محمدرضا صادقی مقدم

In recent decades, digitalization has emerged as a key factor in the transformation of industries. Along with the advances that digitization has brought for industries, environmental and social issues have also been challenged. In this context, Toman's use of lean production principles along with digital technologies has emerged as a sustainable strategy in order to reduce the negative effects on the environment, society and the challenges facing it. But the important point in between is the importance of social aspects along with technical aspects. The underlying importance of the category of culture as a social aspect in the organization is of great importance for the foundation of these principles. For this reason, in this research, the digitization of production has been investigated on sustainable performance with the mediating role of lean production and moderator of lean culture. The statistical sample consisted of 211 companies active in the value chain of automobiles and related parts, and a standard questionnaire was distributed among them using a simple random method. Smart-PLS3 software was used for analysis. The results of the hypothesis test showed that digitization and lean production have a significant effect on the realization of sustainable performance. Also, by using digital technologies and establishing a pure culture, it is possible to improve the performance of industries and reduce environmental and social impacts.

Microfinance as a predominant poverty alleviation strategy with the aim of lifting poor out of poverty, provides financial services to poor. This research examines the effect of using micro loans on the growth of people's income and lifting them from poverty line. Also, with regard to the financial aid to MFI, changing in years of donate and its effect on lifting people from poverty line are discussed. In addition, the effect of marketing and increasing the probability of sales as a complementary service of microfinance, in the growth of income is investigated. Therefore, this research, examines the effect of microfinance on increase income and lifting poor from poverty by considering two policies changing the number of years of donate to MFI and increasing the probability of selling the product.

In MFIs, the way of providing resources, different conditions of lending, as well as the interactions between people, and become member of MFIs and influencing receipting of loans, creates a complex environment. The heterogeneous characteristics and behaviors as well as the interactions between agents in a dynamic environment, cause the emergence of complex events that using agent-based modeling approach can help to understand and model. agent-based modeling is a simulation approach of a set of autonomous, independent and decision-making agents that are interconnected and tries to investigate the final results of a system by modeling the behavior of individual elements. In this research, agent-based modeling approach has been used.

The result shows the provision of microloans has increased people's income and provides the possibility of getting out of absolute poverty for most people. In this research, we considered the interest rate to be zero, the results showed the resorce of MFI based on savings and repayment of installments can increase, so that the number of paid loans even in the policy of 2 years donate increased. Therefore, by providing interest-free microloans and even limiting the duration of assistance, a sustainable microfinance MFI can be created. Also, the policy of changing the number of years of donate to MFI and increasing the number of years of donate from three years to four years does not have a significant effect on increasing people's income, and MFI will be able to continue based on savings and receiving repayment of installments, but increasing the number of years of donate will cause the number of loans so that by increasing years of donate to 2, 3 and 4, the number of loans paid is equal to 155, 221 and 278, respectively. Also, the results of modeling of increasing the probability of sale showed that in the scenario with the probability of 80% sales, the income of people and the number of people above the poverty line are much higher than the scenario of the probability of 60% sales. Totally, the modeling of the policies of changing the number of donate years to MFI and changing the probability of sales showed that more financial aid to MFI does not lead to more income of people and lifitin tehm from poverty line, but what causes more income is helping to marketing and sales product.

Reducing the number of donate years and using the released financial resources to create a market and increase the possibility of sales will make poverty alleviation policies more effective. In other words, if the financial resources of donate helps to create guaranteed markets or to form permanent markets, creates a greater leverage effect for increasing income of  members than the increase the number of donate years to MFI.

The rapid development of technology and the entry of Generation Z into the circle of technology consumers, along with major transformations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have led to fundamental changes in many industries. The banking industry has not been immune to these changes, and banking is no longer in the traditional sense of going to an institution with multiple branches and having a physical presence in them, but is in the process of becoming completely digital and branchless, under the title of neobanks. In other words, at the macro level, demographic changes in the consumption system and then the coronavirus created a serious demand for neobanking services and ultimately brought neobanks from the niche level to the socio-technical regime level; so much so that from 2020 to 2022, 9 Iranian neobanks have hosted more than 10 million users, and a significant part of the root of this transition and the spread of new technology in the consumer perception layer can be analyzed. Therefore, understanding this phenomenon from the consumer's perspective seems necessary to analyze the banking transition. This research, by examining the lived experience of people in using neobanks, intends to provide a suitable definition of the new banking method in the context of the daily life of Iranian society with a focus on generations Z and Y. Therefore, using Moustakas' phenomenological method, after conducting in-depth interviews with 15 purposive samples, structural and contextual descriptions were extracted and finally, in the form of 5 main themes in the consumption pattern experience of these two generations, including 1. Completely digital experience, 2. Minimal user experience, 3. Useful experience, 4. Security and trust experience, and 5. Prestigious consumption experience were articulated as the drivers of the transition.

