Journal of Transportation Management 

About: Journal of Transportation Management is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Supply chain & Supply chain management. It has an ISSN identifier of 1058-6199. It is also open access. Over the lifetime, 203 publications have been published receiving 578 citations.

The relationship between the functional orientation of senior managers and service quality in ltl motor carriers.

Abstract: INTRODUCTION Since the enactment of the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, researchers have often attempted to ascertain the determinants of the freight carrier selection process. This issue has assumed greater urgency of late as reflected by the results of a joint study by the University of Tennessee, Mercer Management Consulting, and Ernst & Young, LLP (Holcomb and Manrodt, 2000) which found that shippers in the study had made a conscious effort to reduce the number of carriers used. Many studies have examined the overall quality of service and its relationship to costs. Specifically, McGinnis (1990) reviewed empirical studies done during the 1970's and 1980's to address the relative importance of service and cost as determinants of the transportation choice decision and whether this choice changed after deregulation. It was found for the periods before and after deregulation that cost was a major factor only after service objectives were met. (1) Taylor and Meinert (2000) state that even though low cost was important, it was not the only concern of shippers. Lambert, et al. (1993) also found that greater emphasis on the quality of service delivered was more important to shippers than low rates. D'Aveni (1995) has noted that as competition increases, the value (ratio of quality to cost) offered by firms causes customers to move toward the firm offering the higher value at a given price. Holcomb and Manrodt (2000) further found that carriers must better understand the needs of their customers in order to provide this greater value. In order to offer low prices, companies continuously search for ways to decrease operating costs without sacrificing the quality their customers expect. Liu (1993) developed an equilibrium model taking the service quality levels as given with the carriers competing by setting rates. It was found that only a small number of competing carriers could coexist in a market of intense competition where shippers demand high service quality yet want to control costs. Additionally, Allen and Liu (1995) found that excluding service quality measures from the cost estimation functions underestimates scale economies. Wisner and Lewis (1996) examined the quality issue from the carrier's perspective in a survey of transportation company members of the American Society of Transportation and Logistics. They found that quality of service is also a concern of the carriers. The survey found that many companies have implemented formal quality improvement programs and appear to be committed to quality improvement. Crosby (1979) defines quality as "conformance to requirements." The problem with this definition is that the ... customer often perceives the quality of the intangible service differently than the provider does. It is this difference in perception of service that creates polarization in defining and satisfying transportation customers ... (Crosby, 1979, p. 63). Parasuraman, et al. (1985) further state that consumers use their expectations, coupled with perception of performance, to measure the quality of service delivered. Many variables have been used to measure quality. In a review of the marketing literature, Parasuraman, et al. (1985) provide some insight into service quality determinants. They found the following determinants of service quality: reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding of the customer and tangible measures. The tangible measures include physical facilities, equipment and per-sonnel. Lambert, et al. (1993) found that 16 of the 18 variables rated most important by their survey respondents were service related. The four variables ranked highest were quality of dispatch personnel, on-time pickups, on-time deliveries, and competitive rates. Allen and Liu (1995) used a service index and convenience index from Distribution magazine's annual "Quest for Quality Survey." Liu (1993) used transit time as a proxy for service quality. …

