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The role of logistics service provider (LSP) is essential for efficient logistics service quality (LSQ) and supply chain management, especially in multimodal transport. Multimodal transport routes that use the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR) play an important role in the supply chains of Northeast Asia. This paper aims to identify current conditions of TSR LSQ and propose improvements to enhance the competitiveness of traditional routes. Therefore, this study sheds light on and provides recommendations for various managerial strategies to LSPs in the context of the TSR. This study utilizes Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) to measure levels of importance and performance of the logistics service of LSPs that provide multimodal transport services via the TSR from South Korea to Europe. This study identifies capabilities on the basis of five criteria (price, timeliness, reliability, equipment systems, and customer service) from a customers’ perspective. The results of the research indicate that operational improvements should be considered to activate TSR multimodal transport for northern logistics routes from the perspective of Korean shippers. Specific findings show that balanced development strategies are needed for logistics routes that have not yet been significantly activated, while implying that logistics costs could be reduced initially to satisfy shippers. This study presents an operational strategy for LSPs using the TSR in northern logistics through IPA methods. Furthermore, this research can help policymakers propose specific policies to revitalize the northern logistics of Korean logistics companies and to provide incentive supports for shippers.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and validate a theoretical model to investigate whether supply chain (SC) innovation positively affects risk management capabilities, such as robustness and resilience in global SC operations, and to examine how these capabilities may improve competitive advantage.

A theoretical model was developed from extant studies and assessed through the development of a large-scale questionnaire survey conducted with South Korean manufacturers and logistics intermediaries involved in global SC operations. The data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling to validate the suggested model.

It was found that innovative SCs have a discernible positive influence on all dimensions of risk management capability, which in turn has a significant impact on enhancing competitive advantage. Therefore, this work provides evidence for the importance of SC innovation and risk management capability in supporting competitive advantage.

This study contributes to providing an empirical understanding of the strategic retention of SC innovation and risk management capabilities in the SC management discipline. Furthermore, it confirms and expands existing theories about innovation and competitive advantage.

The finding provides firm grounds for managerial decisions on investment in technology innovation and process innovation.

This research is the first of its kind to empirically validate the relationships between SC innovation, risk management capabilities and competitive advantage.

This paper aims to identify the factors that experts consider important for the effective operation of multimodal transport using the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR) in the Russian Far East and to also establish operational strategies that enable Korean logistics companies to use TSR efficiently for multimodal transportation.

A total of 65 questionnaires were distributed to predominantly Korean logistics companies/shippers with experience in TSR and 19 replies were received. The majority of the respondents are senior executives with at least 10 years of work experience. To identify the factors and present strategies, this study applied the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities -fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) method, which is based on complex multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) that facilitates decision-makers in considering an operational strategy by calculating the importance of input factors.

Results from the FAHP indicate that the Strengths is the main factor affecting TSR multimodal transport decisions, followed by the Threats, Opportunities and Weakness factors. In terms of rank, reduction of transportation distance and time are determined as the most crucial factor from the perspective of Korean logistics companies, followed by the northern logistics development plan, the Russian Government's willingness to the development plan, political instability and possible linkages with the Korean ports.

Through a hybrid MCDM analysis of Korean logistics companies, three operational strategies were proposed: foreign direct and small investments in the Russian Far East, Korean logistics companies implementing a cold-chain logistics service in the fishery industry and a government-led “Block Train Integration System” to secure the minimum threshold volume of cargo for small and medium-sized companies.

Competition among seaports is rapidly increasing due to various factors such as the global recession, resurgence of COVID-19, tight environmental regulations of IMO, sharp rise in ocean freight charges, increasing global uncertainties and growth in ship sizes. It is essential to have precise knowledge of shipping companies' port selection factors to secure the competitive advantage of seaports. This study aims to empirically analyze recent changes in the importance of port selection factors.

By employing a longitudinal study, this study conducted the t-test analysis. The first survey was conducted from January 2005 to April 2005. Then, the second survey was conducted in May 2021.

First, the importance of port facilities (berth length and the number of berths, shed and terminal areas, possession of adequate equipment and maximum berth size) increased significantly. Second, while ship and cargo safety were the critical port service factors in previous studies, speed, flexibility and reliability for handling cargo and berthing schedule were found to be crucial in this study. Third, the importance of ship arrival/departure frequency, route diversity and ship arrival/departure information systems increased when shipping companies selected the port.

This study has academic significance in that it reveals the changing importance of port selection factors in the 2020s and has taken the form of a longitudinal study on the importance of port selection factors from 2005 to 2021, moving beyond the cross-sectional approach. This study can provide valuable insights into and implications for port policymakers and managers when developing and formulating port policies and strategies.

Seaports are a signifier for the world economy and international trade. Notwithstanding the considerable role of Chinese ports in global trade, only few studies have explored the efficiency of Chinese container terminals. Furthermore, studies on Chinese port efficiency has typically centered on port-level analysis, not terminal level. Therefore, this study aims to examine the operation efficiency of Chinese container terminals.

