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Trade and transport facilitation is a challenging area for international logistics and supply chains. A major problem in the area is the lack of a specific framework to support measurement and analyses of performance aspects concerning border‐crossing operations. The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for the area comprising strategic performance objectives of operations.

The framework derived from a theoretical and empirical basis. The empirical method involved a Delphi study with 11 experts with recognised knowledge in the area of international logistics and supply chain. The framework was validated through a substantive validity test conducted in a pilot study with 20 managers from organisations operating in a major international seaport overseas.

The study developed a framework structured by critical operations performance factors operationalised in terms of trade and transport facilitation aspects.

The framework was pre‐tested in a specific context in Brazil. Its construct validity and reliability require further testing and refinement.

The framework provides reference for the definition of priorities and targeted initiatives in specific areas of trade and transport operations at border‐crossing levels. The initiatives can be aligned with relevant strategic performance objectives of operations in general.

The theoretical, empirical, and practical issues addressed in the research provide an insightful basis for future research and managerial initiatives. The framework defined in the study offers robust measures that allow academics and practitioners to understand and address critical aspects inherent in the operational dimension of trade and transport facilitation.

Service triads refer to tripartite relationships in which client firms serve their customers through third-party service providers. The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the nascent but fast-growing literature on service triads to explore the broad themes along which the literature has grown, and to identify the gaps and future research opportunities.

Systematic literature review (SLR) approach is adopted to retrieve, select, and synthesise relevant service triads studies. A citation network analysis on the corpus resulting from the SLR identified the core articles of the literature.

The SLR uncovered ten themes of research along the articles’ objectives, theories and methodologies. The classification framework of service triads, the roles of customers and providers, the size of the provider, triadic risks, controlling service delivery and service quality, regulated triads, the stability of the triads, and cross-country, cross-culture triads emerged as significant under-researched areas.

The paper illustrates research trends and provides insights into the neglected and under-researched problems of service triads. This is the first SLR on service triads.

Recently the route connecting the trans-Korean railway and the trans-Siberian railway has become of particular interest for many academics and policy-makers in East Asian countries. The extensive review of previous studies, however, reveals that literature on the subject is lacking solid analytical framework. Most studies are one-sided, focusing on the political aspects of the issue or paying little attention to the economic aspects of the problem.

This study intends to develop an analytical framework through which the most efficient route among four major alternative routes connecting the trans-Korean and trans-Siberian railways can be identified. It attempts to assign priorities to the four alternative routes according to their level of economic efficiency.

This study utilizes a simple cost-benefit analysis in evaluating the four routes. Cost side, transportation time, effectiveness of customs procedures, and gauge difference are selected as the main economic factors. The volume of cargo, industrial production in adjacent regions, access to natural resources, and market size and foreign investment climate are used to evaluate the benefits of the routes.

The study concludes that Route 3, which connects ‘Busan - Seoul (South Korea) –Pyongyang -Sinuiju (North Korea) –Shenyang –Beijing - Erenhot (China) –Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) –Ulan-Ude - Moscow (Russia)’ is the most efficient route.

The growth of production‐sharing activities in Mexico has highlighted the need to explore the nature and competitive impact of production sharing. Presents and discusses some of the experiences firms can expect to encounter in Mexican operations. Uses an interview methodology to collect data regarding key manufacturing and logistics issues. Chooses to take an integrated approach that looks at both manufacturing and logistics at the same time because important cost and performance trade‐offs exist that influence the long‐term attractiveness of Mexican operations. Discovers tremendous diversity existing in almost all operating areas and that progress is being made towards the establishment of world‐class logistics and manufacturing practices.

This paper reports on the results of a research project aimed at estimating the costs of border crossing transit time and uncertainty for the U.S. and Canadian economies. The cost estimates are based on a review of prior reports, some 20 site visits to seven key crossings, and 173 interviews of knowledgeable organizations/persons. The key finding is that border transit time and uncertainty are costing some U.S.$4.01 billion, or 1.05% of total 2001 merchandise trade, and 1.58% of truck-based trade levels. The primary implication of the research is that it provides a baseline estimate of costs that can be used in cost-benefit analysis of alternative border management strategies.

