Analytical Modeling Framework to Assess the Economic and Environmental Impacts of Residential Deliveries, and Evaluate Sustainable Last-Mile Strategies

In the last decade, e‐commerce has grown substantially, increasing business‐to‐business, business‐to‐consumer, and consumer‐to‐consumer transactions. While this has brought prosperity for the e-retailers, the ever-increasing consumer demand has brought more trucks to the residential areas, bringing along externalities such as congestion, air and noise pollution, and energy consumption. To cope with this, different logistics strategies such as the introduction of micro-hubs, alternative delivery points, and use of cargo bikes and zero emission vehicles for the last mile have been introduced and, in some cases, implemented as well. This project, hence, aims to develop an analytical framework to model urban last mile delivery. In particular, this study will build upon the previously developed econometric behavior models that capture e-commerce demand. Then, based on continuous approximation techniques, the authors will model the last-mile delivery operations. And finally, using the cost-based sustainability assessment model (developed in this study), the authors will estimate the economic and environmental impacts of residential deliveries under different city logistics strategies.View the NCST Project Webpag

An analysis of current supply chain best practices in the retail industry with case studies of Wal-Mart and Amazon.com

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 184-188).In support of the Supply Chain 2020 Project at MIT, this thesis identifies current best practices in retail industry supply chains, with a specific focus on mass merchandising and Internet retailing. Using a survey of current literature for context and industry expert interviews, this thesis assesses the current state of the retail industry and analyzes case studies of Wal-Mart and Amazon.com to illustrate retail supply chain best practices. Topics covered in each case study include supply chain strategy and business strategy linkage, operating models, supply chain design, replenishment and distribution processes, and ongoing supply chain improvement initiatives. Wal-Mart and Amazon.com are found to have very different supply chains in terms of structure and processes, based on their different operating models. However, there are many supply chain themes that are common among the two companies. Both case study companies have supply chain strategies, designs, and processes that clearly support their business strategies. Additionally, these companies tailor processes to fit specific product and demand profiles, collaborate extensively with supply chain partners, invest significantly in information technology, focus on operational efficiency, and leverage scale to facilitate competitive advantage through supply chain management. Based on the common and unique aspects of Wal- Mart and Amazon.com's supply chains, we provide recommendations for the potential transferability of Wal-Mart and Amazon.com practices within the retail industry and to other industries.by Colby Ronald Chiles and Marguarette Thi Dau.M.Eng.in Logistic

CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR FOOD SAFETY ATTRIBUTES IN FRESH APPLES: MARKET SEGMENTS, CONSUMER CHARACTERISTICS, AND MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES

Past research has yielded conflicting results on consumer valuation of food safety characteristics. In this study, conjoint analysis is used to evaluate consumer responses to hypothetical apple products in a nationwide survey. Product characteristics include price, quality, pesticide use levels and the corresponding cancer risk, and type of government inspection. Consumers expressed a broad preference for reduced pesticide usage. Four market segments were identified corresponding to consumers: (a) who had a strong preference for food safety, (b) who exhibited a more balanced desire for all product characteristics, (c) who were extremely price sensitive, and (d) who had a strong preference for product quality. Results suggest that consumers in these segments differ based on demographic and psychographic characteristics. This information should prove useful to produce marketers in marketing produce that better meets consumers'Â’ needs.Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Radio Frequency Identification: Supply Chain Impact and Implementation Challenges

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has received considerable attention from practitioners, driven by mandates from major retailers and the United States Department of Defense. RFID technology promises numerous benefits in the supply chain, such as increased visibility, security and efficiency. Despite such attentions and the anticipated benefits, RFID is not well-understood and many problems exist in the adoption and implementation of RFID. The purpose of this paper is to introduce RFID technology to practitioners and academicians by systematically reviewing the relevant literature, discussing how RFID systems work, their advantages, supply chain impacts, and the implementation challenges and the corresponding strategies, in the hope of providing guidance for practitioners in the implementation of RFID technology and offering a springboard for academicians to conduct future research in this area