Quality 4.0 is an emerging research topic and refers to how to adopt quality management in the fourth industrial revolution era, which today's organizations can use as a strategy for competition and progress in the market. This research aims to investigate the barriers to applying Quality 4.0. Therefore, in the first step, the obstacles to applying Quality 4.0 were identified by reviewing the literature. In the second step, identifying barriers is localized using Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM). The approved barriers are prioritized in the last effort using the Bayesian best-worst method (BWM). The case study of this research is Shahr-e Ketab Institute, and the expert panel included eight senior managers of this organization. Using the literature, 23 barriers to applying Quality 4.0 are identified. According to the results of FDM, seven barriers were confirmed. Based on the results of the Bayesian BWM, the cost of deploying Quality 4.0 infrastructures is recognized as a more critical barrier. Lack of trained and qualified human resources and digital integration are ranked second and third, respectively. The results of this research are of particular importance because it plays a significant role in helping stakeholders understand the barriers to implementing Quality 4.0.

With the emergence of a phenomenon called "Fourth Industrial Revolution" and its technologies and applications, developed countries such as: Germany, America, Japan and some developing countries such as: China, India, trying to create suitable infrastructures. They have evaluated and improved their level of readiness in order to enter to the fourth industrial revolution in various industries to achieve its many benefits through digitization. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the readiness level of organizations and industries to enter this digital industrial revolution, and in line with that, the necessary strategies to achieve the desired readiness level and implement the technologies and systems of the fourth industrial revolution are determined. Therefore, the present research aims to introduce the best Industry 4.0 readiness models by a wide review of the research literature and analyze the models in order to help organizations to use the appropriate readiness models and evaluate their degree of readiness. The results show that the best model based on the six research evaluation criteria is Impuls readiness model and Warwick University's readiness model is in second place.

Today, productivity is one of the most important factors in economic growth. At the organizational level, a high level of productivity indicates optimal performance to gain a competitive advantage. Despite the important role of productivity of service organizations in economic growth, few studies have been conducted in this context. The purpose of this study is to evaluate service productivity by a combined fuzzy best-worst method and data envelopment analysis.
In the first stage, carrying out a comprehensive review of the research literature, indicators of service productivity evaluation were identified. Then, the evaluation indicators were weighed using the fuzzy best-worst method. After weighing the indicators and determining the importance of each of them, using the data envelopment analysis approach, the efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity of Mazandaran Electricity Distribution Company were evaluated for five consecutive years from 2016 to 2020.
In this study, efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity were simultaneously evaluated using quantitative and qualitative indicators affecting the evaluation of the productivity of electricity distribution companies.
The obtained results would help to assess service productivity by emphasizing both quantitative and qualitative aspects of services and paying attention to the dimensions of efficiency and effectiveness simultaneously. Productivity improvement strategies were also suggested based on the achieved results of the current study.

The influence of climate change on the frequency and severity of natural disasters is ever-increasing on a global scale. While natural disasters are unpredictable, emerging technologies can help with their prevention. Technologies allow responders to act sooner rather than later. The importance of the humanitarian supply chain in reducing the suffering and injuries caused by natural disasters is also undeniable. Developing emerging technologies offers an opportunity to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of responses of the humanitarian supply chain to disasters. Since Iran is one of the most natural catastrophe-prone countries in the world, this study aims to identify and prioritize emerging technologies suitable for its humanitarian supply chain. This study could provide solutions for responders and decision-makers to achieve an effective humanitarian supply chain.

This is descriptive survey research and its statistical population consists of five emerging technology experts in the Iranian humanitarian supply chain. To identify and prioritize applications of emerging technologies in the humanitarian supply chain, the Best-Worst method (BWM) was used.

