The potential of optimization in communal routing problems: case studies from Finland

In many European countries, municipalities offer their inhabitants a wide variety of social services. In this paper we will focus on efficiently scheduling home care, transportation of the elderly, and home meal delivery. These so-called municipal or communal routing problems can be modeled as different variants of the vehicle routing problem, a well-known optimization problem from the literature. We present a focused literature review and report on case studies using Finnish data. The computational results show that there is a significant potential for cost savings for all applications considered.     

Monetary values of freight transport quality attributes: A sample of Tanzanian firms

This paper presents the findings of a stated preference research conducted in Tanzania (East Africa). The objective of the survey was to determine the relative importance as well as monetary values attached to freight transport quality attribute by shippers in this region. In-depth interviews with the logistic managers of companies that produce and ship goods were conducted. The freight transport quality attributes considered in this survey were flexibility, frequency, loss and damage, reliability, and transit time. The monetary values of these attributes have been computed as willingness to pay for their improvement as well as willingness to accept compensation for a decrease in their quality. The results show that shippers in this region consider travel time, loss and damage and frequency as the most important quality attributes. This may have relevant implications for the infrastructural transport policies to be implemented in the country.     

What Is the Right Delivery Option for You? Consumer Preferences for Delivery Attributes in Online Retailing

Nowadays, online retailers are offering a variety of delivery options consisting of varying combinations of delivery attributes. This study investigates how consumers value these delivery attributes (e.g., delivery speed, time slot, daytime/evening delivery, delivery date, and delivery fee) when selecting a delivery option for their online purchases. Mental accounting theory is used to frame the research and to suggest how mental accounts for money, time, and convenience influence consumer preferences for online delivery options. Specifically, the results of a conjoint analysis show that the most important attribute in shaping consumer preferences is the delivery fee, followed by nonprice delivery attributes. For individual attributes, significant differences are found in consumer preferences between gender and income groups. Cluster analysis reveals three consumer segments that show distinct preference structures: We identify a “price‐oriented,” a “time‐ and convenience‐oriented,” and a “value‐for‐money‐oriented” consumer segment. This study has practical implications for online retailers when implementing suitable delivery strategies and designing effective delivery options to maximize consumer satisfaction.     

Models for status inconsistency and mobility: A comparison of the approaches by Hope and Sobel with the mainstream square additive model

This paper is about the analysis of effects of status inconsistency and mobility on a dependent variable. We compare the mainstream square additive baseline model to alternative designs by Hope (1971, 1975) and Sobel (1981, 1985). Both writers claim that the square additive baseline model also contains some status inconsistency effects. An examination of the relationships between the square additive model, Hope's halfway/difference model, and Sobel's simple diagonal reference model shows that the effects uncovered by Sobel and Hope pertain to the inequality of the effects of the status variables on the dependent variable. These salience difference effects are therefore distinct from the non-additive status inconsistency effects which would be detected using the square additive approach. Less restricted versions of the diagonal reference model, the DM-1 and DM-2 models as well as a recent model by Weakliem (1992), are also examined with regard to additive/non-additive components and symmetry of effects.     

Factors Affecting Global Inventory Prepositioning Locations in Humanitarian Operations—A Delphi Study

This article investigates the factors that are important to humanitarian organizations when determining locations for inventory prepositioning in preparation for emergencies—a critical decision faced by humanitarian managers. Current research in the sector is rich with mathematical models that focus on this decision, although these models have a limited scope in terms of decision factors. Through a Delphi study our article investigates, identifies, and orders a comprehensive set of factors that decision makers in the humanitarian sector take into consideration when determining where to preposition inventory on the global level. Through this process, 10 main factors are identified, with the top five factors being required: speed of emergency response, the availability and quality of infrastructure, the availability and quality of business support services, the cost of operating the facility, and the availability and quality of labor. We also include suggestions for facility location research based on the outcomes of our study.     

Bank computerization and organizational innovations: the long winding road to the bank of the future

Despite increasing customer orientation and a more proactive IT policy in the services offered by Dutch banks, organizational innovation has been partial and segmented. Changes in organizational structure are complicated by the current wave of mergers between banks and insurance companies.[1]     

Fuelling the urban economy: A comparative study of energy in the Low Countries, 1600–1850

What was the role of energy in shaping modern economies and fuelling the transition to sustained economic growth? In the historiography on the industrial revolution, the transition to fossil energy carriers plays a central role. Despite recent efforts to gather new empirical evidence, long-term comparative studies on energy transitions and their economic impact before and during the first industrial revolution remain rare. As a contribution to this literature, this article presents new quantitative data on energy consumption from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries in the Low Countries. To explore differences in the chronology and impact of energy transitions, we compare the total levels of energy consumption, the energy mix, and the prices of fuels between two cities in the northern and southern Low Countries: Leiden and Ghent. This analysis enables us to explore more clearly which factors played a key role in the interaction between energy, economic growth, and industrialisation. The transition towards a cheap-energy economy in Holland was associated with economic growth, but not with mechanisation. On the other hand, the rapid mechanisation process in Ghent was associated not with a cheap-energy economy (relative to that of Leiden), but more specifically with a cheap-coal economy.