Delivery Companies Research Articles

What factors contribute to in-role and extra-role safety behavior among food delivery riders?

Food delivery riders face significant road safety risks globally. Previous studies have primarily focused on the direct relationship between job demands, job resources, and road safety behaviors, often neglecting the potential indirect paths through dual processes, namely the health impairment process and the motivational process, which may lead to dangerous riding behaviors. Additionally, the impact of organizational citizenship behaviors on the safety of food delivery riders within the industry remains unexplored. This study aims to address these gaps by applying the dual processes of the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) to identify factors influencing the safety behaviors of food delivery riders in Vietnam. Data were collected through face-to-face surveys with 410 riders in public places. The findings show a nuanced interplay between job demands, resources, and safety behaviors. Specifically, job burnout acts as a bridge, mediating the influence of job demands on in-role safety behaviors. On the other hand, job resources-encompassing facets like job autonomy, performance feedback, technology support, and work support-indirectly shape both in-role and extra-role safety behaviors via the conduit of motivation. These resources not only bolster motivation but also serve as pillars in fostering a culture of safety among riders. This research not only deepens our understanding of the determinants of food delivery riders' safety behaviors but also highlights the pivotal role food delivery companies play in shaping these behaviors. By prioritizing the holistic well-being of their riders and offering robust support, these companies can foster an environment conducive to safety. Additionally, by integrating additional dimensions of job demands and resources into the JD-R model, this study paves the way for more comprehensive and nuanced future research in this domain.

Electric vehicles in urban delivery fleets: How far can they go?

The goal of this study is to provide insights into the expected role of medium-duty electric vehicles (EVs) in urban delivery fleets and to analyze the effectiveness of EV subsidies on EV fleet penetration and tailpipe emissions. To meet this goal, we propose a modeling framework that determines the minimum-cost fleet size and fleet mix (of EVs and conventional vehicles) and vehicle routes for a profit-maximizing delivery company. Second, we conduct extensive analyses using this modeling framework and Southern California network data; we vary the EV driving range, per-mile cost of EVs, demand rate, service region size/structure, driver working hours, and network travel times. We find that the optimal fleet mix nearly always includes EVs and conventional vehicles. Moreover, we find that EV subsidies have limited effectiveness with current EV batteries and service regions designed around conventional vehicles. Hence, improving EV battery technology is critical to electrifying urban delivery fleets.

Navigating Efficiency and Uncertainty: Risks of Relying on an At-Will Workforce in Urban Meal Delivery

Increasing popularity in gig employment has enabled the use of an at-will workforce of self-contracted couriers to participate in many service industries serving urban areas. This gig workforce has come to play a particularly important role in the growing meal delivery service industry. Hiring at-will couriers for delivery job fulfillment can decrease the costs of satisfying nonstationary demand. However, at-will workers can show up for work at their will and without notice. Thus, this puts the service performance of the delivery company that relies on effective workforce management to ensure timely delivery of orders at risk. This work investigates the tradeoffs between using such an at-will workforce of couriers in place of a fixed fleet of drivers in servicing a meal delivery environment. A stochastic DES with tabu search heuristic and embedded ejection chain approach for optimal delivery job bundling, routing, and assignment was developed and run within a rolling horizon framework to replicate the dynamics of the meal delivery setting. Condition Value at Risk (CVaR) is adopted to measure the risk of late delivery due to uncertainty in workforce availability. Results from a numerical case study with 25 restaurants and 613 orders arriving over a 14-h period show tradeoffs from using at-will couriers in place of a comparable fixed fleet of drivers in terms of delivery resource utilization, efficiency risk of failing to satisfying orders and risk of significantly late delivery. Results indicate that using at-will couriers for meal delivery can enable more efficient use of delivery resources, but at the cost of a higher risk of late delivery, and sometimes intolerably late delivery, as compared to using a fixed fleet of drivers to fulfill orders.

