Logistics Service Research Articles

Lean and Agile Supply Strategies in Distribution Centres to Deliver Value-Added Services (VAS)

Background: This paper examines how logistics mangers increase performance by incorporating VAS in their distribution centres in the context of different natures of customer demand. The study is underpinned by the principles of lean and agile strategies as two key concepts that can be applied to respond to different customer expectations. Methods: Based on the phenomenological interpretivist paradigm, an empirical multiple-case study was conducted in German distribution centres operated by six companies. The empirical data were collected through semi-structured interviews, built on the triangulation of sources. Open, axial, and selective coding were employed to analyse data collected through eighteen in-depth interviews with managers from the distribution centres. Results: The findings indicated that the construct of customer demand forms different benefits that the logistics service providers can achieve through VAS. Simultaneously, various customer demands on VAS requires the distribution centres to focus on developing different operational capabilities to gain superior performance. Conclusions: Based on the research findings, a conceptual model was created. This model can support logistics service providers in improving company performance through effectively managing VAS in their distribution centres. The high dynamic VAS customer demand can bring more financial and non-financial benefits but needs higher flexibility in the warehouse operation system. Stable and predictable VAS, in turn, require a higher degree of standardisation.

Strategies for Freight Forwarders to Enhance Logistics Service Quality in South India

Strategies for Freight Forwarders to Enhance Logistics Service Quality in South India

중국 해외직구 물류서비스 품질이 전환비용과 재구매 의도에 미치는 영향

Purpose: This study examined the impact of overseas direct purchase logistics service quality on the repurchase intention and how switching costs affect the repurchase intention for existing services. Research design, data, and methodology: A survey was conducted targeting people with overseas direct purchase experience in China, and confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations were used. Results: Among the perceived logistics service qualities, the order accuracy, delivery accuracy, payment convenience, and delivery speed had a significant impact on switching costs. Conclusions: When pursuing new logistics strategies, overseas e-commerce companies should recognize logistics service quality, which is the essence of logistics services, as an essential factor rather than introducing various services and excessive price competition.

Determinants of agricultural tractor selection - assessment from the perspective of a supplier of vehicles and means of transport used in agriculture

The subject of the research described in the presented study are the determinants of the selection of agricultural tractors. The research was conducted from the perspective of suppliers of vehicles and means of transport used in agriculture. Its fundamental aim was an attempt to answer the question concerning factors that are crucial from the buyer's perspective and determine their decision to choose a specific tractor. Achieving the main goal required identifying and defining factors conditioning the decision-making process (the multi-criteria model), which was validated later in the study (the assessment of the significance of requirements). Such an approach enabled conclusions and recommendations regarding the method and direction of improvement in the range of offered tractors and related logistic customer service processes. The main burden of the study fell on desk research analysis including the overview of available literature and documentation sources as well as an expert debate (the method of competent judges). In order to transfer the issue to the level of the agricultural machinery sector - through an interview among a deliberately selected group of suppliers of vehicles and means of transport used in agriculture (including New Holland, Claas, Fendt, John Deer, Kubota, Deutz Fahr, Case IH, Massey Ferguson, Zetor, Farmtrac Tractors Europe) – the importance of determinants was clarified (the hierarchy of importance).

COHERENCE OF CLEARING AGENTS AND HAULAGE SERVICES - A WAY FORWARD IN ENHANCING EFFICIENCY

Customs clearance of cargo plays a pivotal role in facilitating international trade by ensuring compliance with regulations and facilitating the movement of goods across borders. This abstract provides an overview of the customs clearance process, focusing on its significance, key stages, challenges, and emerging trends. It highlights the importance of efficient customs clearance procedures in reducing delays, minimizing costs, and enhancing supply chain efficiency. The study also discusses the impact of digitalization and technological advancements on customs clearance, emphasizing the adoption of electronic systems and riskbased approaches to streamline processes and enhance trade facilitation. Furthermore, it underscores the need for collaboration between stakeholders, including customs authorities, importers, exporters, and logistics service providers, to address challenges and ways to improve the overall effectiveness of customs clearance operations. Overall, this study shed light on the critical role of customs clearance in facilitating global trade and underscores the importance ofcontinuous improvement and innovation in this domain.

Policy Strategies to Improve Performance and Productivity of Marine Logistics

This article discusses policy strategies that can be implemented to improve the performance and productivity of the maritime logistics sector. Maritime logistics is an important component in the global supply chain, so it is important to continuously improve its performance. Several policy strategies that can be considered include investment in infrastructure and technology, simplification of procedures and regulations, development of human resource competencies, as well as international cooperation and coordination between stakeholders. The aim of implementing these strategies is to increase the efficiency, speed, reliability, and productivity of maritime logistics services as a whole, thereby contributing to increased competitiveness and economic growth.

