Beyond sharing: cultivating cooperative transportation systems through geographic information science

Transportation systems are facing unprecedented challenges in the 21st century. Increasing the efficiency of transportation systems alone will not solve these problems and may exacerbate them. Instead, we must extract new transportation capabilities related to more cooperative decision-making across a wide range of time horizons, spatial scales and decision contexts. This paper discusses the role of sensed transportation, geographic information science and social media to cultivate transportation systems where participants share, cooperate and act collectively to solve operational, tactical and strategic mobility and accessibility problems. This paper also provides a vision of the future by imaging a seamless multimodal transportation system combined with a virtual environment where data streams are fused, interpreted and made available with tools for human engagement and shared decision making. This paper concludes by outlining a GIScience-centric research agenda.     

Competition and cooperation between high-speed rail and air transportation services in Europe

New high-speed rail (HSR) lines may have an enormous influence on the provision of air services. The attention has been devoted to competition between both transportation modes but in some cases HSR services may also have an intermodal complementary role with air transportation. By taking a supply oriented empirical analysis, we study the impact of HSR on air service frequencies and seats offered by airlines in large European countries. We emphasize the distinction between routes with and without a hub airport as an endpoint and we also examine the influence of the location of the HSR station. We generally find direct competition between HSR and airlines, but we also provide some evidence that HSR can provide feeding services to long haul air services in hub airports, particularly in hub airports with HRS stations.     

Cooperatives for fruits and vegetables in emerging countries: Rationalization and impact of decentralization

We develop a (noncooperative) game theoretic model for a decentralized setting wherein fringe farmers compete with a two-tier cooperative network involving network farmers and a coordinator. We examine the roles of the coordinator and profit sharing in allocating costs/benefits of externalities in enhancing network efficiency and stability. Our main finding is that using profit sharing based mechanism the coordinator can overcome inherent inefficiency and instability of decentralization and noncooperative behavior of the network farmers. The roles of the coordinator and profit sharing are particularly important when it is economical for both network and fringe farmers to supply the product.     

Investment into container shipping capacity: A real options approach in oligopolistic competition

We develop a container industry-specific real options investment model in oligopolistic competition taking into account endogenous price function, fuel-efficient investment, endogenous lead times, and endogenous price formation in the second-hand vessel market. We assess how optimal capacity is influenced by competitive intensity, number of players, volatility, fuel-efficiency, lead time, and cost. Moreover, we investigate optimal investment policies. We find that strategic action increases firm value and that it is worthwhile to consider alliances. Additionally, players in the market should consider retrofitting old vessels for fuel economy in economic downturns and using new, fuel-efficient vessels for capacity expansion in market upswings.     

Supply chain network competition in price and quality with multiple manufacturers and freight service providers

In this paper, we develop both static and dynamic supply chain network models with multiple manufacturers and freight service providers competing on price and quality. The manufacturers compete with one another in terms of price and quality of the product manufactured, whereas the freight service providers compete on price and quality of the transportation service they provide for multiple modes. Both manufacturers and freight service providers maximize their utilities (profits) while considering the consequences of the competitors’ prices and quality levels. Bounds on prices and quality levels are included that have relevant policy-related implications. The governing equilibrium conditions of the static model are formulated as a variational inequality problem. The underlying dynamics are then described, with the stationary point corresponding to the variational inequality solution. An algorithm which provides a discrete-time adjustment process and tracks the evolution of the quality levels and prices over time is proposed, and convergence results given. Numerical examples illustrate how such a supply chain network framework, which is relevant to products ranging from high value to low value ones, can be applied in practice.     

铁路运输企业主辅分离理论问题及相关分析模型研究

在系统介绍主辅分离的定义、内涵等相关理论及现阶段主输分离改革的创新与突破的基础上,提出了主辅分离时机成熟的表述式,并通过建立关联/效益模型对辅业进行了4个象限的分类,同时论述了主辅分类的相应措施。     

The effect of continuous improvement capacity on the relationship between of corporate social performance and business performance in maritime transport in Singapore

Drawing on organisational learning theory, this study argues that shipping firms with high continuous improvement capacities have better success in transforming corporate social performance (CSP) into business performance. Survey data were collected from 223 shipping firms in Singapore and analysed using multi-sampling analysis, hierarchical regression modelling, and simple slope analysis. The results support the study’s argument and show that business performance is maximised when continuous improvement programmes targeted at CSP are carried out at a gradual pace and at regular intervals. This implies that shipping firms should adopt a dynamic, value-driven approach to improving CSP.