Search results

This paper aims to explore the interdisciplinary nature of coordination challenges in the logistic response to food safety incidents while distinguishing the food supply chain positions involved.

This adopts an exploratory qualitative research approach over a period of 11 years. Multiple research periods generated 38 semi-structured interviews and 2 focus groups. All data is analysed by a thematic analysis.

The authors identified four key coordination challenges in the logistics response to food safety incidents: first, information quality (sharing information and the applied technology) appears to be seen as the biggest challenge for the response; second, more emphasis on external coordination focus is required; third, more extensive emphasis is needed on the proactive phase in the logistic response; fourth, a distinct difference exists in the position’s views on coordination in the food supply chain. Furthermore, the data supports the interdisciplinary nature as disciplines such as operations management, strategy and organisation but also food safety and risk management, have to work together to align a rapid response, depending on the incident’s specifics.

The paper shows the need for comprehensively reviewing and elaborating on the research gap in coordination decisions for the logistic response to food safety incidents while using the views of the different supply chain positions. The empirical data indicates the interdisciplinary nature of these coordination decisions, supporting the need for more attention to the interdisciplinary food research agenda. The findings also indicate the need for more attention to organisational learning, and an open and active debate on exploratory qualitative research approaches over a long period of time, as this is not widely used in supply chain management studies.

The results of this paper do not present a managerial blueprint but can be helpful for practitioners dealing with aspects of decision-making by the food supply chain positions. The findings help practitioners to systematically go through all phases of the decision-making process for designing an effective logistic response to food safety incidents. Furthermore, the results provide insight into the distinct differences in views of the supply chain positions on the coordination decision-making process, which is helpful for managers to better understand in what phase(s) and why other positions might make different decisions.

The findings add value for the general public, as an effective logistic response contributes to consumer’s trust in food safety by creating more transparency in the decisions made during a food safety incident. As food sources are and will remain essential for human existence, the need to contribute to knowledge related to aspects of food safety is evident because it will be impossible to prevent all food safety incidents.

As the main contribution, this study provides a systematic and interdisciplinary understanding of the coordination decision-making process for the logistic response to food safety incidents while distinguishing the views of the supply chain positions.

Using Social Network Analysis (SNA), this paper examines the inter-provincial logistics relationships in China. Based on the annual data of inter-provincial railway logistics quantity during the period 1998-2009, the degree of interconnection between regions could imply intensified trends of regional economic integration.

The main results of the logistic relationships in China are as follows: the regional logistic interconnection, especially between western and eastern China has increased continuously, which would imply a rising national economic integration. However, the increased centralization index and the average Degree Centrality level imply that a logistics bottleneck has intensified in several hub provinces.

Secondly, logistic center provinces evaluated by the Degree Centrality have changed. In 2009, Hebei, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Sichuan provinces revealed the highest inward Degree Centrality. Sichuan Province is the region that most surprisingly increased its centrality.

Thirdly, the number of logistic hub provinces, evaluated by the Degree Betweenness Centrality, has increased. In 2008, Henan province was only a focal hub but in 2009, Shandong, Hubei, Sichuan provinces became logistic hubs.

Lastly, the Community Modularity which analyzed grouping structures shows that there are three time-consistent communities. This means that even though there is enhanced between-region integration, the inter-regional inter-connection is more important in explaining the regional logistic relationship.

This study aims to identify the main challenges to achieving humanitarian logistics in the context of United Nations peace missions in sub-Saharan Africa and to present suggestions for overcoming the logistical gaps encountered.

The methodological approach of the work focuses on the comparative case study of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic and The United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2014 to 2021. The approach combined a systematic literature review with the authors’ empirical experience as participant observers in each mission, combining theory and practice.

As a result, six common challenges were identified for carrying out humanitarian logistics in the three peace missions. Each challenge revealed a logistical gap for which an appropriate solution was suggested based on the best practices found in the case study of each mission.

This paper presents limitations when addressing the logistical analysis based on only three countries under the UN mission as a case study, as well as conceiving that certain flaws in the system, in the observed period, are already in the process of correction with the adoption of the 2016–2021 strategy by the UN Global Logistic Cluster. The authors suggest that further studies can be carried out by expanding the number of cases or using countries where other bodies (AU, NATO or EU) work.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first comparative case study of humanitarian logistics on the three principal missions of the UN conducted by academics and practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to outline the standard profile of the typical wine consumer, by identifying some relevant features that can influence his/her purchasing choices. Therefore, the purpose of the research is to identify the pre-eminent attributes for wine consumers and the different levels of importance that consumers ascribe to the attributes identified at the time of purchase.

