Technological Changes in the Transportation Sector--Effects on U.S. Food and Agricultural Trade: A Proceedings

ERS sponsored a workshop, Technological and Structural Change in the Transportation Sector: Effects on U.S. Food and Agricultural Trade, March 17-18, 1999, in Washington, DC. The program's objectives were to raise awareness within ERS about the role and importance of transportation in U.S. food and agricultural trade and to discuss the need of an agency research agenda in this area. More than 60 people attended. Bob Thompson of the World Bank and Jeffrey Frankel of the Brookings Institution led with discussions about the role of transportation in the global food system and the importance of integrating geography and transportation in analysis of international trade. Other panels dealt with transportation technology, past and future, the changing policy environment for ocean shipping, logistical and technological developments aiding exports of specific commodities, including the use of supply chain management. Representatives of the Agricultural Marketing Service discussed the availability of transportation cost data, and the availability of other shipping data was discussed by representatives of the PIERS database, a product of the Journal of Commerce. Two ERS research projects were summarized, one using GTAP and another applying the gravity model to estimate the extent to which distance is less of an inhibiting factor in exporting certain U.S. agricultural exports. The administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service, the ERS associate administrator, and representatives of the Transportation Research Board, the USDA's World Board, and the Farm Foundation discussed potential ways ERS could include the transportation variable in its research. The program was cosponsored by the Farm Foundation and World Perspectives, Inc.transportation, distance, technology, agricultural trade, United States, Public Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Outsourcing ship management: Implications for the logistics chain

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the probability that shipping companies outsource the management of vessels to ship management companies, a decision with many implications for the logistics chain. Data on 39,925 vessels are used to investigate to the extent to which 4,049 different ship-owners (each operating a fleet of at least two vessels) outsource to ship-management service providers. We rely on multinomial Logit random and fixed effects regressions to explain how the characteristics of the owners and vessels influence this decision. We find that the size of the firm in terms of the number of vessels and the number of different types of vessels influence the likelihood of outsourcing. Also, ship-owners frequently implement a mixed strategy and outsource only some of their vessels.

Response of Fresh Food Suppliers to Sustainable Supply Chain Management of Large European Retailers

This article analyses new supply chain management (SCM) strategies of the largest retail distribution chains in Europe within the context of differing sustainability concepts and approaches. An analysis is carried out of the strategic plans of such retailers, as well as recent developments in the sector. We begin by identifying the priority actions of retailers and then evaluating, by means of a survey, how small horticultural marketing firms (mainly cooperatives) in southeast Spain respond to the needs of these retailers. Subsequently, an analysis is carried out on these small marketing firm exporters to identify the relative weight which they assign to the variables assessed, while also considering the existing relationships between said weighted variables and business profits. Our results show that retailers tend to establish more simplified supply chains (that is, shorter and more vertical), essentially demonstrating their interpretation of a sustainable supply chain. In contrast, horticultural marketing firms have concentrated more on tactical and operational issues, thereby neglecting environmental, social and logistics management. Thus, their success rate in meeting the sustainability demands of their customers can be considered medium-low, requiring a more proactive attitude. Improved and collaborative relations, and the integration of sustainability concepts between suppliers (marketing firms) and their clients could contribute to successfully meeting sustainability demands. From the point of view of the consumer, close supplier–retail relationships have solved food safety issues, but the implementation of sustainability in other supply chain activities and processes is a pending issue. We propose strategic approximation and collaboration to bridge the gap between the varying sustainability demands in the supplier–retail relationship within perishable supply chains. Although this article specifically addresses fresh vegetable supply chains, the results may be extrapolated to other agri-food chains with a similar structure

Spatial Equilibrium Analysis of the U.S. Hard Red Spring Wheat Industry under Alternative Transportation Rate Structures

Industrial Organization,

Making sense of maritime supply chain: a relationship marketing approach

Building a relationship with the maritime supply chain partners is considered imperative for organisations to survive and remain competitive. Yet, several studies that examined the maritime supply chain have not adequately explored nor assessed the relationship constructs that impacts maritime supply chain performance. This study intends to fill this gap and ascertain the influence that certain relationship elements have on the maritime supply chain performance. The study is solely a desk research. After providing a general overview of maritime supply chain and its structure, relationship marketing paradigm and relationship constructs, this study examines the influence that the identified relationship constructs (i.e. trust, commitment and satisfaction) has on supply chain performance. The study asserts that the present of the identified relationship constructs (i.e. trust, commitment and satisfaction) among supply chain partners will influence supply chain performance positively. Hence, building a successful long-term relationship among maritime supply chain partners requires an understanding of these key relationship constructs

Evaluación de la satisfacción del turista y la congestión en la práctica de observación de ballenas jorobadas, el caso de Puerto López – Ecuador

