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The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of Halal traceability technology usage on Halal logistics performance with a Halal logistics brand as a mediator.

An online survey was conducted to gather responses from logistics service providers (LSPs), including strategic logistics units (manufacturing/brand owners) in Malaysia, which offer Halal logistics services.

Halal traceability technology system and Halal traceability training are two critical domains to strengthen market recognition of Halal logistics brand for LSPs. The study found that the Halal logistics brand played a mediating role in connecting the usage of Halal traceability technology and logistics performance.

The logistics industry needs to focus on Halal logistics services as a unique proposition. The ability of LSPs to build a Halal logistics brand thru traceability technology had created positive impressions for clients. LSPs must consistently engage in Halal training and remain technologically alert to build Halal brand value. Halal-based strategic branding will assist an LSP to stand out among its competitors.

Even though Halal branding has been studied widely, little attention has been given to how the usage of Halal traceability technology can improve Halal logistics branding and logistics operational performance. The result suggests that LSPs need to build a Halal logistics brand and design a proper logistics business strategy to target Sharia compliance-oriented consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to present a test of scales that measure brand equity and its two dimensions – brand image and brand awareness – in the context of logistics services. The scales are tested with both logistics service providers and customers.

Measurement items are adapted from existing scales found in the marketing literature. Academic colleagues and logistics practitioners reviewed the items for face validity and readability. The scales are evaluated for reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity using data collected in a mail survey of logistics service providers and customers.

Findings suggest that brand awareness, brand image, and brand equity scales are valid and reliable in the context of logistics services.

While there is a substantial research stream that examines branding of consumer goods and an increasing literature on industrial and service brands, little is known about branding in the context of logistics services. This paper extends existing measurement of brand equity and its dimensions to a new setting, namely logistics services.

This paper provides valuable insight into the measurement of brand awareness, brand image, and brand equity in the logistics services context and offers a foundation for future logistics branding research. The paper provides evidence for the validity of constructs used in the customer‐based brand equity framework, which is traditionally used in consumer contexts, in the context of logistics services.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct an exploratory study of the branding of business‐to‐business (B2B) services, specifically examining the commodity‐like logistics services industry.

The paper is of a multiple‐methods research design.

Managers should first strive to develop compelling and differentiated value propositions associated with their B2B service brands. They should then invest in communicating their brands' value to internal and external audiences. Finally, they should commit resources to ensure consistent and favorable customer experiences with the brand. These three steps influence the strength of the brand, which comprises brand awareness and brand meaning.

B2B service firms in commodity‐like industries such as the logistics service industry cannot rely on differences in product attributes to develop brand meaning. Rather, they should focus on developing distinctive customer experiences with the brand by encouraging meaningful employee‐customer interactions. Such differentiated value propositions based on superior customer experiences build brand awareness and enhance the brand's meaning with current and prospective customers, thereby increasing brand equity.

Knowledge of branding practices in B2B service contexts is limited. This research addresses this knowledge gap.

The failure to manage the firm's brand successfully with trading partners is a potentially fatal obstacle to success in today's hypercompetitive global economy. Strong brands serve as an important point of differentiation for firms, assisting customers in their evaluation and choice processes. Considerable research exists on the branding of consumer goods, and the literature on business-to-business (B2B) brands and service brands is increasing. However, research on branding in the context of B2B services is relatively sparse. This paper integrates research in B2B brands and service brands to explore B2B service brands. The paper reports a multiple methods study of brands and brand management in the logistics services industry as a specific case of B2B service branding. The study addresses two research questions that are relevant for B2B service brands. First, how are brands perceived when the customer is an organization rather than an individual? Second, how do brands differentiate intangible offers that customers often consider as commodities? The first study reports data collected in an exploratory investigation comprised of depth interviews with representatives of logistics services firms and customers. The study supports the extendibility of Keller's brand equity framework into the B2B services context. The second study tests the framework using data collected in a mail survey of logistics service providers and customers. Results suggest that brands do differentiate the offerings of logistics service providers and that brand equity exists for this commodity-like B2B service. However, findings reveal differences in perceptions between service providers and customers. Specifically, brand image is a stronger influence on customers' perceptions of service providers' brand equity, whereas brand awareness is a stronger driver of the service providers' perceptions of their own brand equity. The paper discusses implications of these differences for managing B2B services.

The purpose of this paper is to apply theory and techniques from the services and marketing literature to a supply-chain context consisting of a shipper or seller, a customer or buyer and a third-party logistics service provider (3PL) to investigate corporate brand equity resulting from service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty towards the 3PL.

A conceptual model was developed from the literature and tested with Finnish industrial firms using an online survey. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling to examine relationships among the four constructs.

Hypothesised relationships among the four constructs in the conceptual model were supported; however, the relationship between loyalty and corporate brand equity was weak.

This investigatory research is based on a one-country sample making transferability and generalisability to other countries difficult.

The findings of this research should enable 3PL managers to determine those service offerings most important to shippers and customers, develop a service package using such offerings to satisfy their needs and thus build loyalty and corporate brand equity with both.

This paper adds to our knowledge of these constructs in a supply-chain context, particularly for 3PLs, and provides an interdisciplinary approach to research in the supply-chain domain.

Omnichannel (OC) logistics is undergoing a significant transformation in grocery retail. To shed light on this important but underresearched phenomenon, this study aims to investigate how grocery retailers transform and why some are more successful in transforming OC logistics.

Applying dynamic capabilities as a theoretical lens, a multiple case study was conducted with three grocery retailers at different stages of their transformation.

Six microfoundations of dynamic capabilities were identified as critical for enabling OC transformation. The study highlights important differences in dynamic capabilities, which can be attributed to investment decision-making, governance and creating co-specialization. Finally, the authors propose seven propositions for contextualization of dynamic capabilities for OC transformation in grocery retail.

