Altruistic or egoistic: Which value promotes organic food consumption among young consumers? A study in the context of a developing nation

The present research attempts to understand the importance of altruistic and egoistic value in determining the young consumers’ intention to buy organic food. Environmental concern was considered as the altruistic value, whereas health concern as egoistic value. Using the convenience sampling method, a total of 304 usable responses was collected from young consumers, with the help of self administered questionnaire survey approach. Data analysis was done using two step structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, i.e. measurement model and structural model. Findings indicated that, both altruistic as well as egoistic value influences the intention to buy organic food among young Indian consumers. However, egoistic value was found to have more impact on the consumers’ organic food purchase intention. The present research is one of the initial attempts in the Indian context to understand the importance of values (altruistic and egoistic) organic food consumption among young consumers.     

Exploring impact factors of shippers’ risk prevention activities: A European survey in transportation

This paper reports results of a survey examining the impact factors for shippers to implement risk prevention activities. A regression analysis illustrates the relations between risk and quality related impact factors and the shippers’ ability to implement risk prevention activities. The study identifies the corporate risk culture and product vulnerability as main impact factors for the implementation of prevention activities in transportation. This paper will be beneficial for transportation managers considering the implementation of risk prevention activities in the transportation field, and will support further empirical research in the transportation management and supply chain risk management research area.     

Price promotion with reference price effects in supply chain

We consider the price promotion in a supply chain comprising one manufacturer and one retailer, who take into account the reference price effects of consumers. The problem is analyzed as a manufacturer-lead Stackelberg game. The results indicate that reference price effects could mitigate “double marginalization” effects, and improve the channel efficiency. We also show that the optimal price promotion benefits the manufacturer, retailer and consumers in consumer promotion model. Furthermore, we provide the conditions under which the retailer has an interest in offering price promotion to consumers. Finally, we employ numerical analysis to demonstrate more managerial insights.     

Effects of carbon emission reduction policies on transportation mode selections with stochastic demand

We are witnessing more frequent extreme weather events due to the global warming. There is an urgent need for governments, industries, general public, and academics to take coordinated actions in order to tackle the challenges imposed by the climate change. It is essential to incorporate the environmental objective in the transportation mode selection problem as transportation is a main contributor to carbon emissions. With this in mind, our paper studies the retailer’s ordering and transportation mode selection problem using stochastic customer demand and investigates the optimal ordering and transportation mode selection decisions under different carbon emission reduction policies. Our analytical results reveal that there are some important transportation mode shifting thresholds under different carbon emissions reduction policies. These findings do not only help firms to make optimal decisions under different carbon emission reduction policies but also support policy makers to develop effective policies on carbon emissions reduction.     

Sustainable design of a closed-loop location-routing-inventory supply chain network under mixed uncertainty

Considering economic, environmental and social impacts, this paper presents a new sustainable closed-loop location-routing-inventory model under mixed uncertainty. The environmental impacts of CO₂ emissions, fuel consumption, wasted energy and the social impacts of created job opportunities and economic development are considered in this paper. The uncertain nature of the network is handled using a stochastic-possibilistic programming approach. Furthermore, for large-sized problems, a hybrid meta-heuristic algorithm and lower bounds are developed and discussed. Finally, a real case study is provided to demonstrate the applicability of the model in real-world applications, and several in-depth analyses are conducted to develop managerial implications.     

Delivery leadtime and channel structure decisions for make-to-order duopoly under different game scenarios

We develop game-theoretic models to explore the quoted delivery leadtime, price, and channel structure decisions for a make-to-order duopoly system under three game scenarios. Under the integrated-manufacturer first scenario, we find that (i) decentralization of the supply chain increases quoted leadtime; and (ii) both manufacturers may choose different channel structures under symmetric duopoly. By comparing with the symmetric scenario and the retailer first scenario, we find that a manufacturer facing a decentralized rival adopts decentralization when leadtime sensitivity, leadtime cost, and price elasticity are very small; the effect of decentralization on quoted leadtime largely depends on game scenario.     

Robust grain supply chain design considering post-harvest loss and harvest timing equilibrium

This paper presents a bi-level robust optimization model, where a food company maximizes its profit and minimizes post-harvest loss by optimally deploying grain processing/storage facilities and determining grain purchase price, while a group of spatially distributed non-cooperative farmers determine harvest time, shipment, storage, and market decisions under yield uncertainty and market equilibrium. The non-cooperative behavior of the food company and the farmers is represented by a bi-level Stackelberg leader follower’s game model with mixed-integer decision variables. The proposed model and solution approach are applied to case studies for Illinois and Brazil.     

Understanding tourists' itineraries in emerging rural tourism regions: the application of paper-based itinerary mapping methodology to a wine tourism region in Michigan

In recent years, many rural areas have turned to tourism as a way of reviving their communities. One challenge to such efforts is that community leaders in these areas often have limited experience with tourism and consequently lack the knowledge and resources to best facilitate sustainable tourism initiatives. Moreover, an influx of tourists to an area puts new demands on infrastructure. Information about tourists' itineraries can help communities to address new challenges that result from tourism, however using emerging technologies such as GPS and Internet-based map surveys can be expensive and require expertise many rural tourism planners do not have. Paper-based itinerary mapping methodology can be a cost effective way of providing local officials, tourism planners, and businesses with important information to inform decisions about how to invest limited resources. This study applies paper-based itinerary mapping to an emerging wine tourism area in a rural county in the US state of Michigan. Because it involves tourists travelling from place to place within a region, wine tourism is particularly well-suited for itinerary mapping. Results provide specific recommendations to local officials, tourism planners, and businesses. Moreover, the study offers an example to researchers interested in conducting studies that use paper-based itinerary mapping methodology.     

Is more better? The relationship between meeting space capacity and hotel operating performance

This study examines the effect of meeting space capacity on hotel operating performance. We use Resource-Based View (RBV) of the firm as the theoretical foundation. We employ a national-level dataset with more than 20,000 hotels in the United States for the 2007–2012 period. We find that meeting space has a non-linear effect on hotel operating performance. That is, at low levels of meeting space, meeting space capacity is negatively related to hotel operating performance. At high levels of meeting space, meeting space capacity has a positive influence on operating performance. These findings provide insights for hotel owners, developers and practitioners in planning hotel meeting space capacity.     

Modifying and applying time and cost blocks: The case of E-Da theme park,Kaohsiung, Taiwan

The main purpose of this study is to modify and apply a management tool called time and cost blocks (TCB). The model was modified to adjust how the “benefit indicator” was measured and further enhanced by inclusion of visitor satisfaction scores and revisiting intention. Data collection was accomplished by means of a diary-type semi-structured questionnaire, which was administered in face-to-face interviews with 655 visitors of the E-Da World theme park in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The results indicate that participation intensity (PI) and benefit indicator (BI) have a significant relationship with satisfaction and revisiting intention.