Petroleum Business Review

Abstract : Organizational performance is an important factor of the success of companies, organizations and businesses. Adapting an organizational model which fits appropriately with the context of an organization further increases the performance and in turn increases the success rate of that firm. Though there have been propositions for the adaption of certain universal frameworks, they aren't generally applicable to all organizations; the oil and gas industry, displaying unique organizational features requires a specific model to tend to its extreme conditions. This paper proposes customizing Weisbord's Six-Box Model (WSBM) in the context of the oil and gas industry, reviewing the unique organizational conditions of the oil and gas industry and the proper components required for an organizational model to measure the compatibility of the WSBM with the oil and gas industry. The findings depict a contextualized WSBM, the potential benefits of the WSBM and the challenges facing the adaption of the model into the oil and gas industry.

Abstract Cell Formation Problem (CFP) is a famous issues in group technology, where an analyst aims at forming groups of machines/parts (so-called cells), in such a way that machines in every cell process as much as possible parts from this cell and as less as possible parts from other cells. In this article, a Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA) is designed to solve the CFP. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, 35 sample classical problems are examined. The experimental results indicate desirable performance of the proposed algorithm. In addition, applicability of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by a real-world case in project human resource management. Since the megaprojects in oil industry require a wide range of jobs, thus grouping of individuals with considering their skills is an important challenge. The paper defines the job grouping problem as a CFP, and solve a real-world problem using the proposed HSA.

Abstract Today, Research and Development (R&D) activities in petroleum incubators are of vital importance and it is necessary to investigate different ways of commercializing the patents of these activities. The formulation of petroleum incubator strategy and coordinating it with technology strategy and corporate strategy can reduce the technology development and commercialization time period and creates comparative advantages. In this paper we develop an itemized model to draw a bead on the activities of petroleum incubators in a patent portfolio framework and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of petroleum incubators. The model includes several categorized items that can be taken into account stage by stage. If this model is deployed in steady stages, the petroleum incubator can ensure that every new created idea will commercialize undoubtedly. Moreover, a considerable characteristic of the proposed model is the existence of programs for the patents application in prevailing and new created markets and also commercializing the patents of R&D activities to prevent the accumulation of unused knowledge in petroleum incubators. At the end of the paper, some suggestions to employ the model in real-life situations are recommended.