This study is original by contextualizing microfoundations in grocery OC retailing. The study contributes to theory and practice by showing the value of dynamic capabilities, stressing the important interrelation among a retailer's governance structure, leadership and capability to make investment decisions, increase logistics coordination and co-specialize.

The purpose of this paper is to develop material for classroom teaching in the subject area of general management with retail industry focus.

The approach is a case study approach with an emphasis on building relevant issues for class discussions and providing opportunities for students to analyse using additional resources from the library, company web site and news paper articles.

The case research enabled us to understand the challenges faced by organised retail companies in Indian subcontinent with reference to logistics and sourcing. Organised retail is an emerging industry in India and it provides an interesting analysis for growth and entrepreneurial ventures. The case research also provided important insights into growth of retail industry, extent of consolidation happening within the industry due to the unorganised retail industry players aligning themselves as out sourcing partners for major retailers, etc. To this extent, there is scope for further research in this area of research.

There are issues related to ethical practices in sourcing. This issue did not probe into this aspect of the retail industry.

This case is originally developed by conducting interviews with company officials and collecting information using qualitative approach. The details provided are true to the timeline given in the case – 2011 in Indian setting – Mumbai.

Based on climate issues and carbon emissions, this study aims to promote low-carbon consumption and compel consumers to actively shift to energy-saving appliances. In this big data era, online reviews in social and electronic commerce (e-commerce) websites contain valuable product information, which can facilitate firm business strategies and consumer comparison shopping. This study is designed to advance existing research on energy-saving refrigerators by incorporating machine learning models in the analysis of online reviews to provide valuable suggestions to e-commerce platform managers and manufacturers to effectively understand the psychological cognition of consumers.

This study proposes an online e-commerce review mining and management strategy model based on “data acquisition and cleaning, data mining and analysis and strategy formation” through multiple machine learning methods, namely, Bayes networks, support vector machine (SVM), latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) and importance–performance analysis (IPA), to help managers.

Based on a case study of one of the largest e-commerce platforms in China, this study linguistically analyzes 29,216 online reviews of energy-saving refrigerators. Results indicate that the energy-saving refrigerator features that consumers are generally satisfied with are, in sequential order, logistics, function, price, outlook, after-sales service, brand, quality and space. This study also identifies ten topics with 100 keywords by analyzing 18 different refrigerator models. Finally, based on the IPA, this study allocates different priorities to the features and provides suggestions from the perspective of consumers, the government and manufacturers.

In terms of limitations, future research may focus on the following points. First, the topics identified in this study derive from specific points in time and reviews; thus, the topics may change with the text data. A machine learning-based online review analysis platform could be developed in the future to dynamically improve consumer satisfaction. Moreover, given that consumers' needs may change over time, e-commerce platform types and consumer characteristics, such as user profiles, can be incorporated into the model to effectively analyze trends in consumers' perceived dimensions.

This study fills the gap in previous research in this field, which uses small-sample data for qualitative analysis, while integrating management ideas and proposes an online e-commerce review mining and management strategy model based on machine learning methods. Moreover, this study considers how consumers' emotional and thematic preferences for products affect their purchase decision-making from the perspective of their psychological perception and linguistically analyzes online reviews of energy-saving refrigerators using the proposed mining model. Through the improved IPA model, this study provides optimizing strategies to help e-commerce platform managers and manufacturers.

The influence of security practices is increasingly common in the supply chain management and logistics literature. However, an under-researched area exists within the logistics service provider (LSP) selection process. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a security capability into the LSP selection process. Specifically, this research seeks to understand partner willingness to compensate and collaborate with service providers that possess a security capability.

Adaptive choice modeling is adopted to assess the influence of a security capability in the LSP selection process. This study represents the first use of this method in supply chain management and logistics research. Cluster analysis is also performed to uncover specific buyer segments along with traditional regression-based significance testing and counting analysis.

The findings indicate that security can have an important influence on the LSP selection process. In particular, the findings note a willingness to pay for a security capability in LSP selection. Applying segmentation techniques to the findings, three LSP buying segments are determined, each placing different importance and value on LSP capabilities.

This research notes an ongoing provider deficiency in security offerings. Partner firms sometimes maintain a cost focus, but others show a willingness to pay higher prices for access to partners with a security capability. Key practitioner findings include the need to include security with other traditional selection variables. The study walks the researcher and manager through the development of segments based on LSP capabilities.

This manuscript investigates logistic service provider selection. The authors detail an advanced form of conjoint analysis, adaptive conjoint modeling, for first time consideration. Additionally, this is the first study to integrate security into the LSP selection process. This is also the first study to identify a willingness to pay for a security capability.

The purpose of this paper is to gain an insight about the strategy of diversification adopted by the company, Prime Technology, to increase its profits. The study is made so as to understand the essential aspects which any firm should consider before deciding to venture into a new business so that it may not end in failure.

The case is basically a narration of the business strategy adopted by Prime Technology and the aftermaths of the decisions taken in haste.

The paper showcases the experience of Prime Technology related to the correctness of the decisions taken related to the brand positioning and logistics involved with the import of a perishable commodity. It suggests that proper ground work while importing a product like chocolates plays a vital role in deciding the fate of an importer's fortune. Thus correct timing, packing and marketing are all close knit parameters for success.

The case provides traders with an insight in understanding the vitality of the decisions related to logistics and brand positioning while importing a product that is not very popular in the domestic country, and especially if it is a perishable commodity.

This case is an original attempt to illustrate the core drivers and capabilities for achieving success in a diverse field. The insights from the case demonstrate the value of proper planning, strategies to companies that are open to expand and recognize the need to focus the use of scarce value‐adding resources.