A Framework for Evaluating Supply Chain Performance

Abstract: The ability to measure supply chain performance remains an elusive goal for managers in most companies. Few have implemented supply chain management or have visibility of performance across multiple companies (Supply Chain Solutions, 1998; Keebler et al. 1999; Simatupang and Sridharan, 2002). Supply chain management itself lacks a widely accepted definition (Akkermans, 1999), and many managers substitute the term for logistics or supplier management (Lambert and Pohlen, 2001). As a result, performance measurement tends to be functionally or internally focused and does not capture supply chain performance (Gilmour, 1999; Supply Chain Management, 2001). At best, existing measures only capture how immediate upstream suppliers and downstream customers drive performance within a single firm. Development of supply chain metrics measures requires extensive collaboration and trust between companies due to the sensitivity of the exchanged information (Kirby, 2003). In many instances, performance information is not exchanged or linked to the attainment of supply chain outcomes due to this sensitivity. Despite these obstacles, managers have continued to pursue performance measurement as a means to exert control or provide direction across the supply chain (Reese, 2001). Effective management of the supply chain requires a framework capable of measuring the performance of multiple companies from source of supply to the final end user (Holmberg, 2000; Ramdas and Spekman, 2000; and Supply Chain Management, 2001). These measures enable managers to better evaluate which initiatives will be best for the overall corporation (Ellram and Liu 2002) and assess how each firm contributes to achieving supply chain objectives. However, managers lack an adequate framework for designing suitable metrics and developing incentives to align behavior (Narayanan and Raman, 2000). Most companies are only at the "tip of the iceberg" in terms of examining cost drivers, building cross-enterprise strategies, and sharing cost and performance results (Monczka and Morgan, 2000). Measures are required to obtain an understanding of how well the supply chain is performing and where to focus management attention to improve performance and plan competitive-enhancing efforts (Supply Chain Solutions, 1998; van Hoek, 1998; Lapide, 1999); Lummus and Vokurka; 1999; Reese, 2001; Stank, Keller, and Gloss, 2001). Managers need measures that depict a cause-and-effect relationship between performance and strategic outcomes at the supply chain and corporate levels. The linkage between cause and effect enables the development of measures that align corporate and functional performance with the objectives for the supply chain (Walker, 1999). The purpose here is to present a framework for evaluating supply chain performance. The framework provides a technique for evaluating how collaborative action drives shareholder value across multiple firms and for developing performance measures that are aligned with supply chain objectives. A combined economic value added (EVA[R]) (1) analysis is used to determine how supply chain collaboration simultaneously creates value in the supplier and customer firms. Activity-based costing (ABC) is employed to develop operational performance measures that are aligned with overall supply chain objectives and to translate nonfinancial into financial performance and shareholder value. The framework incorporates the results of several previous research efforts examining supply chain costing and performance including La Londe and Pohlen (1996), van Hoek (1998), Lambert and Pohlen (2001), Dekker and van Goor (2000), and Dekker (2003). The first section reviews the existing literature and what is needed to evaluate supply chain performance. In the second section, the framework is presented and applied to the supplier-customer interface within the supply chain. The article concludes with a summary of the framework, implications for supply chain managers, and potential directions for future research. …

Benchmarking and evaluating the comparative efficiency of urban paratransit systems in the United States: A data envelopment analysis approach

Abstract: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 encouraged public transit authorities to reassess the way they serve aging populations and physically-handicapped individuals requiring door-to-door services. As the demand for paratransit services rose dramatically the last few years due to a growing number of aging baby-boomers and injured Iraq-Afghanistan War veterans, many public transit authorities have been faced with the dilemma of meeting the grow ing demand while controlling costs in times of ongoing budget crises. To help public transit authorities better cope with such a dilemma, this paper evaluates the comparative operating efficiency of 75 selected paratransit agencies in the United States using data envelopment analysis (DE A) and then identifies the best-practice paratransit systems. Lagging paratransit agencies can use such systems as benchmark reference points to evaluate their performance against other systems. Finally this paper develops a profile of both efficient and inefficient paratransit agencies to discern a host of factors influencing the operating efficiency of paratransit systems.

The selection of transshipment ports using a hybrid data envelopment analysis/analytic hierarchy process

Abstract: The accelerated globalization of logistics activities over the last several decades has spurred a rapid expansion of port facilities all cross the world. However, the recent slowdown of international trade, coupled with a global financial crisis, has created an on-going glut of international port facilities throughout the world. Although the abundance of port facilities provides more transshipment options for carriers and shippers, it makes the port selection decision more complex and difficult. To cope with this new set of challenges, this paper proposes a hybrid data envelopment analysis (DEA)/ analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model that is designed to identify factors specifically influencing transshipment port selection, evaluates the extent of influence of those factors on a transshipment port selection decision, and then determines the most critical ones among various factors. To illustrate the usefulness of the proposed hybrid DEA/AHP model, major container hub ports in FarEast Asia were analyzed.