Reviewing the extant academic literature, 12 emerging technologies in the humanitarian supply chain were investigated. After assessing their content validity, experts selected eight relevant technologies for Iran’s humanitarian supply chain; including “Big Data”, “Internet of Things”, “Augmented Reality”, “Smart Robots”, “Artificial Intelligence”, “Gamification”, “3D Printing”, and “Smart Advisors”. In the next step, two sets of questionnaires were distributed among the experts. The questionnaires were collected and analyzed to measure the attractiveness and capabilities of emerging technologies in Iran’s humanitarian supply chain. The weights of technologies' attractiveness were calculated based on five filled-in questionnaires and by the Best-Worst Method and LINGO software. Next, to assess the technical capability of each emerging technology, eight Likert scale questionnaires were distributed. Finally, the gathered research data was analyzed using SPSS 26. Capability-Attractiveness Matrix was then formed. Analyzing areas of the Matrix helped the researchers determine specific actions suitable for each emerging technology. Based on the findings, “Smart Robots”, “3D Printing” and “Smart Advisors” technologies were placed in the “Position protection/Development” area with the highest capability and attractiveness. “Artificial Intelligence” was placed in the “improvement” area with high attractiveness and relatively low capability. “Internet of Things” and “Gamification” had a high capability andrelatively low attractiveness. “Big Data” and “Augmented Reality” with relatively low capability and attractiveness had the least priority in Iran’s Humanitarian Supply Chain.

The critical role that emerging technologies play in disaster preparedness and recovery is increasingly becoming recognized. The findings of the BWM Method and Capability-Attractiveness Matrix can be a good help for decision-makers and key players in the humanitarian supply chain. Natural disaster preparedness and collaboration to reduce impact across the humanitarian supply chain have never been more important. Utilizing these emerging technologies can minimize fatalities and injuries caused by natural disasters. Emerging technologies need to be adapted to various situations that arise during disaster relief.

This study introduces Metaphorical Operational Research (MOR) as a new insight into decision making and answers to some criticisms of classical Operational Research (OR). It also shows the ability of MOR to describe pairs trading problems.

The basic assumption of the study is that classic OR is still in the crisis phase before the paradigm shift and no competing paradigm has ever been able to overcome it and provide a complete response to the criticisms. Therefore, in order to respond to some of the criticisms, this study tried to introduce MOR as a new subject in the field of OR. The main focus of this paper was to introduce the problem representation process (as a classic OR critical point) using MOR as a novel approach to problem structuring. Also, in order to show the ability of MOR, this study used pairs trading problems as a case study and binary stars as a source domain. This study used MOR to redefine the pairs trading problems in the form of binary stars and theorize in this field.

The findings of this study show that there are six principles as the main theories of this research in pairs trading problems by looking at it through the window of binary stars. These principles include the principle of the common center of gravity, the principle of historical records, the principle of divergence convergence, the principle of external conditions neutrality, the property of being a pair, and the existence of different classes of pairs.

Two general conclusions can be drawn from the study. First, it is possible to communicate between binary stars and paired shares through MOR. Second, MOR can solve some problems that classical OR cannot address.

The Markowitz-based portfolio selection turns to an NP-hard problem when considering cardinality constraints. In this case, existing exact solutions like quadratic programming may not be efficient to solve the problem. Many researchers, therefore, used heuristic and metaheuristic approaches in order to deal with the problem. This work presents Asexual Reproduction Optimization (ARO), a model-free metaheuristic algorithm inspired by the asexual reproduction, in order to solve the portfolio optimization problem including cardinality constraint to ensure the investment in a given number of different assets and bounding constraint to limit the proportions of fund invested in each asset. This is the first time that this relatively new metaheuristic is applied in the field of portfolio optimization, and we show that ARO results in better quality solutions in comparison with some of the well-known metaheuristics stated in the literature. To validate our proposed algorithm, we measured the deviation of the obtained results from the standard efficient frontier. We report our computational results on a set of publicly available benchmark test problems relating to five main market indices containing 31, 85, 89, 98, and 225 assets. These results are used in order to test the efficiency of our proposed method in comparison to other existing metaheuristic solutions. The experimental results indicate that ARO outperforms Genetic Algorithm (GA), Tabu Search (TS), Simulated Annealing (SA), and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) in most of test problems. In terms of the obtained error, by using ARO, the average error of the aforementioned test problems is reduced by approximately 20 percent of the minimum average error calculated for the above-mentioned algorithms.