Incorporating the Dual Customer Roles in e-Service Design

E-service involves the delivery of useful services through information technology based service delivery channels such as the Internet. A distinguishing feature of e-service is the active and significant participation of customers in the service co-production process. With increasing customer participation in the e-service co-production process, it is important to incorporate customers’ needs both as a co-producer and as a patron into the design of e-service systems. However, these dual customer roles create a complex decision problem during e-service design. In the current paper we present a customer orientation strategy for e-service design, and propose a corresponding two-stage decision model based upon the customer orientation strategy to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of e-service design when the focus of the design is to meet customers’ needs as both co-producers and patrons. The decision model is then applied in an empirical study of the design of e-services of Internet food retailers. Key Words: Service Operations, E-Service, Co-production, Efficiency Analysis, Data Envelopment Analysis

Electronic commerce logistics in developing countries: The case of online grocery shopping in Jordan

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Docter of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Online grocery shopping is one of the Internet business applications that received much attention in the last few years. Online grocery shopping has grown at a fast scale in the developed countries, where customers and retailers have benefited from it. However, this service remains in its infancy stage in developing countries. Groceries are one of the most difficult objects to sell online mainly, because of sensory and delivery issues. Online customers still worry about product quality, and they demand optimum logistical services, convenience, reliability and timely delivery service. Therefore, retailers have to respond to these expectations by developing convenient logistical services while keeping this process cost-efficient as much as possible. The main aim of this research is to design an e-commerce logistical decision support system for grocery retailers in Jordan as a case study of applying online grocery shopping in a developing country. Grocery retailers will be exposed to this model, and will be able to determine the most suitable logistical delivery system in the future. In order to achieve this aim, the designed system incorporates a web ordering system to collect customer orders, embedded map source (Google Maps) and a database system. The collected data then exported to one of the available routing and scheduling online solutions in order to identify, analyze and statistically compare the cost efficiencies of the available delivery alternatives. Moreover, two specially designed questionnaires were distributed among a group of customers and grocery retailers in Jordan, asking about their attitudes towards online grocery shopping and its delivery service. The results from analyzing the questionnaires data statistically were also used as input parameters for the designed system evaluation process. The findings from the questionnaires data statistical analysis indicated that Jordanian customers and retailers have positive attitudes towards online grocery shopping. The results also showed that customers and retailers have serious concerns towards the delivery service in Jordan. Customers are mainly worried about the availability of a suitable delivery service, while retailers are worried about the market size for the delivery service. The findings from implementing and statistically testing the proposed model over three delivery alternatives showed that there are differences between the mean values of the delivery alternatives among their key performance indicators (cost, distance and time). The questionnaire respondents indicated that they both prefer the pickup point service after home delivery for customers and after shop pickup for retailers. Depending on the level of investments that grocery retailers would like to implement and according to the experiment results, it could be concluded that pickup point solution is the best logistical strategy for retailers to start with.Jerash Private University, Jordan

Investigation of transportation innovations for food delivery and truck platoons

Studies find that low-income areas are underserved by food retailers and have less access to healthy food, contributing to health disparities. A section of this thesis examines micromobility, drones, and ridesharing that may be suited to deliver food. Using estimated capacities and delivery speeds of several transportation modes, quantitative analysis showed that micromobility is a feasible means of delivery for short-distance, small-quantity orders. Vehicles were the only suitable option once quantity or distance increases, with trucks being the only option for large deliveries of food. Regarding trucks, autonomous truck platooning has potential benefits such as energy savings, increased capacity, and improved safety. A section of this thesis discusses the novel issue of driver behavior interacting with truck platoons in work zones. This research investigates the effects of education, platoon signage, and the number of platooned trucks using a federated simulator study. The study found that education and the use of signage showed increased driver efficiency near platoons. There was a 13 percent increase in speed and 30 percent decrease in distance following a 2-truck platoon after education. Driver speed also increased by at least 14 percent and following distance increased by at least 24 percent, with signage added. Post-simulator survey results showed drivers strongly agree that education helps to clarify how to react to platoons. 90 percent of drivers admitted it is safer to not overtake the platoon, yet only 62 percent indicated they would follow it. Using the results of this research, transportation agencies could formulate policies better accommodate truck platoons as the technology grows.Includes bibliographical references