This study uses super-efficiency data envelopment analysis (SE-DEA) approach. SE-DEA is superior than basic DEA model because it is feasible for categorizing and ranking the efficiency of container terminals more accurately and comprehensively. In the basic model, if the several decision-making units (DMUs) are efficient, the efficiency value of them is “1.” However, in the SE-DEA model, the most efficient DMU is over “1.” Based on the level of container throughput in 2018, the top 20 Chinese container terminal companies were selected. Various production quotas were selected as inputs, while the container throughput was considered output.

The findings show that Terminal Shanghai Mingdong Container Terminal Co., Ltd. was ranked 1, followed by Shanghai Shengdong International Container Terminal Co., Ltd., Shanghai International Port (Group) Co., Ltd. and Yidong Container Terminal Branch.

This study contributes to providing some insights into Chinese container terminal industry to augment the efficiency. This study also provides practical and policy implications (e.g. better terminal operations) for container terminals.

The global economy and air transport business have been negatively affected owing to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. As countries tighten restrictions on international movements, the growing emphasis on air cargo places pressure on airports to maintain and upgrade their cargo policies, facilities and operations. Hence, ensuring the competitiveness of cargo airports is pivotal for their survival under volatile global demand. This study aims to evaluate the importance of competitiveness factors for cargo airports and identify areas for further improvement.

This study applies the Best-Worst Method (BWM) to assess the cargo airports' competitiveness factors.

The results identified “Transport Capacity” as the most significant competitiveness factor, implying that airport connectivity is crucial in promoting cargo transportation at hub airports. This result was followed by “Airport Operations' and Facilities' Capacity” and “Economic Growth.”. Additionally, the results identified Hong Kong International Airport as the best-performing cargo airport, followed by Aéroport de Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Incheon International Airport, respectively. Furthermore, both selected European airports are the most competitive airports in terms of “Financial Performance” and appear to be aware of the significance of their brand value.

This study forms a reference framework for evaluating cargo airports’ competitive positions, which may help identify airports’ relative strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, this framework can also serve as a tool to facilitate the strategic design of airports that can accommodate air cargo demand flexibly under demand uncertainty.

This study aims to provide a meaningful comparison of airports’ performance and better understand the differences observed in the analysed airport performance by presenting a model to analyse the relationship between operational and financial performance and airport characteristics.

This study uses a quantitative analysis approach. The Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and entropy weight were utilised to analyse 17 airports in three Airports Council International regions: Asia, Europe and North America. Through operational and financial factors, these sample airports identified the most efficiently operated airports from 2016 to 2019.

Overall, Asian airports were superior in operational and financial efficiency. Unlike operating performance, the sample airport’s financial and total performance results show a similar trend. There were no noticeable changes in operational factors. Therefore, differences in financial variables for each airport may affect the total performance.

This study provides insightful implications for airport policymakers to establish a standardised information disclosure foundation for consistent analysis and encourage airports to provide this information.

The adoption of Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) to debt ratio and EBITDA per passenger, which had previously been underutilised in the previous study as financial factors, demonstrated differences between airports for airport stakeholders. In addition, the study presented a model that facilitates producing more intuitive results using TOPSIS, which was relatively underutilised compared to other methodologies such as date envelopment analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to expand knowledge of supply chain management (SCM) by empirically testing the moderating effects of supply chain dynamism (SCD) on the association between supply chain integration (SCI) and logistics performance.

Survey methods were used to measure the perspective of South Korean manufacturers. Moderated hierarchical regression analysis was undertaken to test the proposed hypotheses empirically.

The findings suggest that SCI can enhance logistics performance when the level of SCD is high, but the effects of SCI on logistics performance are blurred at low levels of SCD.

This finding provides empirical evidence of the moderating effects of SCD on the SCI-logistics performance link and offers a new interpretation of the relationship. This work contributes to SCM disciplines by providing theory-driven and empirically tested explanations.

This purpose of this paper is to study the impact of innovativeness on supply chain integration (SCI) and supply chain performance (SCP) and the role of SCI in mediating between innovativeness in the supply chain and SCP. Innovativeness is an accepted driver to leverage firm performance. SCI and SCP require innovativeness in the supply chain, but their interrelationships have rarely been researched empirically.

A questionnaire survey and structural equation modelling were used in this work. After a structural and measurement model was devised from existing supply chain literature, the main data were collected in a web-based questionnaire survey of South Korean manufacturers. Structural equation modelling was applied to test proposed hypotheses on the associations between variables, following a hierarchical analysis process.

Innovativeness in the supply chain had a positive impact on both SCI and SCP. However, the direct impact of innovativeness on SCP disappeared when the model included SCI as a mediator. In specific, internal and supplier integration fully mediated innovativeness–SCP relationships, whereas customer integration had no mediating role on those relationships. The findings suggest that innovativeness can influence SCP only when the manufacturer’s level of SCI is sufficiently effective in developing necessary supply chain practices.

In this work, innovativeness in the supply chain effectively influenced SCP through the mediation of SCI. However, cross-sectional analysis in one nation using one response per organisation invites validation embracing other geographical areas and longitudinal studies.

Design of an innovative culture within a firm and along a supply chain can enhance SCI practices by stimulating innovativeness. A high level of SCI should be pursued to effectively transform innovativeness into performance.

This work seminally examines the effect of innovativeness in the supply chain on SCI and SCP as well as the mediating role of SCI in the relationships between innovativeness and SCP.