Because the industry still faces challenges, it requires an environment of collaboration. This can be achieved through networking and interaction between platform owners and manufacturers of complementary products within a platform based ecosystems as one of the success factors. The purpose of this study is to present a model to investigate the factors affecting the integration of the manufacture of complementary products into new products development in the space industry in Islamic republic of Iran. The current research was conducted using descriptive – correlation methodology. Respondents were senior executives and national space project managers. Structural equation modelling (SEM) technique using Partial least squares path modeling (PLS) statistical software was employed to test of the research model and hypotheses. Data analysis indicates a significant and positive relationship between product modularity, product novelty, complexity of product development tasks and integration of the manufactures of complementary products into platform-based new product development process. There is a negative and significant relationship between the strategic importance of product development tasks and the integration of partners into the platform-based new product development process. Finally, the findings showed that the integration of partners has a positive and significant relationship with the performance of the platform-based new product.

This study aimed to simulate a humanitarian supply chain coordination model to reconstruct houses of flood victims under inflationary and non-inflationary conditions.

A village in the Northern Iranian Province of Mazandaran with 160 households was studied. 60% of the village was ruined due to the floods that inundated the region in 2019. An agent-based simulation was used in this applied research. To achieve the research goal, the factors (actors) of the humanitarian supply chain for housing reconstruction in the flood disaster were identified. The housing reconstruction factors in the flood humanitarian supply chain were then determined. The relationship between the actors of the humanitarian supply chain to coordinate the reconstruction of housing in the flood disaster was identified. Finally, a model of factor behaviors for coordinating housing reconstruction in the flood humanitarian supply chain was presented. Considering the use of the factor-based simulation method to answer research questions, this was an analytical-descriptive study. It was causal in terms of the purpose of applied research. In terms of the data collection method, since it sought to identify factors and the relationship between them, it was a comparison. Also, according to Walker's classification, this research was an analytical-mathematical one.

Three agents of the government, celebrity donors, and flood victims (with damaged houses) were identified. Then, two scenarios of receiving government aid or only aid from celebrity donors under inflationary and non-inflationary conditions were considered. The agents' internal relationships, characteristics, behaviors, and decisions were also simulated using agent-based modeling. Finally, through interviews, the indicators of coordination in the reconstruction of flood-affected housing were identified, and coordination in each of the scenarios was evaluated.

As proved, in the receiving donor's financial aids scenario, the humanitarian supply chain coordination score was higher among the agents. Also, the houses reconstructed under non-inflationary conditions were higher in both scenarios.

Long-term delays to complete residential units, due to lack of adequate and punctual financing, is considered as a developer's problem, in the process of housing production. In this regard, the present study, with the consideration of the challenges that obstacle the efficient pre-sale of residential units, aims to determine the pre-sale policies of housing by providing a model based on the system dynamics approach in order to provide sufficient and punctual financial resources, reduce delays in completion, reduce opportunity cost and to achieve a balance between developers’ and buyers’ profit. After making a dynamic model and validating it, 48 scenarios consisting of the states of five lever variables were simulated and after analyzing the results, improvement policies which include four alternatives were extracted. The results indicate that to produce the residential units with average prices, whether the percentage offered of area for initial pre-sale is 0/3, the initial pre-sale discount coefficient relative to the price of the completed unit is 0/06 and the down payment coefficient is 0/3, from which the mentioned variables will lead to a significant reduction in completion delays and opportunity cost, and also will balance the profit of both developers and buyers.

Today, productivity is one of the most important drivers of economic growth. At the organizational level, a high level of productivity has indicated optimal performance to gain a competitive advantage. Despite the significant role of the productivity of service organizations in economic growth, few studies have been conducted in this context. Therefore, this study aims to develop a model for a comprehensive analysis of productivity in the service industry. 

In this research, the Multi-Grounded Theory (MGT) approach has been used. First, the Meta-synthesis approach (theoretical grounding) has been used to accurate an in-depth review of a wide range of separated quantitative and qualitative research results; then, in empirical grounding, 13 experts were interviewed (the integrated methods of purposive sampling and snowball was selected). To identify the factors affecting the evaluation of service productivity data has been collected from the industry experts. The findings were then combined to achieve a comprehensive view of the various dimensions of service productivity assessment. 

