Business integration between manufacturing and transport-logistics firms

Purpose - This paper analyses how manufacturers and transport-logistics service providers (TLSPs) work together and integrate their business processes. The information technologies used to support the integration, the processes currently integrated, and the expected future integration, are searched. Design/methodology/approach - Six in-depth case studies were conducted among leading companies in the electrical, electronics, mechanical, food processing, and transport-logistics industries. The data was collected using comprehensive semi-structured interviews. Findings - Most of the firms are coupled electronically through EDI. The current business integration practices are primarily restricted to some sub-processes in three key SC processes: Customer service management, order fulfillment and backwards logistics. In the future the manufacturers want a better integration with the TLSPs, but at the same time, manufacturers would like to have the freedom of breaking the relationship, if the party does not fulfill the requisites and expectations. The future developments associated to the "commoditization" of TLSPs’ services would reinforce this trend. Originality/value - This research has shed light on a relatively unexplored area related to the integration between manufacturers and transport-logistics firms. Our research has highlighted the complexity of the integration between the two echelons, and has helped to the identification of current areas of integration. This research has also contributed to understand how the integration occurs in real contexts, by uncovering with a high degree of detail, what manufactures do to integrate their business with the TLSPsSupply chain management; Business process integration; Information technologies (IT); Standardization; Manufacturers; Transport and Logistics Service Providers (TLSPs)

Public-Public Partnerships as a catalyst for capacity building and institutional development: Lessons from Stockholm Vatten’s experience in the Baltic region

This report explores the developmental potential of Public-Public Partnerships in the water sector, in light of Stockholm Vatten's experience in Kaunas, Lithuania and Riga, Latvia

Process Support for Cooperative Work on the World Wide Web

The World Wide Web is becoming a dominating factor in information technology. Consequently, computer supported cooperative work on the Web has recently drawn a lot of attention. “Process Support for Cooperative Work” (PSCW) is a Web based system supporting both structured and unstructured forms of cooperation. It is a combination of the “Basic Support for Cooperative Work” (BSCW) shared workspace system and the Merlin Process Support Environment. The current PSCW prototype offers a loose connection, in effect extending BSCW with a gateway to Merlin. With this prototype we have successfully addressed the technical issues involved; further integration of functionality should not pose any real problems. We focus on the technical side of the PSCW system, which gives a good insight into the issues that have to be addressed generally in the construction of Web based groupware

Progress in Implementing Capacity-Building Provisions under the Labor Chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement

The report provides relevant background on the CAFTA-DR. It describes the efforts of the CAFTA-DR countries to identify areas for improvement of labor standards, make additional reforms to their labor laws, and develop strategies for continued capacity-building and improvement

European Arctic Initiatives Compendium

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