Determinants and Complexities of Halal Logistics in Malaysia: A Systematic Literature Review

This study employs a systematic literature review to examine the challenges of halal logistics in Malaysia, addressing a significant gap in the literature concerning the operational difficulties in maintaining halal integrity throughout supply chain processes. As the world’s Muslim population grows, understanding the complexities of halal logistics becomes crucial for industry stakeholders. Through Google Scholar and Scopus databases, this research identifies and analyzes 14 pertinent articles, focusing on the challenges within halal logistics. The thematic analysis reveals six primary challenges faced in Malaysia: high operational costs, lack of knowledge, limited demand for halal logistics services, operational complexities, inadequate management, and difficulties in the implementation of halal standards. These findings not only enhance the theoretical understanding of halal logistics but also offer practical insights for improving its implementation. By pinpointing these challenges, the study suggests a need for strategic efforts to foster market growth and service competitiveness in the halal logistics sector. Future research should broaden the review scope and explore solutions to these challenges, promoting best practices in halal logistics.

Bridging the logistics divide with service inclusion for socially sustainable urban logistics services

Bridging the logistics divide with service inclusion for socially sustainable urban logistics services

Pengembangan Website Kamus Logistik Untuk Meningkatkan Efisiensi, Kualitas dan Komunikasi di Dalam Industri Logistik

In the current digital era, efficiency, quality and communication are the main keys to the logistics sector. This review discusses the development of a logistics dictionary website as a solution to improve these three aspects. The Logistics Dictionary website is designed to facilitate the exchange of information between various parties in the logistics industry, including shippers, recipients and logistics service providers. By integrating various data and information related to logistics, this website aims to increase operational efficiency, improve service quality and improve communication between stakeholders. The development of this website involved analyzing user needs and preferences, as well as developing an intuitive and easy-to-use user interface. Apart from that, this website is also equipped with features such as fast search, filters to help users easily search for and choose logistics services that suit their needs. This journal shows that developing a logistics dictionary website can have a significant positive impact on the logistics sector, by increasing operational efficiency, improving service quality and improving communication between parties. The results of this research provide valuable insight into how information technology can be used to improve efficiency and quality in the logistics sector.

Analyzing Factors Influencing the Development of Railway Freight Transportation Service through the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process Technique

The main objective of this study is to apply the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) technique to assess factors influencing the development of railway freight transportation services. These factors include four critical performance indicators within the supply chain: responsiveness, cost, reliability, and agility. Moreover, the study aims to develop guidelines for enhancing the effectiveness of railway freight transportation in Chiang Rai province, particularly through the Den Chai–Chiang Rai–Chiang Khong railway route. Data were collected from 9 experts, including logistics service providers, users, and academics then, pairwise comparisons of factors were conducted. The results revealed that the cost factor holds the highest significance at 33.86%, followed by reliability, responsiveness, and agility factors at 28.51%, 26.14%, and 11.49%, respectively. Consistent with satisfaction scores obtained from logistics service users, the cost factor holds the highest satisfaction score at 4.78, followed by reliability, responsiveness, and agility factors with scores of 4.41, 4.16, and 4.01, respectively. The result above will bring towards preparation in railway freight transportation of Chiang Rai province and encouraging entrepreneurs to shift to railway transportation mode in the end.

A systematic literature review of logistics services outsourcing

Logistics is critical in every company's supply chain (SC), and outsourcing helps businesses concentrate on their core competencies. Third-party logistics (3 PL) or logistics service providers (LSPs) assist businesses in cutting costs while improving performance, sustainability, and revenue. Logistics evaluation and LSPs choice are complicated and critical components of value delivery. This study aims to review logistics outsourcing literature to understand the trends, prospects, factors, and strategies used in logistics companies' outsourcing choices. This work examines the literature on LSPs selection published between 2010 and 2023. This paper uses VOSviewer (version 1.6.19) to visualize the relationships. Pricing, timely shipment, service quality, reliability, agility, technology, and consumer feedback are the most commonly utilized, whereas societal and environmental factors are seldom used. The study comprises journal publications, the year, selection criteria, and assessment methodologies. Numerous scholars have discovered and employed many critical selection criteria. Many investigators have also embraced multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methodologies, and their fuzzy form is widely used. In conclusion, recommendations for theorists and managers, limits, and future directions for research are offered.