Multi-sensor Data-driven Route Prediction in Instant Delivery with a 3-Conversion Network

Route prediction in instant delivery is still challenging due to the unique characteristics compared with conventional delivery services, such as strict deadlines, overlapped delivery time of multiple orders, and diverse individual preferences on delivery routes. Recently, development in the mobile Internet of Things (IoT) offers the opportunity to collect multi-sensor data with rich real-time information. Therefore, this study proposes a route prediction model called Roupid, which leverages multi-sensor data to improve the accuracy of route prediction in instant delivery. Specifically, we design a 3-Conversion Network-based route prediction framework to take full advantage of various information provided by multi-sensor data, including the encounter data sensed by Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacons, active site data reported by smart handheld devices, and trajectory data detected by GPS. The 3-Conversion Network we propose is based on a deep neural network framework, which integrates an improved relational graph attention network with edge features (RGATE) to encode global information that couriers typically consider when planning routes. We evaluate our Roupid with real-world data collected from one of the largest instant delivery companies in the world, i.e., Eleme. Experimental results show that our Roupid outperforms other state-of-the-art baselines and offers up to 85.51% of the route prediction precision.

Sustainable Delivery Model Selection using AROMAN Approach

The development of electronic commerce has resulted in an increase in the number of shipments in their transfer systems. Delivery companies strive to respond to emerging situations, meet customer needs, and achieve profit through the optimization of their operations. The imperative is to establish a delivery system that is in line with the principles of sustainable development. This paper defines the task of choosing a sustainable model for shipment delivery and proposes the AROMAN method for its resolution. The applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated by solving the defined task in the territory of the city of Belgrade.

An effect of dynamic logistics capabilities on courier’s business performance

Courier companies face environmental challenges influenced by the development of e-commerce businesses, demanding high service quality and reliability in meeting consumer demand. Courier companies demand to<br />immediately adjust company strategies to be able to survive in competitive market conditions, the only way is to continue to keep dynamic on internal capability. This study develops and tests a model of the relationship between dynamic logistic capabilities, environmental turbulence, and business performance. As quantitative research, a survey was used to collect data. A sample of 70 valid answers from courier company members of the Association of Indonesian Express Delivery, Postal, and Logistics Services Companies(ASPERINDO) was treated through the Partial Least Square (PLS) method. The research results show a full mediation relationship between dynamic logistics capability and business performance, given the proportion of the impact of dynamic logistics capabilities on business performance (72.7%) identified in this study. As a result, the main result points out that the positive correlation between dynamic logistics capabilities and business performance strengthens the relationship evidence in the literature that dynamic logistics capabilities contribute to business performance, that is, sales growth, delivery reliability and security.

Inventory Information System Using LIFO Method

At one of the goods distribution organizations in Bandung, manual recording problems such as data mistakes, delayed information, and challenges with inventory analysis must be addressed, and here is where the inventory information system comes in. An inventory system must be implemented to improve accuracy and efficiency in inventory management. With the correct technology, the business can reduce data errors, speed up information access, do practical inventory analysis, and increase productivity when taking and maintaining inventory. This study develops a web-based inventory information system using the MySQL database from the XAMPP application, the Laravel framework, and the PHP programming language. Representative data modeling and the creation of user-friendly interfaces are critical components of the design focus, which also considers proper technology selection. In order to better understand user needs and provide answers, system design will use the Object-Oriented Software Engineering (OOSE) model. In order to help with more precise decision-making in inventory management, the Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) method is used in inventory data analysis. Inventory may be easily monitored by using LIFO to offer information on nearly depleted stock and out-of-stock items. One of the Bandung-based goods delivery companies has seen notable gains due to the adoption of the new inventory system. With this new technology, the business may get past problems with manual recording, like data inaccuracies, delayed information, and challenges with inventory analysis. By streamlining the recording process and facilitating more efficient inventory management, this system facilitates better access to inventory information and increases the efficiency of inventory management. In summary, using an inventory system is an excellent way to get around problems with manual goods recording. This solution increases inventory management efficiency and speeds up the recording process for one of the Bandung-based commodities delivery enterprises. Its deployment offers significant advantages, improving the company's overall operating performance and facilitating more effective inventory management.

