An emergency logistics distribution approach for quick response to urgent relief demand in disasters

Quick response to the urgent relief needs right after natural disasters through efficient emergency logistics distribution is vital to the alleviation of disaster impact in the affected areas, which remains challenging in the field of logistics and related study areas. This paper presents a hybrid fuzzy clustering-optimization approach to the operation of emergency logistics co-distribution responding to the urgent relief demands in the crucial rescue period. Based on a proposed three-layer emergency logistics co-distribution conceptual framework, the proposed methodology involves two recursive mechanisms: (1) disaster-affected area grouping, and (2) relief co-distribution. Numerical studies with a real large-scale earthquake disaster occurring in Taiwan are conducted, and the corresponding results indicate the applicability of the proposed method and its potential advantages. We hope that this study can not only make the proposed emergency logistics system available with more benefits to the development of emergency logistics systems for the urgent needs of disaster areas around the world but also stimulate more excellent researches concerning emergency logistics management.     

The dark side of logistics outsourcing - Unraveling the potential risks leading to failed relationships

We identify and empirically examine the potential risk factors and their structural relationships that can cause a logistics outsourcing relationship to fail. Specifically, we investigate how the relationship risk as perceived by apparel wholesalers as user firms influence their evaluation on the asset and competence entrusted with their logistics service providers, which are logistics outsourcing risk factors considered important by the former in determining continued relationships with the latter. The results highlight the need for relationship management by user firms to mitigate the risks in asset and competence specifically invested in logistics service providers for their outsourced activities.     

虚拟物流风险管理研究及其发展

虚拟物流管理作为一种新的先进的物流模式,能在较短的时间内通过外部资源的有效整合,实现对市场机遇的快速响应,帮助企业获得众多的好处,但由此给各联盟企业带来的新的风险问题及其负面影响不容忽视。通过阐述虚拟物流风险与虚拟物流风险管理的内涵,指出需要进一步深入研究的问题。     

From a hub port city to a global supply chain management center: a case study of Hong Kong

This paper explores the critical challenges encountered in the transformation process of Hong Kong from a freight transport hub city to a knowledge-based global supply chain management center (GSCMC). The exploration involves an examination of the structural issues of the logistics industry in Hong Kong within the framework of global value chains (GVC). A questionnaire survey and a series of interviews were conducted to reveal the essential problems that the key parties of the Hong Kong logistics industry face if the transition of Hong Kong into a GSCMC is to be successful in all segments of the industry. Through a categorical analysis of logistics segments, the hurdles to the GSCMC as well as the institutional measures are also discussed in this paper.     

Environmental complexity related information for the assessment of country logistics environments: Implications for spatial transaction costs and foreign location attractiveness

With on-going fragmentation and distribution of production and consumption across geographical space, information about national logistics systems is becoming increasingly important to decision makers in internationally operating firms and organisations. While continuing research on country logistics assessment generates some of this information, its relevance for the decision makers, and relationship to their unpredictability from foreign national logistics systems remains indefinite.This paper identifies and categorises the relevant, available information on country logistics environments by using a content analysis approach. We demonstrate the immensity and nature of this information, are able to confirm the changing spatial transaction cost structures, and to reflect upon the overall conditions of information-related complexity and globalisation in the environment. Besides making a contribution to the further development of the spatial impedance factors and measures that form the basis for decision maker unpredictability, the paper offers an alternative approach for measuring the importance of transportation costs in industrial location, and offers a useful lens to distinguish between the emerging literatures on national logistics systems. Finally the paper also offers practical implications on location attractiveness for investment promotion agencies and other public sector agencies for business development and cluster growth.     

An overview of 20 years of Chinese logistics research using a content-based analysis

This paper provides an overview of logistics research that has been carried out by Chinese academics in the timeframe 1990–2010 using content-based analysis. It is shown that the study of logistics has evolved quite a bit, but that the core concern of logistics study for China’s researchers is the physical movement of goods, while the primarily focus for international researchers has shifted to supply chain and management. China’s approaches to the geography of logistics are however evolving, but as yet have not embraced the ‘supply chain’ perspectives. Here important future research opportunities can be identified.     