Interaction of marketing and logistics activities of enterprises in the context of the challenges of the modern business environment of Ukraine

In the article, the directions of implementation of marketing and logistics activities in relation to increasing the control of the enterprise over the subjects and conditions of its external microenvironment were determined. Marketing was presented as a system of information interaction of the enterprise with the external environment, and logistics was presented as a system of establishing business relations with the external environment by constructing logistics chains. For both types of activity, the impact on the external microenvironment comes down to stimulating the desired behavior of subjects with whom the enterprise interacts with the help of informational, organizational and economic levers. The content of logistical support of the enterprise’s marketing activities based on the "7Ps" concept was detailed. It is shown that the support involves, among other things, the use of logistics services resources to perform specific marketing tasks. The content of marketing and logistics measures aimed at ensuring the sustainability of business in an unfavorable business environment in both cases is reduced to the formation of alternative options for resource provision of the corresponding type of activity, optimization of costs and diversification of goods/markets. The study was conducted of the dynamics of changes in the share of relevant types of economic activity in the total volume of products sold, the profitability of operational activities, assessment of changes in the business situation in the field of services, the volume of sold innovative products, costs for innovations. The results show the sufficient potential of the relevant components of the market infrastructure in terms of supporting domestic business entities, and indirectly indicate the sufficient potential of marketing and logistics activities of Ukrainian enterprises in terms of ensuring economic activity in the conditions of an unfavorable business environment.

Research on value creation path of logistics platform under the background of digital ecosystem: Based on SEM and fsQCA methods

Digitalization and platform ecosystem have subverted the value creation mode between traditional logistics actors and brought new value additions. Few studies have been done to investigate the influencing factors prompting such value creation of digital platform ecological cooperation in the Chinese logistics industry. The study bridges the gap by using structural equation modeling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis methods to investigate data from 347 Chinese logistics firms cooperating under the logistics platform. Findings:(1) identification of customer value proposition, complementary cooperation, and multi-party interaction had an indirect influence on logistics service value realization. While transaction cost reduction and digital innovation had a direct influence. (2) Digital capabilities have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between transaction cost reduction and value realization. (3) Comparing the configurations of value realization and ～value realization, it is found that enterprises cannot create value if they only save costs without operation, and should improve digital capabilities to reduce transaction costs. At the same time, the identification of customer value proposition is the source of value creation.

Optimal decision-making and coordination of the shipping logistics service supply chain cooperation mode under the carbon quota and trading mechanism

Carbon cap-and-trade policy based on market mechanism becomes an important means to restrain shipping logistics enterprises' carbon emission reduction. This paper studies the new requirements of shipping enterprises under the pressure of carbon emission reduction. Considering the logistics service supply chain composed of two competing providers and one integrator under the constraint of carbon cap-and-trade policy, this paper explores the optimal pricing and revenue decision of shipping logistics service supply chain through vertical cooperation, horizontal cooperation between providers and revenue sharing cooperation among integrators. This paper obtains feedback strategies under different cooperation modes by constructing a game model. In the vertical game, the shipping logistics supplier is the Stackelberg leader, and the shipping logistics integrator is the follower; there is a Nash equilibrium in the emission reduction decisions among suppliers in the horizontal game. On this basis, the results of different cooperation modes are compared, and the influence of competitive strategies on the optimal results is discussed. We found that the vertical cooperation of the shipping logistics service supply chain has a higher carbon emission reduction rate and a lower sales price, and the horizontal cooperation of shipping logistics suppliers can improve their own profits but reduce the income of the shipping logistics integrators and consumer welfare. When the revenue sharing contract provides the shipping logistics integrator with a share proportion in a certain range, the revenue sharing contract can generate higher supply chain profits than the integration of two chains, which can urge shipping logistics suppliers to forfeit the horizontal cooperation and help the shipping logistics service supply chain achieve win-win results.

Assessing the effects of logistics performance on export and competitiveness using SEM methodology: evidence from firm-level data

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to determine the importance of trade logistics in export intensification and competitiveness on the level of individual companies. Within the framework of logistics performance, the influences of customs efficiency and physical trade infrastructure quality were tested on export while the contribution to improving competitiveness was analyzed through logistics services and the Logistics 4.0 component. In addition, the influence of competitiveness on companies’ exports was examined.Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted based on a survey intended for the management of export-oriented companies which was distributed through the system of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia. A total of 298 responses were collected and provided the basis for the application of structural equation modeling (SEM) approach.FindingsThe physical trade infrastructure was found to be a significant factor in stimulating exports, while the quality of logistics services has a statistically significant impact on the level of competitiveness. The results also indicate that improving the competitiveness of companies gives positive results in stimulating their exports.Originality/valueStudies that analyze the impact of trade logistics using primary data from surveys are rare. In this paper, for the first time, the SEM methodology was applied in the assessment of logistics performance effects on export and competitiveness of individual companies. Also, the impact of the logistics 4.0 concept on selected companies’ performance was empirically tested for the first time.

Logistics service failures and recovery strategies: is the response time or the discount amount more important?

