Introduction

Abstract

The Winter 2012 issue of the Transportation Journal contains articles on a variety of topics. The first article, “The Challenge of Globalization for the Logistics Industry: Evidence from Indonesia,” by Tongzon, focuses on liberalization of the logistics services industry as part of trade liberalization overall. Tongzon uses Indonesia as a case study country to discuss facilitators and barriers that might be of use to other emerging nations at similar stages of trade liberalization. In their article, “Business Case Analysis and the Confounds of Innovation Driven by Performance-Based Post-Production Support Strategies,” Randall, Brady, and Nowicki discuss performance-based-logistics (PBL) post-production strategies. They analyze return-on-investment governance structures in comparison with return-on-sales business models and provide a theoretical framework for rationalizing PBL and traditional strategies within the same business case analysis. The third article is the final article that was selected from paper submissions to the 2009 International Forum on Shipping, Ports, and Airports. In this article, Liang, Li, Sun, Sun, and Gao use quantitative analysis to investigate the impacts of risk aversion on the manufacturer's advertising decision and the retailer's ordering decision.We also are publishing three industry notes in this issue. In the first note, Toh, DeKay, and Raven, using survey methodology, examine how travelers search for and then buy airline seats, determine which distribution channel dominates, calculate what percentages of online searches convert to actual bookings on the same website, and report why people switch. The second note was selected as a refereed manuscript from the International Conference on Greater China Supply Chain and Logistics (GCSCL) 2010. GCSCL is dedicated to encouraging international academic exchanges, and cooperation on the development of supply chain and logistics management in the Greater China region. Cui, Su, and Hertz present the results of three case study analyses to assist in exploring logistics innovation at third-party logistics (3PL) companies in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China. In the third note, Kumar and Harrison discuss supply chain disruption in the context of a firm's financial performance, in particular, the firm's Economic Value Added (EVA). Our Winter issue concludes with a book review of the International Handbook of Maritime Business edited by Kevin Cullinane and reviewed by Richard Young.I would like to announce some changes in our editorial review board composition. Dr. Theodore Stank, Bruce Chair of Excellence in Business and Supply Chain Management at the University of Tennessee, is stepping down due to increased administrative and other responsibilities. I extend my sincere appreciation to Ted for his service to the Transportation Journal and his always timely and constructive manuscript reviews. Our book review editor, Dr. Peter Lynagh, Professor of Marketing in the Merrick School of Business at the University of Baltimore, passed away in October after a brief illness. A tribute to Pete follows this introduction. Dr. Richard Young, Professor of Supply Chain Management at the Penn State Capital College, has agreed to serve as book review editor. I am pleased to announce that Dr. Yemisi A. Bolumole has agreed to serve on the editorial board. Dr. Bolumole is an assistant professor of supply chain management at the Michigan State University.We'll continue to be making changes in the Transportation Journal during 2012. We will be implementing Editorial Manager, our automated manuscript submission system. The new system should expedite the manuscript review process and will allow authors to track their manuscript submissions. The manuscript submission website is www.editorialmanager.com/TransJour. In addition to refereed articles, we also welcome book reviews or book review proposals. Our book review editor, Richard Young, is also seeking book reviewers for books he has in queue.We will also be introducing an annual best paper award for papers published in the Transportation Journal. More details will follow in subsequent issues.