Comparative North American and European gateway logistics: the regionalism of freight distribution

The global freight distribution system has been impacted by convergence in terms of technology, infrastructure, modes and terminals. Still, in spite of strong converging forces, it can be argued that logistical practices are far from being uniform. This paper analyses the regionalism in freight transport systems by providing a comparative analysis of gateway logistics practices in North America and Europe. It is demonstrated that Europe and North America are not walking the same paths when it comes to the configuration of transport and logistics networks, via operational decisions and the setting of a regulatory framework. The attributes of gateways, corridors, hinterlands, regulation, governance, value chains and labor provide an analytical framework to understand the regionalism of freight distribution in the North American and European contexts, as well as anywhere else.     

Global city regions and the location of logistics activity

The aim of this paper is to extend and develop research surrounding the links between transport and urban regions. An understanding of transport activity has long involved the use of spatial frameworks, seen in the idea of a gateway city (with its surrounding hinterland) and in the identification of hubs or nodes. The particular framework used here is the global city region, a build-out from the much researched global city, and acknowledged as the most prominent feature of spatial development in the global economy. As these areas can accommodate important sea and airport infrastructure, the global city region can be expected to play a significant role in global logistics. Whether that significance extends just from the physical realm, as reflected in the infrastructure, or whether it is embedded in the scale and complexity of the advanced business services sector within the global city, is the issue that lies at the heart of the research. The research has set out to answer the question: “How important are these regions in logistics activity?”. The question has relevance in the context of transport geography as it provides an urban structure perspective on what is commonly seen as separate port or airport activity. Its relevance is enhanced as its answer relies upon a simultaneous analysis of both sea and air freight activity. Results show these regions counted for a substantial and growing share of sea and air freight between 1996 and 2006. In accounting for that outcome the research explores the particular effect of infrastructure (showing that global city regions with multiple seaport and airports play a special role) and also isolates the links with global city functions. The paper concludes with some insight on the special challenge these places create for strategic urban planning policy.     

Product return and logistics knowledge: Influence on performance of the firm

Survey data on reverse logistics processes from 284 Spanish firms are used to test a structural model that analyzes the importance of returned materials and the creation of logistics knowledge within processes of reverse logistics and their effects on organizational performance. The results show that the cost of reverse logistics and the value of returns were found to be positively related to reverse logistics activities. Further, their proper management and the creation of logistics knowledge that improves organizational performance.     

我国大型企业实施逆向物流困难的原因及对策

近年来,随着逆向物流已被众多企业所重视,其业务呈现快速增长的趋势。据此,探讨实施逆向物流的重要性和我国大型企业实施逆向物流困难的原因,提出改善逆向物流实施的建议。     

第三方服务企业能力外购模型设计与分析

第三方服务企业为保持在市场竞争中的优势地位,应将能力和外购有效结合,以更加有效地利用企业内外部资源与能力.将企业看作一个能力集合,利用整数规划与模糊集合方法,从企业能力分析的角度,建立第三方服务企业能力外购的供应商选择模型,并通过实例对模型进行应用分析.     

浅谈化解富余员工安置与劳务项目外包的矛盾

科学发展观的核心内涵是,第一要义是发展,核心是以人为本,基本要求是全面协调可持续,根本方法是统筹兼顾.在国有企业,尤其是对于经历了计划经济时代长期发展历程而面临改革重组的老牌国有企业,如何解决好富余员工安置和劳务项目外包的矛盾,一直是制约企业顺利改革推行的一大难题.     

Causal nexus between the transport and logistics sector and trade: The case of Australia

Although a number of studies have already been conducted on the economic impact of the development of the transport and logistics sector and international trade, these are regarded as two separated topics, and little has been done so far to study in depth the relationship between them. This paper seeks to shed light on this issue in the context of Australia. To this end, the vector autocorrelation (VAR) framework is employed to explore the causal relationship between Australia–China trade and the development of the Australian transport and logistics sector. This framework is then extended to allow for the effect of Australia's trade with the US, Japan, the rest of the world and other variables. Based on the analysis results, implications for the transport and logistics sector are discussed.     

Growth and internationalisation strategies in the airline industry

This paper analyses the international growth of the global air transport sector to identify factors that determine the emergence of transnational companies and different forms of international expansion in the airline industry. An analysis of the market structure is conducted to understand why traditional, full service airlines have adopted alliances and code sharing to internationalise their business, while low-cost carriers prefer more direct methods to enter new foreign markets.     

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.     

Measuring the performance of and tradeoffs within the triple bottom line

In this article, we use the data of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) trucking industry to illustrate a new analysis framework based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) using the concept of the triple bottom line to show the internal tradeoffs among economic, environmental and social issues within individual Decision Making Unit (DMU). We evaluate the various efficiencies of each national trucking industry by comparing it to its peers and develop indices that allow us to investigate the internal tradeoffs among the three areas of the triple bottom line. These measures help us understand how each country can choose to emphasize certain inputs and outputs to increase efficiency. The framework can be extended to other applications.     

The role of regional airports and air services in the United Kingdom

This paper deals with the implications of the 1998 UK transport White Paper for regional airports and air services within the wider context of the promotion of an integrated and sustainable transport system. More specifically, the discussion initially addresses the political and business context of the development of air transport in the UK regions. Secondly, the recent trends defining that development are isolated, particular attention being paid to the increasing importance of supplier-led strategies in air transport and the segmented markets served by regional airports. Finally, the three, not easily reconciled, strands, which can be identified in the White Paper’s analysis of aviation are considered. These are: air transport's relationship with sustainable development; the integration of air transport with surface modes; and the contribution of air transport to regional economic growth.     