法国物流业的发展

介绍了法国3家物流企业(STVA汽车运输公司、Callberson集团公司、Genevillies物流配送中心)的结构、组织和运营方式,以及法国铁路公司铁路运输的发展状况,从中得出了物流管理、物流服务、物流成本及发展潜力等方面的诸多启示并提出了几点建议。     

The moderating roles of risk and efficiency on the relationship between logistics performance and customer loyalty in e-commerce

Using data from online customer ratings, we explore how the relationships between logistics performance and customer loyalty are affected by risk characteristics of products and efficiencies of the websites. Risk is defined in terms of price and ambiguity of products. Efficiency is interpreted as the ability of the websites to achieve good ratings in terms of operational factors (such as satisfaction of customers with product specifications, refunds/returns, prices, management accessibility, etc.) and also achieve good ratings in terms of customer loyalty. Our results show that efficiency, but not risk, is a significant moderator of the impact of logistics performance on customer loyalty.     

铁路运输在物流成本中的经济性分析

肯定物流在社会经济生活中的重要性,指出运输环节在降低物流成本、减少社会资源耗费中的突出地位,列举铁路运输方式的经济比较优势,分析铁路运输成本在经济学意义上的价值构成和含义,以及运输成本的计算、构成和与产品的联系等特点,得出降低铁路运输成本的主要途径是强化科学管理、优化运输组织的结论,并据此提出均衡运输、合理运输、直达运输、集中化运输、重载和高速运输等经济性方法。     

生命周期论与物流企业建设

通过目前我国物流企业所面临的问题,引出企业的生命周期理论,从熵理论的角度论述了企业生命周期的本质,并分别从社会大环境和物流企业的信息化、科学化管理;企业经营过程重构、创新与科技提升,以及企业联盟等方面论述提高物流企业生命力的策略。     

Interrelationships of risks faced by third party logistics service providers: A DEMATEL based approach

This paper analyses the interrelationships between risks faced by third party logistics service providers (3PLs) in relation to one of its customers using DEMATEL. Novel analysis of both within and between risk categories and generation of threshold value to prioritize risks generate useful insights. Results show that arms-length relationship between the customer and the 3PLs has strong influence on other risks and there is a need for collaborative relationships between 3PLs and its customers. Moreover, analysis indicates that the 3PLs need to improve internal processes related to quality management, flexibility of its operations and also geographical coverage of their services.     

Dynamic relief-demand management for emergency logistics operations under large-scale disasters

This paper presents a dynamic relief-demand management model for emergency logistics operations under imperfect information conditions in large-scale natural disasters. The proposed methodology consists of three steps: (1) data fusion to forecast relief demand in multiple areas, (2) fuzzy clustering to classify affected area into groups, and (3) multi-criteria decision making to rank the order of priority of groups. The results of tests accounting for different experimental scenarios indicate that the overall forecast errors are lower than 10% inferring the proposed method’s capability of dynamic relief-demand forecasting and allocation with imperfect information to facilitate emergency logistics operations.     

铁路运输向现代物流转化的相关问题探讨

国外现代物流企业的营业额在总物流市场中占有相当的比例,而我国现代物流企业的市场相当巨大,我国铁路由传统运输企业向现代物流企业转化是新形势下的最佳选择,且比其他企业开展物流更具有优势。通过分析铁路运输向现代物流转化的必要性和紧迫性,从人才、信息化建设、经营管理、客户关系等方面进行了探讨,提出了相应的实用性建议。     

An Air Force Logistics Management Index for effective aircraft operation

Air power plays a critical role in modern war. In order to maintain the highest possible level of aircraft readiness, logistics management for aircraft operation must be conducted well. In this study, we use a Structural Equation Model (SEM) to develop an Air Force Logistics Management Index (ALMI) for effective aircraft operation. An individual ALMI rating is estimated for various combinations of characteristics. It is expected that the proposed approach for ascertaining an ALMI will be used as guidance for the development of aircraft logistics management systems of the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF).     