The Express Delivery Company Goes Public Through a Backdoor Listing based on the Backdoor Listing of Dingtai New Material by SF Express

In China, enterprises face relatively huge costs in going public, resulting in enterprises preferring indirect listing methods such as backdoor listing to Initial Public Offerings (IPO). At the same time, backdoor listing has also saved many traditional industries with declining performance, making both parties win-win. At present, the logistics industry is developing rapidly. In 2016, logistics companies have been backdoor listing, logistics industry competition is becoming increasingly fierce, and more and more logistics enterprises choose to go public in order to enhance competitiveness and improve the status of the industry. Choosing the right timing and backdoor listing with a precise strategy will produce no less wealth than an IPO. This paper takes SF Express' backdoor listing of Dingtai New Material as a case, conducts performance analysis based on a theoretical basis, studies the impact of backdoor listing on the financial performance of enterprises, and provides experience for other logistics enterprises planning to adopt backdoor listing.

Price fairness in the online food delivery industry: a structural equation model of consumer perceptions

ABSTRACT There exist concerns about the fairness of the revenue share model between food service establishments and delivery companies, which often charge a commission rate of 20–30%. As the third party in the multi-sided market, the perception of food consumers may have bearing on potential market and policy solutions. With 500 survey responses from English food consumers, we inform perceptions of interactional, procedural, distributional, and overall price fairness in the online food order and delivery industry. On average, there is a 5% difference in perceptions of the actual commission rate (20%) and a fair commission rate (15%). Per the results of a structural equation model, procedural fairness and distributional fairness respectively have negative and positive relationships to overall price fairness. Interactional fairness is not related significantly to overall price fairness.

Examining the challenges of the Russian sharing economy: the institutional and evolutionary approach

This study examines the key features of Russian sharing economy business specialized in food delivery using the institutional and evolutionary approach. Existing business models used by Russian food delivery companies are characterized by a high level of information asymmetry in the employee-employer relationship. This has led to a great deal of tension and resulted in the open conflict between food delivery companies and couriers. This study is a qualitative research initiative based on a series of semi-structured in-depth interviews with the employees of delivery companies. The results obtained enabled us to distinguish between two groups of couriers. While most “part-time” couriers, who work no longer than 4 hours per shift, are satisfied with their labor conditions, there is a widespread opinion among “full-time” delivery workers that they are underpaid and overloaded. Popular institutionalized form of employment that Russian food delivery companies offer for couriers is self-employment. This form of employment has low social guarantees however minimize employers’ expenses on personnel and social contributions. Even though digital platforms position themselves as reliable partners providing employees with the opportunities for flexible working hours and decent pay, in reality couriers become a very vulnerable and precariatized social group without proper social guarantees and future prospects.

Просування бренду підприємства в соціальних мережах (SMM)