The results of this study have led to the development of a model for analyzing and evaluating service productivity. In the developed model with a comprehensive view of internal and external causal factors, the quantitative and qualitative indicators were determined for service productivity evaluation from the perspective of both service provider and customer. Also, internal and external organizational measures and strategies, intervening conditions, and internal and external organizational contexts affecting internal and external organizational strategies and consequences resulting from the correct evaluation of productivity in the service industry have been analyzed. Research limitations/implications: One of the limitations of most qualitative studies is the generalizability of the findings. Since the findings of this study included the result of the analysis of the views and experiences of selected experts and previous theories, the generalizability of the findings should be performed with caution. To prevent the limitations related to the analysis and the analyst, and to ensure more certainty in the findings, experts participated in the study in two stages, and a valid questionnaire was developed. The results were evaluated from the perspective of "comprehensibility", "comprehensiveness", "applicability" and "innovation". The results of the surveys also indicated the validity of the final model. Due to the time of the research in the period of the outbreak of COVID-19 disease, the researchers faced many limitations for interviewing experts, and therefore most of the interviews were conducted by calling the respondents via telephone. Practical implications: This study helps to use an integrated approach in evaluating organization productivity, despite the quantitative and qualitative indicators in both the customer and service provider dimensions. It leads to increased productivity with full knowledge of this indicator. Also, considering that the proposed model can show a picture of the company's productivity status, the results of the implementation of the introduced model are helpful in carrying out strategic planning and adopting improvement approaches to increase the organization's productivity. Social implications: Due to the significant growth of services in GDP and considering the influencing contribution of productivity in the economy and improving living standards, this study recommends a comprehensive view of service productivity. The proposed model is recommended for implementation in the service organizations depending on their type (i.e., mass, educational, professional) to adapt the indicators and productivity evaluation criteria. 

In this study, to develop a model for productivity analysis in the service industry, an attempt was made to identify the quantitative and qualitative indicators affecting productivity evaluation, comprehensively. Also, in this study, productivity evaluation was performed from both service provider and customer perspectives, because the customer is a part of the service process. Given the important role of productivity in the growth of organizations in any operating industry, and the small number of studies conducted in this field in Iran, the main contribution of this research is to create a deeper understanding of the field of service productivity.

Attention to environmental issues has led to the application of reverse logistics in the supply chain. But, the implementation of reverse logistics is weak because of the type of inventory management models. Therefore, in this research, to improve supply chain performance was used lean, agile, resilient, and green (LARG) paradigms. The purpose of this research is to identify and prioritize the solutions of reverse logistics implementation in the LARG supply chain to improve supply chain performance. In this research, the Interval-valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy expert-driven approach was used. Interval-valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy sets were used for weighting the evaluation criteria, and the Interval-valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy WASPAS method was used to prioritize solutions. The findings indicated that the first solution (creation, development, and investment in reverse logistics technology), the Tenth solution (development of the closed-loop supply chain through integration with reverse logistics), and the ninth solution (building electronic collaboration for rapid and effective coordination in among the members of the supply chain), respectively, were introduced as the best solutions in this study. The development and investment in reverse logistics technologies, electronic integration, and collaboration, and improved coordination are essential to improve the performance of reverse logistics implementation in the supply chain.

In this article,A markdown pricing strategy has been used to achieve the maximum profit from the sale of perishable products. Because perishable products after a period of time and corruption is formed, so they are not attractive to the customers and the demand for these products decreases. Demand can be increased with a markdown pricing strategy. Also, as sales increase, waste will decrease and so, wastage cost will diminish .Therefore, total profit will increase. The problem is that if the discount is not provided at the right time and in the optimal amount, we will not reach the goal of achieving maximum profit. So, in this article, we seek to determine the optimal discount time and the optimal discount amount with the aim of maximizing the total profit of the firm. In this article, the demand function depends on two factors: the selling price and the displayed stocks, final inventory level is non-zero and the deterioration rate is fixed. After solving the model from the exact approach and numerical example, the example was solved using Genetic Algorithm, Simulated Annealing Algorithm and the results were compared, then sensitivity analysis of the key system parameters is carried out.

Nowadays, entering the field of quality management is one of particular importance to organizations. This is due to the intense competition, globalization and diversified product services that have made the need for quality development at all levels in organizations inevitable. The country's banking system is no exception because of the fierce competition. Organizational Excellence Models are the tools that guide organizations along this path. Organizations including the country's banking network, are adopting a variety of approaches within their organization to realize the values of excellence models. However, the limitation of available resources such as cost, manpower, organizational culture, etc. does not allow all of these approaches to be deployed. Therefore, the key question is which approaches will have the most impact on quality improvement.