PurposeAlthough trade volumes in e-retailing have increased significantly in recent years, logistics service failures are inevitable, especially at the delivery stage. Therefore, it is essential to provide customers with effective recovery strategies to increase their satisfaction and repurchase intentions. There is a lack of empirical evidence on whether the response time or the discount offered in compensation is more crucial for customers. Therefore, this study aims to determine whether the response time or the discount offered for high and low criticality failures has a greater impact on customer satisfaction levels and repurchase intentions for female and male customers.Design/methodology/approachA scenario-based experimental design method has been adopted to collect data, and 697 participants aged 18 and 58 years have been reached. The research utilized a between-subjects design, incorporating three factors: gender (female vs male), criticality (high vs low) and compensation (7 days: 10% discount, 10 days: 20% discount and 14 days: 30% discount). Six scenarios depicting the failure of an online retailer were created, and factorial univariate ANOVA was conducted to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe study's results show that in terms of customer satisfaction, female customers attach more importance to the response time in the case of high criticality and the amount of discount offered in the case of low criticality. On the other hand, male customers give more importance to the response time in terms of customer satisfaction when they experience a high or low criticality failure. In the case of low criticality, response time is more important for male customers to increase their repurchase intentions, while the amount of the discount is more important for female customers.Originality/valueThe study demonstrates the relative importance of the response time and discount amount according to the criticality level of failures and to guide business managers in terms of the recovery strategies they will implement. It focuses on gender differences and determine whether the response time or discount amount is more important for male and female customers in high or low-criticality situations.

New Orleans school meal programs during the COVID-19 pandemic: challenges and innovations identified through qualitative interviews

BackgroundSchool meal programs are critical to reducing childhood food insecurity. This study identified challenges and innovations in school meal service in a disaggregated charter school system during COVID-19 in New Orleans, Louisiana.MethodsSemi-structured qualitative key informant interviews were conducted with school officials and school food providers. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded. Using an immersion-crystallization approach, patterns were identified.ResultsNine participants described challenges and solutions/innovations in food service focused around five themes: food service, procurement and costs, staffing, communication and outreach, and collaborations and partnerships. Participants faced challenges in meal service logistics, procuring food and supplies, staffing shortages, timely communication, lack of city-wide coordination, and the need to rapidly shift operations due to an evolving pandemic. While the disaggregated system created challenges in a city-wide response, the decentralized system along with policy changes offered opportunities for flexibility and innovation in meal programs through new partnership and coordination between schools and community, development of new processes for food service and procurement, and diverse modes of communication.ConclusionThese findings add to the understanding of challenges faced and innovations implemented to continue school meal programs in a disaggregated school system. Collaboration with community organizations, leveraging resources, coordinated communication, and policies allowing for flexibility were key to response and should be encouraged to build capacity and resiliency in emergencies. In future city-wide emergency preparedness planning efforts, school leaders and food providers should be included in the planning to ensure continued equitable food access for students.

Linking Logistics Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty: An Indian Perspective

Linking Logistics Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty: An Indian Perspective

Logistics Service Recovery and Customer Retention in the Construction Aggregates Industry in Cross River State

Logistics Service Recovery and Customer Retention in the Construction Aggregates Industry in Cross River State

Investigating the crucial role of logistics service quality in customer satisfaction for fresh e-commerce: A mutually validating method based on SERVQUAL and service encounter theory

The incessant advancement of e-commerce has brought promising opportunities for vending fresh commodities and stimulated the ongoing growth in the demand for fresh products. Logistics services serve as a vital link between fresh e-commerce and customers, playing a pivotal role in enhancing customer satisfaction and fostering the sustainable growth of businesses. Therefore, this study endeavors to investigate the correlation between logistics service quality and customer satisfaction within the context of fresh e-commerce, while also identifying the pivotal factors that impact logistics service quality. Initially, a novel logistics service quality measurement scale is developed based on the SERVQUAL model. Then, the study formulates the first hypothesis testing model using customer expectations and perceived value as mediating variables. Subsequently, incorporating the service encounter theory, the constructed logistics service quality measurement factors are re-clustered to establish distinct encounter dimensions and to formulate the second hypothesis testing model, which includes mediating variables of customer emotions and perceived value. Finally, empirical data are gathered and subjected to regression analysis and structural equation modeling to mutually validate both models employing identical input indicators. Results suggest that logistics service quality significantly impacts customer satisfaction across the delineated factors within the five dimensions of the SERVQUAL model, alongside the four aspects of service encounters. Moreover, in the fresh e-commerce sector, customer perceived value, service expectations, and customer emotions play crucial mediating roles between logistics service quality and customer satisfaction. These findings hold practical implications for fresh e-commerce businesses aiming to enhance the service quality of logistics operations and achieve sustainable development in a customer-centric market context.