In order to collect the necessary data, an ad hoc questionnaire was utilized. The questionnaire, which was anonymous, was directly distributed with the face-to-face method. In total, 1,500 copies of the questionnaire had been prepared. The data collected were processed through the use of the binary logistic regression model and the ordinal logistic regression model. The first binary logistic regression model allows to evaluate the dependence of the dichotomous variable on some potential predictors. The ordinal logistic regression model, known in literature as a cumulative model of proportional quotas, is generally appropriate for situations in which the ordinal response variable has discrete categories.

The results returned by the elaboration of the binary logistic regression model refer to the influence of the variables sex, age, educational status and income on the “wine consumption” result, which is a dichotomous variable. The only variables found to be statistically significant are gender and educational status. The most significant variables that emerged from the implementation of the ordinary logistic regression model are gender, brand, choice based on price, place of production, harvest and certification. The analysis carried out has shown that with reference to wine as a product, it is essential to focus on several attributes, among which there are of course quality and brand.

Although field experiments are extremely useful for testing behavioral hypotheses, they are often limited by a small sample. Future research in this area might focus on the knowledge level of sustainable wine of the consumer. In relation to the knowledge of the characteristics of the wine, it is possible to estimate the willingness to pay a surplus for a wine produced with sustainable methods by the consumer and the possible level of price premium.

The originality of the research lies mainly in a deeper knowledge of wine consumption trends. This information is useful to better define the wine market and to allow, especially to small businesses, to establish effective marketing strategies in relation to the real preferences of consumers and the decision-making process of choice put in place by them. In order to achieve this, the influence of all the variables on the “satisfaction of wine consumption” result was evaluated. The strength of this paper is the use of an adequate statistical approach based on the use of models, typical of inferential statistics, to reach conclusions that can be extended to the entire population of wine growers.

This paper aims to examine the time it would take to provide medical prophylaxis for a large urban population in the wake of an airborne anthrax attack and the effect that various parameters have on the total logistical time.

A mathematical model that evaluates key parameters and suggests alternatives for improvement is formulated. The objective of the model is to minimize the total logistical time required for prophylaxis by balancing three cycles as follows: the loading cycle, the shipping cycle and the service cycle.

Applying the model to two representative cases reveals the effect of various parameters on the process. For example, the number of distribution centers and the number of servers in each center are key parameters, whereas the number of central depots and the local shipping method is less important.

Various psychological factors such as mass panic are not included in the model.

There are few papers analyzing the logistical response to an anthrax attack, and most focus mainly on the strategic level. The study deals with the tactical logistical level. The authors focus on the distribution process of prophylaxis and other medical supplies during the crisis, analyze it and identify the parameters that influence the time between the detection of the attack and the provision of effective medical treatment to the exposed population.

The objective of this study is to present a successful strategy to promote Korea as the logistics hub of Northeast Asia. Firstly, we introduce the necessity of a logistic hub strategy for Korea. In order to develop a successful strategy, we consider the 'free trade zone' model of the Netherlands and China. We develop a realistic and suitable model for Korea based on this Jree trade zone' model. Our proposal for a successful logistic hub strategy for Korea is the fulfillment of the following six objectives: 1) security of market accessibility, 2) improvement of the logistic system, 3) improvement of the education system, 4) improvement of the tax system, 5) assurance of labor market flexibility, and 6) development of an appealing living environment for foreigners.

Current online business development redistributes last-mile logistics (LML) from consumer to retailer and producer. This paper identifies how empirical LML research has used and defined logistic performance measures for key grocery industry actors. Using a multi-actor perspective on logistic performance, the authors discuss coordination issues important for optimising LML at system level.

A semi-systematic literature review of 85 publications was conducted to analyse performance measurements used for effectiveness and efficiency, and for which actors.

Few empirical LML studies exist examining coordination between key actors or on system level. Most studies focus on logistic performance measurements for retailers and/or consumers, not producers. Key goals and resource utilisations lack research, including all key actors and system-level coordination.

Current LML performance research implies a risk for sub-optimisation. Through expanding on efficiency and effectiveness interplay at system level and introducing new research perspectives, the review highlights the need to revaluate single-actor, single-measurement studies.