[EN] The effect of crowding on tourist satisfaction is a widely studied aspect. Its knowledge is valuable not only to guide ordering of tourism activity but also to ensure a satisfactory experience that contributes to its economic sustainability. However, studies of this type are scarce in the context of whale watching tourism. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate tourist satisfaction and crowding in the practice of humpback whale - watching in Puerto López - Ecuador. At the methodological level, a survey was applied to 340 tourists who observed whales in the June-September 2017 season. Data analysis was based on descriptive record, the structuring of an importance-performance analysis matrix, principal components analysis and binary logistic regression model. Unlike others, this research incorporated the calculation of a perceived crowding threshold and the analysis of the relationship between perceived crowding of boats and people on board. Among main results, the study finds that crowding influences tourist satisfaction when four or more boats coincide at a sighting site. In that sense, the activity in Puerto López is satisfactory in the face of a reported crowding scenario of 3.7 boats and 16.3 people per boat, on average. The limitations of this study are its exploratory nature because it is based on a non-probabilistic sampling and the questionnaire application exclusively in standard capacity boats, without considering those of 35 passengers.[ES] El efecto de la congestión sobre la satisfacción del turista constituye un aspecto ampliamente estudiado. Su conocimiento resulta valioso no solo para orientar el ordenamiento de la actividad turística sino además para asegurar una experiencia satisfactoria que contribuya a su sostenibilidad económica. Sin embargo, son escasos los estudios de este tipo en el contexto del turismo de observación de ballenas. Por tanto, esta investigación tiene como objetivo evaluar la satisfacción del turista y la congestión en la práctica de observación de ballenas jorobadas en Puerto López – Ecuador. A nivel metodológico se aplicó una encuesta a 340 turistas que observaron ballenas en la temporada junio-septiembre de 2017. El análisis de datos se apoyó en el registro descriptivo, la estructuración de una matriz de análisis importancia-desempeño, el análisis de componentes principales y un modelo de regresión logística binaria. A diferencia de otras, esta investigación incorporó el cálculo de un umbral de congestión percibida y el análisis de la relación entre congestión percibida de botes y de personas a bordo. Como resultado, el estudio encuentra que la congestión influye en la satisfacción del turista cuando cuatro o más embarcaciones coinciden en un sitio de avistamiento. En ese sentido, la actividad en Puerto López es satisfactoria frente a un escenario de congestión reportada de 3,7 botes y 16,3 personas por bote, en promedio. Constituyen limitaciones del estudio su carácter exploratorio por basarse en un muestreo no probabilístico y la aplicación exclusiva del cuestionario en botes de capacidad estándar, sin considerar aquellos de 35 pasajeros

Knowledge acquisition and maritime logistics value : an inter-organisational relationship perspective

Maritime logistics value (i.e. improving operational efficiency and service effectiveness in maritime logistics) is one of the strategic goals that maritime operators (i.e. port operators, shipping lines and freight forwarders) want to achieve. Due to the lack of a systematic approach towards maritime logistics management, however, existing literature has yet to clearly define what strategic direction should be taken to accomplish such goals. This thesis proposes that a knowledge-based strategy is the most desirable alternative, having diagnosed its effectiveness in creating and sustaining maritime logistics value. The thesis consists of theoretical and empirical sections. The theoretical part reviews the work of maritime logistics and operators within the context of global logistics and strategic management theory (especially, knowledge-based and inter-organisational relationship perspectives). The theoretical review clarifies the strategic objective of maritime operators, and highlights the importance of a knowledge management strategy towards such a business goal. Based on the literature review, the research develops a conceptual framework that shows the positive relationship between knowledge acquisition and maritime logistics value, and the role of social network embeddedness in acquiring knowledge. The empirical work undertaken to examine the conceptual relationship adopts a qualitative approach: an explorative case study and a Delphi survey. The explorative case study utilises an interview method with a semi-structured questionnaire, and two rounds of the Delphi survey are then conducted by collecting data from a panel of experts in the field. The two research methods are applied to the maritime logistics industry in Korea, where the strategic significance of maritime logistics value becomes ever more obvious. The empirical findings indicate that maritime operators acquire useful knowledge through being embedded in social co-operative and co-opetitive networks, and the acquired knowledge helps them to maximise the maritime logistics value. The work presented hereafter provides a meaningful insight for managers, policy makers and academic researchers into the knowledge management strategy and effective administration of a maritime logistics system in the context of interorganisational relationship. However, this thesis has not examined the way to apply the acquired knowledge on an internal basis of an organisation, and focuses solely on a qualitative approach. It is suggested that a quantitative and in-depth discussion on the knowledge-based maritime logistics research within an intra-organisational level be made by linking maritime operators’ strategy with macro-issues in global supply chains