The Potential for a Regional Electronic Logistics Marketplace: The Case of Wales (original) (raw)
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A case study exploring drivers and implications of collaborative electronic logistics marketplaces
Industrial Marketing Management, 2011
Since the 1990s there has been a rich literature on business-to-business electronic marketplaces. While many aspects of supply chain management have been considered, there are only a few studies which investigate the development and application of these electronic marketplaces in logistics. These can be termed Electronic Logistics Marketplaces (ELM). The paper aims to understand the rationale behind a particular type of ELM, termed 'collaborative ELM', and evaluates the impact of introducing such an ELM. To do this, an in depth case study in the UK fast moving consumer goods industry is used. Data has been collected from shippers, transport companies and the technology provider using a range of tools, including interviews, quantitative data analysis and process mapping. The research reveals that the collaborative ELM is still a relatively new business model. It has potential for growth in optimizing supply chain networks and enabling not only vertical collaboration between shippers and carriers but also horizontal collaboration between shippers and/or between carriers. It identifies the motives behind a collaborative ELM, and demonstrates how such a system is implemented through the configurations of information system, process and collaborative arrangements. The impact on the different participating parties is also examined. Finally the necessary conditions for a successful implementation are derived in the light of the research findings.
In order to achieve the sustainable development and competitive position of its freight transport market, the EC emphasises on the concept of co-modality and the exploitation of ICT through policy actions, strategic documents and legislation. On the other hand, the EU transport and logistics market face several obstacles on increasing its competitiveness and achieving a higher level of service quality, while complying with the respective EU policy. This paper examines how an extended use of ICT in freight transport and a possible integration of a Europewide e-Logistics platform could support the above objectives towards a competitive and sustainable freight transport market and which would be the prerequisites for this approach. Based on a thorough analysis of the barriers that will need to be faced as well as the possible opportunities emerging from this approach, the paper proposes specific actions in an action plan form that will need to be initiated at a EU Policy level, in order to support this option for a more sustainable transportation system.
Energy Research & Social Science, 2023
Due to a high level of dependency on fossil fuels, transport is not only a priority for decarbonsation but also a particularly challenging sector to decarbonise. Significant low-carbon energy transitions in mobility will require changes in practices, technologies, infrastructure and policy. Cycle logistics is a growing economic sector. Ecargo bikes have the potential to replace some delivery and service journeys and to be used in combination with other transport modes to form a network of low-carbon deliveries. In comparison with conventional cargo bikes, e-cargo bikes are adapted with electric assist motors, thereby enabling the carriage of heavier loads over longer distances with lower physical strain on the rider. This study positions e-cargo bikes as an emerging technology within the Multilevel Perspective (MLP), a framework for understanding sustainable transitions that is structured around three levels: niche, regime and landscape. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a landscape-level shock that has prompted an interest in increasing active travel and local deliveries. E-cargo bikes are a niche technology, and, although they respond to landscape-level trends, such as decarbonisation and air pollution reduction, the development of cycle logistics faces challenges stemming from the dominant automobility regime. There are limitations with e-cargo bikes themselves, although the technology and practice of e-cargo bike use are developing rapidly; there are factors that relate to the ability of the regime to accommodate and support the niche; there are considerations relating to practices and perceptions; and, finally, there are policy choices that reflect a lack of proactivity in encouraging and enabling e-cargo bike use. The paper explores experiences and perceptions of actual and potential e-cargo bike use and configures the MLP and the relationship between niche, regime(s) and landscape in relation to mobility transitions.
Traditionally, collaboration in logistics is created vertically between actors in a supply chain. Occasionally, the scope of collaboration has expanded to include public-private actors, i.e. horizontal collaboration. This thesis illustrates results from studies of regional logistics collaboration consisting of public-private participation, a phenomenon that is unfamiliar to the general practitioner of logistics. It illustrates capabilities developed by public and private actors in regional logistics networks and aspects of strategic processes. The results indicate that logistics capabilities generated by regional logistics collaboration can contribute to the competitiveness of firms and the attractiveness of regions. Empirical examples show that strategic capabilities can be developed in many ways, and in many layers of the logistics system.