The main purpose of this study is to explore the dynamic relationships between approaches and criteria and sub-criteria of EFQM organizational excellence model. For this purpose, first, the usual approaches in organizational excellence model are extracted and due to their high volume, they are clustered by fuzzy clustering method and finally, causal loops between variables are extracted by system dynamics method.

The result of leading research is the causal linkage model between the categories of common approaches in the organizational excellence model.

In this study, common approaches in I.R. Iran’s banking network are identified and during of using system dynamics, it is possible to simulate the behavior of the system using causal loops.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of organizational antecedents and factors on platform performance in environmental turbulence and considering the role of Platform competency mediation in knowledge-based firms active in the field of ICT and computer software in Tehran province. In terms of purpose this research is an applied study and in terms of data gathering to test hypotheses is descriptive-analytic. To collect the data, standard questionnaires were distributed among senior executives and experts of these companies, out of 250 distributed questionnaires, 150 were returned and of these, 141 were usable and analyzed by PLS software. The results of the data analysis show that organizational factors positively and significantly affect platform competency, except for the continuity of the platform development team, and also affect the performance of the platform through mediating role of platform competency. The results also indicated that the environmental turbulence dimensions moderated the relationship between organizational factors-platform competences. The positive and significant impact of platform competency on platform performance was also confirmed.

Today, one of the most important concerns of managers is to find a way to measure the maturity level of Business Process Management (BPM) and to recognize improvement conditions. Hence, the aim of this research is to measure and plan various scenarios in order to develop business process management. A Maturity Model has three dimensions: Levels, factors and measurement tools. In this paper, the dimensions are recognized via a comprehensive literature review. Finally, they are conceptualized, measured and a scenario planning is developed.

In this research, the extracted factors and indices form the basic approach of the conceptual model and are validated by a confirmatory factor analysis. Regarding the structure of the conceptual model, factors and indices of all levels of process maturity, a causal loop has been developed based on a fuzzy cognitive map that illustrates the maturity aspects and their relationships to provide scenario planning for developing maturity.

The developed BPM maturity model classifies the maturity levels into the following stages, primary, managed, standardized, predictable and innovative. Also, the findings show that there are 33 process concepts that lead to the development of a business process maturity level. Furthermore, by the result of this research, if the deployment level of concepts in the organization is determined, organizations can measure the level of their BPM maturity and provide scenario planning.

33 BPM maturity concepts can support organizations as a road map to promote maturity level from 0 to 100. In addition, the implementation of the results of this research into case study show that the current status of business processes is graded as level 3 of the maturity level and its score is 36 of 100.

Many automotive firms around the world are turning to platform-based product development to respond to a wider range of customers and reduce costs concurrently, in other words, for mass customization. In the process of adopting such an approach, conceptualizing and identifying platform development capabilities is a crucial principle. So the main objective of this research is to conceptualize the product platform development capabilities by identifying the core module development capabilities and their integration capabilities in the automotive industry. In terms of purpose this research is an applied study and in terms of data type, it is a qualitative and exploratory case study research.The statistical population of this study was the Iranian automotive industry and the respondent community of experts from Iran Khodro and Saipa as well as academic specialists at the Automotive Engineering Faculty of Science and Technology University. The sampling was done in a purposive and judgmental manner with theoretical saturation. Content analysis was used to analyze the interviews and documents. Basic technical knowledge capability, needs and requirements engineering capability, system design and architecture capability, subsystem engineering capability and component development, system integration capability, and test and validation capability as core module development capability And organizational integration capability, supply chain integration capability, and technical integration capability were identified as integration capabilities. Finally, fuzzy Delphi technique was used to increase the validity of the identified Themes.

esign science research (DSR) is a modern and contemporary approach which is recently used by system science researchers such as information system scientists and decision support system experts. However, these years, a few studies in decision and management science have employed design science research to solve managerial problems especially in Iran. It is due to the lack of transparency in its theoretical background and some gaps in design science research literature such as inadequate techniques and tools, ignore of some important artifacts like method and vagueness in relations among different components of design science research. The current study aims to do a systematic literature review to discuss these gaps and develop initiatives to solve them. Moreover, it proposes some new techniques and tools to do design science research. Finally, to illustrate applicability of the developed methodology, an example is presented. It uses the developed methodology to design a modeling method of the complex social and technical systems.

