Editorial to first annual special issue on "Managerially relevant logistics models

Citation

Autry, C.W. (2012), "Editorial to first annual special issue on "Managerially relevant logistics models", International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 42 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijpdlm.2012.00542baa.001

Editorial to first annual special issue on "Managerially relevant logistics models"

Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Volume 42, Issue 2

Welcome to the first annual special issue on “Managerially relevant logistics models” to be published in International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management (IJPDLM). As was stated in the original call for papers, it is evident that the logistics and supply chain management field(s) stand to benefit from rigorously derived analytical research that is also directly and immediately applicable to business practice. We thank our predecessors, Mike Crum and Dick Poist, for broadening the horizons of the journal to include such submissions as these, and believe that when well executed, much important theoretical advancement can occur as the result of including more analytical work in the journal.

Based on the excellent response to the Call for Papers, our academic colleagues appear to agree with this sentiment. Many very thoughtful submissions were received, and as you will see in this issue, those that survived the review process stand to contribute greatly to our discipline from both a theoretical and practical standpoint. These papers are analytically thorough and well grounded in contemporary theoretical perspectives, as well as highly applicable to modern business problems. The authors in each case have taken meaningful steps to explicitly show this applicability to practitioners, and the articles published in this issue thereby serve as excellent samples that future contributors can view, cite, and lean on as examples of the high impact work we seek to advance through this special issue format.

In the first article of the issue, Gino Marchet, Sara Perotti and Riccardo Mangiaracina model the impacts of information and communications technologies on freight/transportation process costs (both economic and time-based) given three differential levels of technology integration. Their model allows managers to more effectively rationalize technological investments in logistics information technology based on the technology’s capabilities and the economic position of the firm.

The second article, by Michael S. Garver, Zachary Williams, G. Stephen Taylor and William R. Wynne, addresses an issue very important to logistics service providers (LSP): the factors LSP customers use to make their selection of a provider. The authors employ adaptive choice modeling to identify price, speed of delivery, and tracking capabilities as predominant choice factors, and they were additionally able to isolate several key performance/price tradeoffs that customers are willing to consider, thereby creating an “efficient frontier” for decision making in this critical area. Additionally, several needs-based customer segments were identified as high-value future LSP targets.

Malini Natarajarathinam, Jennifer Stacey and Charles Sox, as authors of the third article, developed new heuristics that should facilitate augmented managerial effectiveness in the area of vehicle routing. Their model bases route design decisions on both route length and inventory positions of the focal firm, as exemplified in an inbound-parts based scenario. The authors were able to develop near-optimal solutions that consider both route formation and pickup quantities, and their findings should allow managers to both reduce costs and increase service levels.

The final article in this issue, by Nagihan Çomez and Timothy Kiessling, addresses joint inventory and pricing decisions within continuous inventory review systems. Through this particularly insightful article, managers should gain new perspectives on how to best determine optimal price and inventory policy simultaneously.

This is the first “Managerially relevant logistics models” issue of our editorship, and this call will be repeated annually as long as high quality analytical papers continue to be submitted. Papers selected for publication in this annual issue will continue to be evaluated based on utility to both theory and practice, and will be held to the highest internal and external validation criteria. A wide range of modeling perspectives will of course be welcome, provided they display both relevance to decision makers in addition to internal rigor. I welcome questions and/or guidance related to the mission of this annual project, and very much look forward to reading many more fascinating papers submitted by our colleagues. And, as always, Glenn, Alex, and I thank you for considering IJPDLM as a premier outlet for your best research.

Chad W. AutryGuest Editor