On-Demand Logistics: Solutions, Barriers, and Enablers
Sustainability
The urban freight sector provides an essential service by delivering goods that are required by shops, companies, and households at a specific place and time. However, the growth of e-commerce and the dawn of on-demand logistics (hereinafter ODL) have raised citizens’ expectations of logistics systems, further stressing them and thereby increasing their operational and environmental costs. To the authors’ best knowledge, there are no extensive literature reviews specifically on the topic of ODL and on suggestions for policy prioritisation for tackling its effects. This paper aims at addressing this issue by providing an extensive literature review of ODL and its enablers. This research, after a thorough explanation of the ODL rationale, its trends, and its effects, analyses possible solutions to its inefficiencies, focusing on enablers and barriers. Furthermore, it illustrates and clarifies the role of external factors in influencing ODL. Finally, it proposes a systematic evaluation...
The SELIS approach to delivering a 'Platform for Pan-European Logistics Applications
2018
The sustainability of the logistics sector is challenged by its energy consumption, pressures on GHG emissions, globalisation, increased competition and consumer behaviour changes. In order to address these challenges, logistics actors have started to implement environmentally friendly collaborative strategies addressing supply chain integration, multimodal transport, consolidation of deliveries and reverse logistics. The implementation of such strategies frequently asserts the need for proactive and reactive coordination based on information sharing between collaborating actors, to optimally match supply and demand for logistics resources. However, adoption of advanced collaborative ICT solutions by the logistics sector is hindered by the number of transport management solutions, which yields a fragmented story, where actors have to contend with multiple tools, relationships, and fragmented views of their logistics business which are difficult, or impossible, to unify into one pers...
A conceptual framework for evaluating City Logistics business models
Several City Logistics initiatives so far have proved to be successful in achieving the objectives of all stakeholders involved, and emerged as a response to the negative impacts generated by freight transportation demand within cities, such as pollution and congestion. Analysing the business models of CL initiatives, both best practices and non-successful projects, can increase our understanding of recurring factors and common patterns that make CL initiatives not only successful from an operational point of view, but also profitable for private entrepreneurs and stakeholders. To this day, only few recent academic papers have investigated CL initiatives and innovations taking into account their business models, tackling this issue by exploring several initiatives. Therefore, the present work aims at contributing to bridge this research gap by means of a conceptual framework that takes into account the main business-related aspects of a CL project. The framework is developed following a deductive-inductive approach, integrating the dimensions that compose a business model, such as value proposition, strategic assets and customer segments, with the operational dimensions of a CL scheme, retrieved from pertinent literature and best practices. The framework is applied to 14 projects, and two kind of preliminary results are proposed. First, a brief description of business models is presented, mainly taking into account some aspects such as mission, value proposition, governance and management and core competencies. Most of the projects focus on optimizing and improving existing infrastructure, associating to this mission a value proposition of increased transport efficiency for carriers. Then, some implications for the success of the projects are drawn from cross-checking elements from the business models. A clearly stated mission that focus on a clear value proposition to achieve the objectives of private stakeholders (e.g. transport efficiency) has shown to be a potential success factor.
2020
Viable city logistics are built on a sound business model that considers the financial viability and performance, and the role of externalities and stakeholders. To this end, the purpose of this dissertation is to increase understanding of how a business model can contribute to achieving viable city logistics initiatives.The research presented is qualitative and consists of three studies and five papers. The first study, based on secondary data, provides insights into the content of business models for city logistics. The second study, a longitudinal case study, analysed various aspects of a business model in city logistics. It investigated how the stakeholders’ goals can be combined and managed in a city logistics business model, and how financial continuity can be achieved through financial and environmental evaluations of the consolidation set-ups. The financial evaluation analysed the relative importance of various cost and revenue variables. The environmental evaluation of cons...