The domestic economy is going through the most difficult period in its history. Martial law has significantly reduced the productivity and overall efficiency of Ukrainian enterprises, which are already in a difficult position after the COVID-19 pandemic. Domestic companies are forced to adapt to modern conditions and look for ways to survive. Effective business management is impossible without constant adaptation to changes in the market. Even before the start of the pandemic, most companies actively used social networks to spread information about the brand and attract new customers; the beginning of the introduction of quarantine measures, the self-isolation regime, forced companies that previously did not use social networks as a tool to promote their business, to review their approach and rethink their strategy. This became necessary in order to adapt to the realities of the time, where access to customers and the market proved to be difficult due to the limitation of physical contact. Some companies that previously ignored social media have been forced to re-establish or create a presence in these networks, as it has become a strategic necessity to stay in touch with their customers and provide appropriate promotional support for their products or services. Thus, the lockdown became a catalyst for the activation of the presence of companies in social networks, which helped them adapt to new conditions and increase their online activity in order to support business. The experience that the companies acquired during the pandemic became one of the foundations of the successful functioning of domestic enterprises during the period of active hostilities. The purpose of the present study is to out-line the theoretical and practical foundations of promoting the company’s brand in social networks (SMM) using modern information marketing tools. An analysis of scientific research by foreign and domestic economists has been carried out. The current position of SMM as a tool for enterprise promotion in the information space is analyzed. The expediency of promoting a business brand in social net-works using the example of an express delivery company is revealed. It is found that the use of social networks as a tool for brand promotion is one of the most attractive and promising ways of developing the marketing activities of enterprises. Promotion of the company’s brand in social networks will con-tribute to increasing the company’s competitiveness, as well as help to develop new sales markets. Al-so, promoting the brand in social networks provides the company with advantages in the form of: minimization of possible negative variables during the pricing process; consolidation of social opinion regarding the individuality and uniqueness of the service provided or the product produced. The article examines the essence of the brand as a grouped reflection of entrepreneurship in the social and informational environment. The need to actively maintain official pages in social networks in order to in-crease the efficiency of the company’s activities is argued. The need to analyze the external conditions of the company’s activity in the process of developing marketing measures has been determined and substantiated. It has been proven that in today’s world, the developed and active presence of an enterprise in the social networks becomes a guarantee of the client-oriented direction of the enterprise. It is substantiated that the activation of the enterprise in social networks allows to raise the general image of the company, and therefore to increase the efficiency of advertising measures for the promotion of a product or service.

Off-peak hour delivery system: an agent-based modelling and simulation approach

Many cities around the world have experienced an increase in population and pose challenges in planning and managing the freight transportation within the city. Off-peak hour delivery (OPHD) is a strategy of delivering goods in the afternoon and evening to reduce congestion during peak periods, increase the efficiency of delivery companies, and reduce emissions. This research proposed a model of city logistics in the retail supply chain by implementing OPHD in the logistics system. The aim of this study is to explore the extent of potential implementation of OPHD in urban logistics. An agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS) approach is applied to model the autonomous and dynamic interactions of stakeholders involved in city logistics systems. Preliminary results are presented in this paper to provide illustrations of the model. It shows that OPHD can significantly reduce the transportation cost and emissions cost, and ABMS is able to provide results that are relatively close to pilot test drive research which is carried out in real world.

How to know it is “the one”? Selecting the most suitable solution from the Pareto optimal set. Application to sectorization

Multi-objective optimization (MOO) considers several objectives to find a feasible set of solutions. Selecting a solution from Pareto frontier (PF) solutions requires further effort. This work proposes a new classification procedure that fits into the analytic hierarchy Process (AHP) to pick the best solution. The method classifies PF solutions using pairwise comparison matrices for each objective. Sectorization is the problem of splitting a region into smaller sectors based on multiple objectives. The efficacy of the proposed method is tested in such problems using our instances and real data from a Portuguese delivery company. A non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) is used to obtain PF solutions based on three objectives. The proposed method rapidly selects an appropriate solution. The method was assessed by comparing it with a method based on a weighted composite single-objective function.

Analyze the Development of Meituan and Fantuan to Promote the Culture of Food Delivery Platforms in the US

In recent years, the food delivery industry has had significant growth. In 2020, COVID-19 pushes this industry to be general for society. The food delivery industry helps customers’ lives be convenient. In China, Meituan is at the leading position in the food delivery market. Their business model has a huge effect on other food delivery companies. Fantuan is a food delivery company in Western countries, they usually work with local Chinese restaurants and deliver food to the customers. This paper analyzes both Meituan and Fantuan in macro, meso and micro way, to find out their status. This paper analyzes the governments’ politics, country economy, society and technology to find out how external factors affect companies’ business. This paper can depend on their competition mechanism to explain the reason for Meituan being the top food delivery company in China. Plus, this paper provides advice for Fantuan to improve their business in the Future.