Today, Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) is an integral part of Operations Research and gained a prominent position within the field as a result of significant theoretical and practical developments during the past four decades. In recent years, Multi-Criteria Sorting Problems (MCSP) has become an interesting topic for researchers who are working in MCDM. It consists of developing different decision models in order to assign alternatives to predefined groups. Amongst the suggested approaches for such classification, ELECTRE-TRI is considered to be one of the most important ones. The aim of this study is to implement ELECTRE-TRI in stock portfolio selection as one of the most popular and important decision making subjects. In this research, eight attributes have been taken into account in the process of choosing the stocks. These attributes are return, beta, net profit margin, ROA, ROE, EPS, P/E and P/BV. The study indicates that among the various approaches of ELECTRE-TRI, pessimistic assignment without considering veto threshold provides the best result. This study also indicates the importance of P/E in stock portfolio selection.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the likelihood of the occurrence of the risks and unexpected events. As a result, supply chains are more vulnerable to disruption and the risk to supply chain continuity has increased. The ability to manage risks and disruptions is one important aspect that differentiates successful business leaders from others. The present research therefore attempts to conceptualize the concept of supply chain continuity and design an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) to evaluate the continuity of IKCO supply chain. Hence, a systematic literature review is conducted to identify and explore appropriate capabilities and strategies that can be employed to build continuity in a supply chain. Then, ANFIS approach is used to evaluate the continuity of IKCO supply chain. The results indicate an average condition based on the proposed model.

In the last two decades, the use of models of business excellence has become very common and many companies use models to evaluate their performance. Nevertheless, the review of the articles published between 1994 and 2017 shows that the firms have many difficulties wxploiting and evaluating the criteria for these models. They are also unable to ensure long-term success in firms with quickly changed environments. Therefore, in this study, organizational excellence is studied based on dynamic capability perspective and conceptual modeling. In the present study, the conceptual model of organizational excellence was presented based on resources and dynamic capabilities through literature review and content analysis and was confirmed by structural equations modeling. At the end, the related maturity levels were planned using fuzzy Delphi method and used in mobile communication company of Iran. In this study, the effect of dynamic capability on business excellence model is shown to stabilize the performance results of the organization. The conceptual model presented in this study helps to integrate these models with organizational capabilities and culture of excellence and lead the organization to sustainable performance.

