vessel combinations in less-than-truckload shipments across continents are analyzed to pinpoint cri...

This article argues the importance of social embeddedness at mobile providers by examining the effects of customers’ network topological properties on churn probability—the probability of a customer switching from one telecommunication provider to another. This article uses data from regional snowball sampling—the only practically feasible network...

This article argues the importance of social embeddedness at mobile providers by examining the effects of customers’ network topological properties on churn probability—the probability of a customer switching from one telecommunication provider to another. This article uses data from regional snowball sampling—the only practically feasible network...

An interview with Albert-László Barabási. The interview contributes to the dialogue among researchers from across the physical and social sciences who share a common interest in understanding the antecedents and consequences of network phenomena. It took place on 15 November 2012 at the Central European University.

Using plant level data from a global survey with multiple time frames, one begun in the late 1990s, this paper introduces measures of supply chain integration and discusses the dynamic relationship between the level of integration and a set of internal and external performance measurements. Specifically, data from Hungary, The Netherlands and The P...

The implementation of country-specific supply chain coordination techniques ensures an optimal global supply chain performance. This paper looks at success factors going with a supply chain coordination strategy within the global supply chain of a successful, medium-sized, privately-owned company, one having locations in North America (USA), Europe...

This paper, using detailed time measurements of patients complemented by interviews with hospital management and staff, examines three facets of an emergency room's (ER) operational performance: (1) effectiveness of the triage system in rationing patient treatment; (2) factors influencing ER's operational performance in general and the trade-offs i...

In this chapter, we present the theoretical underpinnings of and conditions for learning through experiences gained in immersive learning simulations (or simply gaming) and show some examples of authentic learning experiences for business professionals. We argue that recent developments in the theory of knowledge acquisition coupled with changes in...

This paper examines a widely cited work in operations management, the theory of production competence, advanced initially by Cleveland, Schroeder, and Anderson (CSA). This intuitively appealing proposition asserts that production competence leads to improved business performance. However, CSA's empirical work has been criticized by Vickery and her...

Over the last several years a number of independent empirical studies have shown that organizational performance is related to a portfolio of management techniques, clearly demonstrating that there is no single “silver bullet.” In fact, these studies indicate that performance is positively correlated with the number of techniques employed and the d...

This replication study of the drivers of ISO 14000 certifications extends the work of Corbett and Kirsch (2001) and provides a different and simpler predictive model of the factors contributing to the growth of ISO 14000 certifications. The main finding is that at national level ISO 14000 certification densities can be explained by two factors: the...

This paper uses the relationships between three basic, fundamental and proven concepts in manufacturing (resource commitment to improvement programs, flexibility to changes in operations, and customer delivery performance) as the empirical context for reviewing and comparing two casual modeling approaches (structural equation modeling and Bayesian...

In the decade of the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, management gurus and consultants alike were touting the advantages of speed over quality and were suggesting other initiatives. Early in this period the global manufacturing research group gathered data on manufacturing practices and performance in non-fashion textile and small machine tool firms. In...

While the rest of the world has generally accepted ISO 14001 as the environmental standard, US firms, in general, have lagged behind in their acceptance of this standard. Given the relative importance of US manufacturing and given that one of the objectives of the ISO 14001 standard was that it was to be a global standard, this apparent 'hesitancy'...

Over the past , there have been several attempts in operations management to rate journals, authors and schools based on their research productivity and quality. While many of these have been very helpful in generating a relative ranking of productivity and prestige, these analyses seem incomplete in many ways. Most notably, they neglected the fact...

In this paper, we analyze a model that states that investing in progressive manufacturing programs, combined with a modern approach to supplier issues, has a direct effect on inventory level and structure, which in turn directly affects delivery service and delivery related competitive advantages. The model was tested on data from the Global Manufa...

An increasing number of corporations around the world are certifying their environmental management systems by ISO 14000 series standards. Advocates of ISO 14001 claim substantial operational, managerial, and competitive benefits for corporations that adopt the international guidelines. Critics contend that ISO 14001 does not ensure either legal co...

An increasing number of corporations around the world are certifying their environmental management systems by ISO 14000 series standards. Advocates of ISO 14001 claim substantial operational, managerial, and competitive benefits for corporations that adopt the international guidelines. Critics contend that ISO 14001 does not ensure either legal co...