Pre-auction optimization for the selection of shared customers in the last-mile delivery

AbstractCompanies are constantly looking for new strategies to improve their logistics performance and ensure their competitiveness in the global market. This article provides a new scheme for managing the selection of shared customers for a logistics company. The new mechanism proposes the use of the auction as a tool to manage the selection of shared clients through the coalition pool. Thus, all unprofitable shared customers will be pushed to the pool for outsourcing by the other collaborating carriers. Then, some profitable auctioned ones will be selected. The selection system is designed based on solving a vehicle routing problem that aims to maximize the carrier's profit in a decentralized context. At first, a mixed integer linear programing model is derived to solve the deterministic version of the problem. Then in order to efficiently address the stochastic version of the problem, a simulation-based optimization model is developed. This model is employed to solve a real case study of a parcel delivery company, considering the travel times as a bimodal distribution. A comparative study is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the auction approach in managing shared customers. The results of our study reveal that the proposed auction approach efficiently manages the shared customers which leads to the substantial increase of 22.65% in profits for the delivery company. These findings have significant implications for logistics companies seeking to improve their performance and competitiveness in the global market.

Yes, construction cost, time and scope are important, but there is more: a new action plan for infrastructure success

PurposeDuring the planning and delivery, iron triangle criteria, are essential for internal stakeholders (e.g. owner, sponsors and delivery company), mostly ignoring external stakeholders such as local communities (often perceived as inconvenient) or end users. In the medium-long term, infrastructure cost and benefit are far more important for external stakeholders and the environment.Design/methodology/approachThe iron triangle criteria, i.e. delivering on time, budget and quality/scope, is the traditional perspective to assess the success of infrastructure projects. Delivering on cost and time is significant, but particularly for infrastructure, there are more relevant success criteria. The authors argue which criteria are important, and explain why.FindingsThe authors challenge the traditional view of judging projects based on respecting time, budget and quality/scope. The authors explain that discussing the social value and contribution to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is extremely relevant. Crucially these metrics keep changing, even after the project is terminated.Originality/valueThe authors provide a new seven-step action plan for decision-makers to improve infrastructure provision by reflecting on SDGs and engaging with external stakeholders, particularly minorities and the weaker members of their communities. Such an action plan is focused on the cost and value for different stakeholders on different timeframes and progress toward social value and achieving SDGs.

Маркетингова діяльність підприємств на ринку експрес-доставки України

It was established that the main factors that contributed to the growth of express delivery services demand in Ukraine are the development of the Internet in Ukraine and the increase of its users, the decrease in the free time of Ukrainians, the desire to optimize it, and the growth of retail trade. The main companies that provide express delivery services include "Nova Poshta", "Ukrposhta", Meest, Justin, Delivery Auto, Epicenter, and Kasta. It was determined that the most famous brand is the "Nova Poshta" company, which also has the largest number of points of contact with consumers, although Justin company fulfills orders the fastest. The results of office research indicate that the most optimal ratio in terms of price-quality indicators is typical for the company "Ukrposhta" and Justin. In the express delivery market, the biggest threat to postal operators is re-tail trade networks, which are actively developing their delivery of goods. At the same time, services focused on new market segments also appear. Domestic services and delivery services were signifi-cantly affected by the full-scale war. However, the express delivery market quickly recovered from the shock and partially recovered. The impact of the war on the work of some domestic services and delivery services - Bolt Food, Glovo, Liki24, "Nova Poshta", and Meest Express delivery services - was analyzed. The formation of competitive advantages of operators in the market of express deliv-ery services can be ensured by their comprehensive use of tools of the marketing complex, and the formation of co-branding departments. The article presents the features of the toolset of the mar-keting complex of companies in the service sector. When developing strategies for the development of services and delivery services, the latter must take into account the needs and behavior of con-sumers. Therefore, it is important to provide information for the marketing activities of companies. New information technologies, including Big Data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning tech-nologies open up significant opportunities for its improvement. They allow you to collect the neces-sary information for the development of tools for the marketing complex of the express delivery company, adapted to the needs of individual market segments.