The Polish–Slovak borderland is a mountainous area with extraordinary natural conditions for tourism development. The main aim of this chapter is to analyze theoretical aspects of a relationship between transport and tourism and to assess selected changes in cross-border transport that have influenced tourism in Polish–Slovak tourism regions. We have tried to answer the questions on changes in transport infrastructure (based on the analysis of the cross-border projects) and public transport (based on the analysis of timetables of the cross-border public transport connections) in the borderland during the last 30 years and to answer the question whether these changes are in accordance with the sustainable development goals. The Polish–Slovak border is seen as a barrier to transport. The increasing cross-border movement of people and goods through Polish–Slovak border after 1989 required the opening of new border crossings and the construction of new cross-border transport infrastructure. Investments to the road infrastructure have led to using of individual automobile transport. Public transport is currently of marginal importance in cross-border transport. The three cross-border rail lines are in poor technical condition, and plans for their modernization are uncertain. Bus transport has been limited on two tourist-oriented lines in the central part of the borderland. In terms of the structure of the use of means of transport, therefore, no change in trends should be expected and most of the incoming people will continue to cross the Polish–Slovak border by their own means of communication. What is worrying, in the future, in the absence of modernization of the railway infrastructure and no organizational measures, there will be a further decline in the importance of public transport in relation to individual road transport.

Purpose – Examined here are some of the tenets of social capital in the context of the migrants’ crossing the U.S.–Mexico border without official authorization. Using this context helps identify how social capital development is weakened by the structural and gendered dimensions of migration, contributing to the rise in undocumented border crosser deaths since 1993.

Approach – A selection of published works provide an overview of social capital, and in particular, how the framework has been used to further our understanding of the process of migration and immigrant settlement in new destinations. The principles of social capital are then examined in light of women's border crossing experiences and used to argue that migrants from emerging migrant-sending states in southern and central Mexico have had less time to accumulate resource-enhancing migration-related social capital. The narratives of repatriated women collected during research on the border in 2006–2007 are used to illustrate how controlling environments undermine the acquisition of social capital at a critical time.

Findings – The selection of narratives of women who were repatriated after attempting to cross into the United States without authorization illustrate the perilous interplay of hardening border enforcement and multiplying illicit border smuggling organizations. The outcome is the downward leveling of social capital on the border that potentially poses greater life-threatening risks for migrants.

Originality/value – This study provides a theoretical understanding that can be used to explain rising levels of violence along the U.S.–Mexico border that increasingly engulf migrants fleeing poverty in Mexico.

This study aims to report on the current issues facing the maquiladora industry in Mexico and the cross‐border supply chain and to present suggestions for improving the situation in the future.

Phenomenological interviews were conducted with managers overseeing various aspects of the cross‐border supply chain. The resulting data were analyzed using a grounded theory methodology to uncover theoretical linkages.

The results of this study show that maquiladoras experience many of the same problems as other companies in terms of managing the cross‐border supply chain. Key factors such as distance, comparative advantage, and integration of the workforce cause problems everyday for the managers involved.

This was an exploratory investigation of the issues with a small number of informants and future research needs to be done to gain additional insights. As North American Free Trade Agreement enters its second decade, and the focus on global supply chain efficiency becomes primary for all manufacturers, solving the problems discussed in this paper becomes even more paramount.

In addition to low‐cost manufacturing, distance and integration are critical issues for companies to understand in their pursuit of a low‐cost strategy for competitive advantage.

The major contribution of this paper has been an improved understanding of the impediments to success in the Mexican maquiladoras. Many of the issues discussed in this paper would also apply to other global supply chains and numerous other countries.

The management of international supply chains may significantly contribute to the successful outcome of exports. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the level of supply chain collaboration in an uncertain cross‐border context, and whether it improves supply chain performance. The moderating role of export experience and intensity to the collaboration‐performance relationship is also investigated.

The paper draws on a survey of Finnish industrial companies with Russian exports. Correlation and regression analysis is used in investigating causal relationships.

The results weakly support the hypothesised positive relationships of collaboration and performance in the chosen cross‐border context. It seems that experience in cross‐border supply chain operations does not guarantee success in supply chain management. However, those companies with large export volumes, implying frequency and leveraged resources in operations, seemed to be better able to collaborate for successful outcomes.

The research is limited to supplier‐customer dyads, and the suppliers' perceptions. The findings are confined to the specific context of the Finnish‐Russian cross‐border trade.

Despite the generally bleak picture of cross‐border supply chain collaboration, interesting insight was generated concerning which areas of collaboration may be the most effective. Supply chain design is one of the areas where companies should clearly collaborate; joint‐planning should therefore include facility location, mode of transport, carrier selection, and general flow management related decisions.

Although the relationship of supply chain collaboration and performance has been established in the literature, the paper contributes to knowledge by exploring the cross‐border context, with international business environment and high level of supply chain uncertainty.