An Inquiry into Supply Chain Strategy Implications of the Sharing Economy for Last Mile Logistics

As the prevalence of e-commerce and subsequent importance of effective and efficient omnichannel logistics strategies continues to rise, retail firms are exploring the viability of sourcing logistics capabilities from the sharing economy. Questions arise such as, “how can crowdbased logistics solutions such as crowdsourced logistics (CSL), crowdshipping, and pickup point networks (PPN) be leveraged to increase performance?” In this dissertation, empirical and analytical research is conducted that increases understanding of how firms can leverage the sharing economy to increase logistics and supply chain performance. Essay 1 explores crowdsourced logistics (CSL) by employing a stochastic discrete event simulation set in New York City in which a retail firm sources drivers from the crowd to perform same day deliveries under dynamic market conditions. Essay 2 employs a design science paradigm to develop a typology of crowdbased logistics strategies using two qualitative methodologies: web content analysis and Delphi surveys. A service-dominant logic theoretical perspective guides this essay and explains how firms co-create value with the crowd and consumer markets while presenting a generic design for integrating crowdbased models into logistics strategy. In Essay 3, a crowdsourced logistics strategy for home delivery is modeled in an empirically grounded simulation optimization to explore the logistics cost and responsiveness implications of sharing economy solutions on omnichannel fulfillment strategies

Strategies for success in the e-grocery industry

US e-grocers have been testing different business models with varying results. This research conducted a meta-analysis of six online grocers (Peapod, Tesco, Safeway, FreshDirect, Webvan and Streamline) to identify the pattern of strategies that contribute to their performance. Each company\u27s management capabilities, expansion and market selection strategy, order-picking method, delivery method, website design and Customer Relations Management (CRM) are explored and compared to identify the factors that provide these businesses with a greater chance of success. The findings suggest that knowledge of and experience in the grocery business play an important role in the success of an online grocer. Using a cautious and slow expansion strategy helps an e-grocer stay in the game. The store-pick model is suitable for most markets, while warehouse-pick may be used for markets with high customer demand. Each business model allows for strategic variations

The Role of Emotion, Tradeoff Recall, and Self-Regulation in Pre-Decisional Processing.

Three chapters demonstrate previously unexplored contextual and emotional factors that critically and systematically affect the way in which people construct value and generate choice options in the pre-decision phase of the decision process. This pre-decision phase occurs in the time before an individual makes a choice. In particular, emotions, the recall of prior tradeoffs, and self-regulation all play an important role during this pre-decision phase and consequently influence decision making. Chapter I indicates that negative, aversive emotions associated with stress and anxiety are evoked by difficult multi-attribute decisions, which some people regulate by shifting their values before making a decision. In Chapter II, recalling a past tradeoff situation leads to the activation and carry over of a valued attribute onto a subsequent, unrelated choice. This value carryover process occurs in a manner that suggests people may balance the prioritization of different values across tradeoff contexts. Chapter III reveals that under conditions of reduced inhibitory control, both younger and older adult participants become vulnerable to distracting information. In these circumstances, the distracting information is especially likely to lead to more creative construction decisions when it is relevant to the decision domain (e.g., when the distracting information is food-related and the construction decision is a creative recipe generation task). This dissertation demonstrates the importance of studying the pre-decision phase in order to better understand the decision process, and has important implications for how people construct value and choice options.PhDBusiness Administration and PsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113305/1/smcarpen_1.pd