虚拟物流组织契约网络体系构建

在对虚拟物流两层组织结构描述的基础上,结合对风险合同和动态合同特点的分析,运用系统分析方法提出核心能力伙伴之间采用风险合同、核心能力伙伴与外围伙伴物流组织之间采用动态合同的两层虚拟物流组织契约网络体系,针对虚拟物流组织的暂时性、动态性、多利益团体性等特点,对契约的主要内容做了详细分析。     

Political risk assessment on air logistics hub developments in Taiwan

Political risk assessment has long been practiced by multinational corporations, but has been rarely used for air performance reviews. This study is a political risk assessment of the development of an air logistics hub in Taiwan, and thus examines the factors leading to physical property losses of air carriers based at the hub. It utilizes a checklist and a brainstorming session to identify risk factors, a 5×5 risk matrix to undertake a qualitative risk survey, and an analytical hierarchy process to assess the risk. The study concludes that micro- and macro-factors are approximately of equal importance to the development of an air hub in Taiwan. Issues relating to inland vehicle parking, air logistics infrastructure developments and the cross-strait relationship appear to be particularly crucial.     

A critical review on the evolution and development of inland port research

Over the past twenty-five years a considerable amount of literature has emerged that addresses inland port development in a variety of ways and in different institutional contexts. A recurring issue throughout most papers focusing on inland ports is the wide diversity of definitions, actors, functions, levels and geographies that are of relevance. Therefore, a literature review on inland port development contributes to defining the most important streams in inland port research. Recent studies show that the concept of inland ports is clearly much richer and more diversified than merely an extension of deep-sea ports or port logistics. However, as much of the literature is still largely based on individual case studies and anecdotal evidences, the conceptualization of inland ports has proven to be particularly difficult. Therefore, this review paper presents a systematic and integrated review of inland port studies, covering 80 international peer-reviewed academic journal papers on inland port development between 1992 and 2017. The results show that much attention is paid on inland ports as components of the ‘transport/logistics/supply chain’ systems (follower), while their roles as components of the ‘regional’ systems (leader) are largely overlooked. Such a tweaked focus is likely to pose significant impacts on planning, management, and governance of inland ports.     

A review of research on risk and safety modelling in civil aviation

Safety is considered as some of the most important operational characteristics of contemporary civil aviation. An extensive regulatory structure has been established to supplement the private airline, airport and air navigation systems, incentives to limit the risks of flying. This paper reviews the research on risk and safety modelling in civil aviation. In such a context, the basic concepts and definitions of risk, safety and their evaluation are described. The review focuses on four categories of models for safety assessment: causal for aircraft and air traffic control/management operations, collision risk, human factor error and third-party risk.     

基于代理协商的制造业供应链自动物流

针对电子商务对供应链物流敏捷性和自动化的需求,提出适应电子商务发展趋势的制造业供应链自动物流方法,通过分析构成自动物流系统的框架、任务模块和接口中间件环境,研究实现自动物流的关键技术,指出应用供应链自动物流的特点,并举例说明自动物流和协商的过程。     

“新零售”背景下智慧物流治理策略探讨

"新零售"商业形态给物流产业带来了巨大商机,同时给物流产业提出了全新要求。智慧物流是现代物流创新转型适应"新零售"发展的重要途径。阐述"新零售"背景下我国智慧物流发展现状及存在的问题,针对"新零售"对智慧物流发展提出依托供应链整合全渠道物流、订单驱动导向的精准物流服务、高强度的城市配送承载能力等要求,提出应充分发挥政府引导作用,加快智能物流基础设施建设;赋予市场引导功能,建构智慧物流信息平台;彰显社会共治效用,建设智慧物流多重保障体系,形成"政府引导、市场主导、社会共治"三位一体的智慧物流治理策略,以实现对"新零售"的高质量支撑。