Attrition problems at food delivery app companies: is there a way out?

Learning outcomes After analysing this case study, students will be able to understand the relationship between compensation, reward management and gig workers’ behaviour; apply the theory of organizational behaviour related to compensation management to address the motivational issues; analyse the challenges in managing the gig workers’ expectations related to compensation; and design innovative ways of retaining gig workers, especially delivery partners among the gig workers. Case overview/synopsis In April 2022, Riya, who worked as a business development manager at a newly established food delivery app company named “Our Kitchen” (located in Hyderabad, India), attended a meeting where the chief executive officer expressed concern about the difficulty in retaining their delivery partners. The company provided food delivery services to the customers by procuring ordered food from partner restaurants in select Indian cities. The delivery partners of the company worked part-time and received a commission for the hours they worked. With the rising fuel cost, minimal career growth and negligible social security benefits, it was hard for them to continue in their jobs. As a result, there were high attrition rates in the food delivery company. This case study is about the attrition issue being faced by the company and explores various strategies through which Riya could think of retaining the delivery partners so that there was a win-win situation for both parties. The dilemma given in the case study would help in understanding the motivational theories and factors that encouraged delivery partners to work for these jobs. Complexity academic level The case study is ideally suited for discussing human resources concepts, especially problems related to the retention of delivery partners without reducing the profit of the organization. It will help in understanding the motivational factors leading to job satisfaction and how that will help in the retention of delivery partners. The case study can also be used to teach the executives in a management development programme. This will help them to understand the gig workers’ motivational factors and the causes of their attrition. Supplementary material Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 6: Human resource management.

Prioritization of crowdsourcing models for last-mile delivery using fuzzy Sugeno–Weber framework

Modern technologies provide new opportunities for the industry but raise the expectations of the customers as well. This is valid also for the postal, courier, and logistics industries. The biggest challenge for the companies in the field is to improve the efficiency of the final phase in the transfer of shipments – last-mile delivery. A contemporary solution relates to collaboration between delivery companies and citizens who are willing to perform the delivery tasks as an additional activity to their established job or routine. Such a concept is known as crowdsourcing. There are several approaches within crowdsourcing, for example, transportation by car, utilizing public transport, etc. To make an appropriate choice, multiple criteria should be considered. This paper aims to propose an original methodology for solving the explained multi-criteria decision-making problem. The proposed framework is based on the application of the Sugeno–Weber nonlinear functions in a fuzzy environment. The application of the fuzzy Sugeno–Weber weighted assessment methodology showed that the proposed methodology has adaptability, a high degree of generalization, and stability of results. This enables the applicability of the methodology to various tasks from a broad spectrum of areas, which represents an additional value. A real-life case study is provided to solve the prioritization of crowdsourcing models in suburban municipalities of Belgrade, Serbia. The available alternatives and the most important criteria for the crowdsourced delivery model are identified. All criteria are divided into four groups, which define the dimensions of sustainability, including the technical aspect. The results of the conducted research indicate a high level of convenience in using one’s car or daily bus lines for crowdsourced delivery to optimize the entire process of shipment transfer in the observed territory.

Response Strategies Used during COVID- Abstract 19: Restaurants in Dhaka City

COVID-19 jeopardized the survival of the worldwide restaurant business. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the effectiveness of restaurant response strategies to the COVID-19 crisis during more than two months of lockdown in 2020 in Bangladesh. A two-stage approach was used to collect the data. The restaurants were chosen from eight Dhaka City clusters that were selected judgmentally. A standardized questionnaire was utilized to collect data from 221 restaurant owners selected through simple random sampling. The findings show that during COVID-19, all three strategies online reliance, cost reduction, and resilience- influenced restaurant profitability. Restaurants may replicate some of these successful response strategies developed during COVID-19 in the future. To increase profitability, restaurants should develop good relationships with online food delivery companies.