Iran is a country where the rate of natural disasters is high comparing with other countries. Therefore, humanitarian supply chain management before, during and after disasters is of great importance. Performance assess humanitarian supply chain is one of the important activities in humanitarian supply chain management which specifies the performance and how to improve it.
At the beginning, performance dimensions and indicators of the earthquake supply chain in the country were identified. For this purpose, the output of the master's thesis in Tehran University was used and weights of performance dimensions and indicators by normalization factor loadings were obtained. Then, the selected earthquakes were assessed by gray approach. Two scenarios were used to assess reasonably and appropriately. In the first scenario, Just earthquake information was used, but in the second scenario, after setting the standard in qualitative and quantitative indicators, this information is entered in the calculations in the form of a hypothetical earthquake. Results are based on the second scenario which is more complete than the first one. They are: humanitarian supply chain performances in Dashti and Ahar earthquakes were equal and were better than that in Bashagard.  Humanitarian supply chain is a special type of supply chain with unique characteristics which distinguishes it from other market supply chains. Performance of this supply chain has a major role in challenging, controlling, and reducing impacts of disasters (Schulz and Heigh, 2009). Vast losses and casualties in different cities of the world caused by natural disasters have led to extensive applied researches on humanitarian supply chain and rescue logistics management in order to minimize losses encountering a crisis. Among all areas of humanitarian supply chain, performance assessment has a great significance and as matter of fact has been deserted compared to other concepts. Among active organization in humanitarian field, only 45% discussed performance assessment and among them, only 20% are constantly monitoring and also measuring their performance in all activities (Scholten, 2013). Assessing performance of humanitarian supply chain in the past disasters, countries can acquire proper understanding from this supply chain and use information result from this assessment as a feedback to improve supply chain performance in future disasters that inevitably will entangle them. Consequently, this study aims to develop a quantitative approach to assess the performance of humanitarian supply chain in Iran's earthquake disasters. In this paper, we used indicators and performance dimensions of a M.A thesis titled as "assessing performance of humanitarian supply chain through benchmarking from performance assessment models (a case study: some of the last earthquakes in Iran)" carried out in management department of Tehran University (by current authors) in three phases before, during, and after earthquake with 13 performance dimensions and 44 performance indicators. Also we used output (factorial loads) of that study to determine significance and weights of those dimensions and indicators. So that after considering these indicators and dimensions, by normalization, factorial loads of indicators and dimensions are considered as weights and significance. Then, we applied the gray approach and two scenarios to assess performance of three last catastrophic disasters in the country, the first scenario calculates the performance of every earthquake separately, and second one calculates the performance compared to an ideal earthquake which has the best indicators. Pervasive decision making of this approach (Gray approach) is presented in following steps:-                      First step: creating decision making matrix
-                      Second step: normalizing decision making matrix
-                      Third step: defining reference option
-                      Fourth step: calculating Minkovsky distance
-                      Fifth step: calculating gray correspondence coefficient
-                      Sixth step: calculating gray correspondence score
The reasons to apply Gray approach are uncertainty in qualitative indicators, the ability to simultaneously consider quantitative indicators and uncertain numbers in order to integrate assessment procedure and to achieve a general conclusion. After considering earthquakes happened in the last two decades, with regard to constraint to access information and data of these earthquakes, three earthquakes of Ahar, Heris, and Varzaghan in east Azerbaijan Province (2012), Dashti in Bushehr Province (2013) and BashaGard in Hormozgan Province (2013) were selected because of proportional equivalence of conditions (equal amplitude, number of people influenced, required rescue aids) and availability of data and authorities, to compare these selected earthquakes considering those characteristics. We expected that this study determine the performance of humanitarian supply chain in selected earthquakes in terms of performance dimension, three considered phases, and finally the whole supply chain.
In the first scenario, information of three earthquakes were used in different steps and performance status of three earthquakes was determined based on this information. It can be said that Bashagard earthquake condition is better than the two other earthquakes. Ahar and Dashti earthquakes have small difference. In terms of reaction phase to earthquake, Bashagard earthquake had less performance compared to other two earthquakes. In the phase of after earthquake, magnitude order was Ahar > Bashagard > Dashti; with regard to final results of the first scenario, East Azerbaijan earthquake (0.806) has better conditions than Bushehr earthquake (0.750) and Hormozgan (0.684). Minor differences between these numbers indicate that the performance of three earthquakes was very close and there is no great distinction among them.
A second scenario was considered in order to rationalize the comparison. With regard to results from this scenario, Bashagard earthquake in the phase of before earthquake had better condition and performance of Ahar and Dashti earthquakes were 0.403 and 0.4 respectively, that shows a small difference. In the phase of reaction to earthquake, Dashti, Ahar and Bashagerd earthquakes, respectively, have less distance with standard performance. Performance in the phase of after earthquake for Ahahr, Dashti, and Bashagerd were 0.460, 0.447, and 0.418, respectively. With regard to general results we can conclude that Ahar and Dashti earthquakes with 0.467 show similar performances and like the previous scenario, Bashagard earthquake (0.437) has the largest distance from standard and has undesirable performance compared to other earthquakes.
Performance scores are remarkable in two scenarios. Performances in the second scenario are less than the first scenario. This is normal, because Gray approach is based on distance from ideal state and in the first state, ideal state is acquired among available earthquakes, but in standard performance scenario, ideal state was defined based on existing standards with larger amounts. Then, normally distance of earthquakes to ideal are larger and lower performances are obtained. Based on the second scenario which is more complete than first one, performances of humanitarian supply chain in Dashti and Ahar (Heris and Varzaghan) earthquakes are equal and better than that of Bashagard earthquake. In the end, it is noteworthy that this study has provided a framework to assess performance of humanitarian supply chain of the country in earthquakes that did not exist before and it could evaluate three earthquakes as sample earthquakes in the country.

The increased competition in markets, make manufacturers find a better way to attract customers. It is critical to make customers sure about the quality and reliability of products. One way to ensure customers is providing warranty policies to reduce not only the risk of production failures, but also to understand customers’ wants and requirements. This research seeks to recognize the effects of decision making of customers on short-term and long-term results of warranty providers with agent based modeling. Cusomers of this market have different risk prefrences and make decision in two ways: logically and socially. The reults confirm that the type of customers and their decisions influence the number of customers who will to extend their contract and the profitability of warranty providers. Concering to all states, the fisrt warranty provider in short term and the second warranty provider in long term are more capable of keeping customers and make profit.