This paper seeks to illustrate how the basic theory of performance frontiers proposed by Schmenner and Swink [Schmenner, R.L., and Swink, M.L., 1998. On theory in operations management. Journal of Operations Management, 17, 97–113] can be extended to apply to a broader range of operations management issues. It extends the scope of the proposed theo...

The future costs of environmental cleanup and protection in Central and Eastern Europe will be enormous, but governments and international organizations have inadequate resources to bring countries in the region up to international standards. Domestic and foreign private investment in the region can play important roles in reversing environmental d...

The foundation of metropolitan economic development is rapidly changing as inter-national trade and investment become more critical forces in national, regional, and urban economic growth. Economic globalization will require metropolitan areas to create a business climate that supports and attracts internationally competitive firms and industries....

Korea's pursuit of globalization is being driven by its membership in international trade organizations, its international trade agreements, and the need to accelerate exports, its primary source of economic growth. Reforming its international trade regime, however, is only part of what Korea must do to make its corporations more competitive in int...

Corporations engaged in international business face increasingly complex challenges in preparing environmental management policies for their plants or sites in different operating environments. Rapidly evolving international standards such as ISO 14000 encourage corporations to certify their environmental management systems, but leave them broad di...

This article reports the results of a survey conducted in Hungary to compare the environmental perceptions of Hungarian corporate managers with those of other executives from around the world who had earlier responded to a similar survey conducted by McKinsey and Company. The results showed virtually no differences in how Hungarian managers perceiv...

Nitrokemia is a large chemical company situated on the touristed shores of Lake Balaton, Hungary. Odorous emission from an out-of-control sludge pond provoked a vociferous community response - leading to charges that blamed the company for an escalating variety of health hazards said to affect fish, wildlife, and the surrounding orchards and vineya...

This article proposes a framework to evaluate corporate environmental strategies. In the proposed framework, a company's environmental risks are analyzed on two dimensions. One dimension, the endogenous environmental risks, arises from the internal operations of the company. The other dimension, the exogenous environmental risks, are determined by...

First, based on a review of current manufacturing trends, argues for a new type of logistical infrastructure supporting agility and quick response to global markets. Second, shows how this new logistical infrastructure is being put in place. Describes the Global TransPark project in North Carolina and its empirical support aimed at creating a logis...

This paper presents a general analytical framework for making bilateral comparisons of manufacturing practices. The approach suggests a grouping of the data, defines a conservative test called a pure regional effect, and matches the data types to the appropriate statistical tests. The methodology is used to compare manufacturing practices in North...

In this paper the authors report on three areas where statistical inventory control (SIC) expectations diverge from reality. First, actual inventory performance seems immune to the use of modern techniques like material requirements planning (MRP) or just-in-time (JIT). Second, simulation studies seem to provide higher than expected customer servic...

Asks whether China will be able to sustain its current rate of economic growth and compete in the North American market, by comparing manufacturing practices in China and North America. Uses data obtained by questionnaire from companies in the non-fashion textile and small machine-tool industries. Considers three factors that differentiate the two...

This paper reports a study of the inventory, lead time and delivery promise data from the Global Manufacturing Research Group. It finds that manufacturing lead time increases as work-in-process inventory increases, as theory suggests. Also, many companies promise delivery in less time than it takes to produce the product and the difference is not e...

This paper presents a comparison of manufacturing practices between Hungary, Western Europe and North America. The supposition is that differences in operational practice may matter in the success of joint ventures or other strategic alliances. The comparison is based on a survey of firms in the small machine tool and non-fashion textile industries...

The purpose of the paper is twofold: on one hand it analyzes the trends followed by Hungarian companies in implementing CIM. On the other hand it focuses on the human factors of implementation: it analyzes the data of 174 questionnaires completed at five major Hungarian companies examining managerial attitudes towards actual CIM implementation at t...

In an earlier paper a multi-echelon production-inventory system has been described and a heuristic suggestion has been developed. The purpose of this paper is to give further analysis of the same system; namely, its dynamic behavior is discussed.

The paper describes the author's approach to and experiences with delivering the core Operations Management course in Kelley Direct's (Indiana University) online MBA program. The emphasis is on showing ways to maintain, or even enhance, the interactive nature of traditional course deliveries of day MBA programs and provide better student feedback a...