Bankruptcy protection and stock market behavior in the US airline industry

This study examines the effects of bankruptcy protection on the stock market behavior of US airlines and their domestic rivals. We find that Chapter 11 airlines experience both statistically and economically significant adverse price changes at the time of filing for bankruptcy. During the close-to-3 years after filing, however, these airlines experience significantly positive price changes. Their rivals experience significantly positive price reactions both at the time of the filing and up to 3 years post-filing. The evidence is consistent with substantial improvement in the financial condition of the bankrupt airlines after the reorganization, and with rivals gaining from the failures of other airlines.     

The Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis (MAMCA) application in the Flemish long-term decision making process on mobility and logistics

The Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis (MAMCA) is a methodology to evaluate different policy measures whereby different stakeholders’ opinions are explicitly taken into account. This paper describes the MAMCA methodology and how it has been used in the “Flanders in Action Process”. One of the objectives of this process is to turn Flanders into a top region in terms of mobility and logistics by attracting logistic activities with a large added value, realizing fluent and widely accessible mobility, a huge increase in traffic safety and a decrease of the environmental impact of transport. As there are a wide range of actors with different interests involved in this process, the MAMCA methodology was applied to evaluate a set of possible policy measures being proposed to reach this objective. An important advantage of this methodology is that it is able to support the decision maker in his final decision as the inclusion of different points of view leads to a general prioritisation of the proposed policy measures.     

The effect of public ownership and deregulation in the Scandinavian airline industry

We analyse why deregulation resulted in a temporary strong reduction in prices in Sweden, whereas in Norway the prices did not change significantly. SAS and Linjeflyg merged when the Swedish market was deregulated, whereas attempts to merge SAS and Braathens SAFE did not succeed. Upon deregulation in Sweden some of the carriers operating charter markets or regional secondary routes decided to enter the main routes. This put pressure on prices. Similar entries did not take place in the Norwegian market. We analyse whether the duopoly between SAS and Braathens SAFE is characterised by tacit collusion.     

关于区段管内车流组织和机车运用改革的研究

指出传统的区段管内车流组织和机车运用方法 ,已不能满足铁路运输走向市场的要求。分析了现行管内运输组织存在的问题 ,介绍了国外先进车流组织方法 ,提出了区段管内车流组织和机车运用改革方案 ,给出了方案在蓝烟线实施的模拟结果     

Market orientation and business performance: An empirical investigation in the airline industry

As the airline industry has become more competitive, carriers have looked to improve performance and competitiveness. During the last decade, market-oriented corporate strategy has emerged as a significant antecedent of organizational performance and is presumed to contribute to long-term success. This study investigates potential influences of market orientation on airline performance. Data were collected by mail survey, and MARKOR was used to specify the dimensions of a market-orientated organization. The results support the positive influence of market orientation on business performance.     

Exploring the relationships between motivation,attachment and loyalty within sport event tourism

Attendance at sports events continues to rise, as evidenced by increased attendance across a range of sports events in 2014. Despite this, destinations that host live sports events struggle to attract repeat visitors outside scheduled events. This study aims to better understand the relationship between motivation, attachment and loyalty within event tourism. This paper discusses the existing contributions in these areas by drawing on sport and tourism literature and is the first to investigate the relationship across all three constructs. Within this paper, we develop the initial outline of a theoretical model, which depicts these relationships.     

Exploring the relationship between educational mismatch,earnings and job satisfaction in the tourism industry

This article analyses the interrelationship between educational mismatch, wages and job satisfaction in the Spanish tourism sector in the first years of the global economic crisis. It is shown that there is a much higher incidence of over-education among workers in the Spanish tourism sector than in the rest of the economy despite this sector recording lower educational levels. This study estimates two models to analyse the influence of the educational mismatch on wages and job satisfaction for workers in the tourism industry and for the Spanish economy as a whole. The first model shows that in the tourism sector, the wage penalty associated with over-education is approximately 10%. The second reveals that in the tourism sector the levels of satisfaction of over-educated workers are considerably lower than those corresponding to workers well assigned. With respect to the differences between tourism and the overall economy in both aspects, the wage penalty is substantially lower in the case of tourism industries and the effect of over-education on job satisfaction is very similar to that of the economy as a whole in a context where both wages and the private returns to education are considerably lower in the tourism sector.     

认真贯彻国务院《物流业调整和振兴规划》大力推动铁路多元经营物流业转型发展

结合贯彻国务院《物流业调整和振兴规划》,分析加快铁路多元经营物流业转型发展的必要性、紧迫性和可行性,探讨如何加快铁路多元经营物流业转型发展。     

Motivations and barriers for corporate social responsibility reporting: Evidence from the airline industry

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a popular topic, as related research saliently suggests that CSR reporting has positive impacts, including improving corporate reputation, achieving employee trust, and enhancing customers' satisfaction. Consequently, in the past few years, companies have increasingly begun to report their CSR initiative outcomes, while the majority struggles to adopt similar initiatives. The research presented herein investigates motivations and barriers for reporting CSR outcomes by providing evidence from airline companies to investigate this disparity. Data collected through survey and confirmatory interviews indicates that respondents believe that government is the most important reader (or customer) of CSR reports. Similar to other industries, CSR reporting's major motivations are related to reputation and brand value, employees' CSR awareness, communication with stakeholders, management systems, management culture, market share, and transparency with the government. An enhanced understanding of related barriers and motivators should assist policymakers and company executives in their strategic decision-making regarding CSR reporting, thereby contributing to advancement toward sustainability.