No established scientific guidelines exist for solving LML optimisation in the grocery industry. For managers, it is important to thoroughly consider efficiency and effectiveness in LML execution, coordination and collaboration among key actors, avoiding sub-optimisations for business and sustainability.

The study contributes to current knowledge by reviewing empirical research on LML performance in the grocery sector, showing how previous research disregards the importance of multiple actors and coordination of actors, efficiency and effectiveness.

This research empirically analyzes gaps in performance among development stages of integration in supply chain management (SCM). The used variables are integration such as internal and external and performance such as cost and service. The population is international freight forwarders in the Republic of Korea and the sample frame is the membership list of the Korean International Freight Forwarders Association. The used methodology in this research is various: Cronbach’s alpha, factor analysis, cluster analysis, analysis of variance and post hoc analysis. It is important to ascertain the position in which they are included and the position is concerned with internal integration and external integration because the aim of this research is to ascertain where the forwarders are in development stages of integration. According to prior research, development stages of integration are regarded as the flow from internal to external. However, this research suggests that development stages of integration do not explain the flow of the stages but explain the strategic choice concerned with their current decision-making.

Cardiac arrest is a severe heart anomaly that results in billions of annual casualties. Smoking is a specific hazard factor for cardiovascular pathology, including coronary heart disease, but data on smoking and heart death not earlier reviewed. The Heart Rate Variability (HRV) parameters used to predict cardiac arrest in smokers using machine learning technique in this paper. Machine learning is a method of computing experience based on automatic learning and enhances performances to increase prognosis. This study intends to compare the performance of logistical regression, decision tree, and random forest model to predict cardiac arrest in smokers. In this paper, a machine learning technique implemented on the dataset received from the data science research group MITU Skillogies Pune, India. To know the patient has a chance of cardiac arrest or not, developed three predictive models as 19 input feature of HRV indices and two output classes. These model evaluated based on their accuracy, precision, sensitivity, specificity, F1 score, and Area under the curve (AUC). The model of logistic regression has achieved an accuracy of 88.50%, precision of 83.11%, the sensitivity of 91.79%, the specificity of 86.03%, F1 score of 0.87, and AUC of 0.88. The decision tree model has arrived with an accuracy of 92.59%, precision of 97.29%, the sensitivity of 90.11%, the specificity of 97.38%, F1 score of 0.93, and AUC of 0.94. The model of the random forest has achieved an accuracy of 93.61%, precision of 94.59%, the sensitivity of 92.11%, the specificity of 95.03%, F1 score of 0.93 and AUC of 0.95. The random forest model achieved the best accuracy classification, followed by the decision tree, and logistic regression shows the lowest classification accuracy.

A way that companies have found to respond to the challenges of customer satisfaction (CS) is the development logistics services quality. In this sense, the purpose of this paper is to estimate the quality of logistical service as a mediator factor in the relationship between logistics capabilities (LC) and CS. For this, an exploratory survey of the descriptive type was carried out with 117 companies in the Brazilian market of lubricant oil. The collected data, modeled in structural equations, have shown evidence that the quality of logistics services totally mediates the relation between the LC and the satisfaction of clients.

In order to respond to the research problem and to meet the stated objective, a study was carried out in two phases. The first used an exploratory qualitative design, and involved recorded in-depth interviews with five clients and five managers of a lubricant oil producer located in the municipality of Umuarama and nearby areas in Paraná state, Brazil. The second used an exploratory survey of the descriptive type was carried out with 117 companies in the Brazilian market of lubricant oil.

The collected data, modeled in structural equations, have shown evidence that the quality of logistics services totally mediates the relation between the LC and the satisfaction of clients.

It is suggested that new studies be conducted in order to increase the size of the sample, since the number of responses obtained (117 respondents), for the number of initial variables (34 measures).

In the pursuit of CS, the managers of lubricant oil producers should make major investments in LC, to enable the company to be active in the search for logistics solutions, integration and provision of reliable information to its customers.

The studies should also be carried out in other market segments, in order to compare the results obtained in the lubricating oil segment of Brazil and corroborate knowledge about the influence of logistical capabilities on the relation between logistics service quality and CS.

The logistics services quality perceived by the customers is derived from the service capacity of the producer’s employees and the quality of information provided to the customers.