How Third party logistics providers create effectiveness and efficiency by coordinating customers´activities an strategies

Logistics providers are developing competitive advantage by coordinating different customers logistics solutions. We are presenting some of the basic factors taken into consideration for a TPL firm when coordinating its customers. The possibilities to coordinate are dependent not only on activities of different customers, suppliers and customers´customers but also the attitudes and behavior reflected from their strategies. The dimensions of main importance for coordination are used as a base for finding suitable customer profiles. Finally we are discussing how the logistics providers effectively cope with the dynamic interaction and the network fit between customers.Customer coordination; Third party logistics providers (TPLs); Networks;

Sustainable purchasing and supply management: A structured literature review of definitions and measures at the dyad, chain and network levels

Purpose - This paper provides a structured literature review of sustainability in purchasing and supply management, moving beyond the traditional environmental and social sustainability. The paper reviews the concept of sustainability at three levels of inter-organizational analysis - i.e. dyad, supply chain and network. The paper distils the nature and scope of existing research and synthesizes measures used to research sustainability across organizational boundaries. Design/methodology/approach - This literature review systematically analyzes existing literature. In particular, the review focuses on definitions and measures of sustainable purchasing and supply management to obtain an accurate view of current research. Findings - This paper uncovers two distinct trends in the type of research carried out. First, internal or dyadic issues are in focus and second, a tendency to deal with environmental, as opposed to social, sustainability. Despite the need to look beyond the dyad given the risks associated with the extended network, few studies do so in any of the sustainability dimensions. Research limitations/implications - This review is limited by the method employed focusing on definitions and measures. Although the review considers supply chain and network research, it does so purely from a purchasing perspective, thus excluding issues such as logistics and transport. Practical implications - The paper identifies areas open to future research and provides practical insights into how sustainable purchasing and supply are measured. It also synthesizes existing measures of sustainability at different levels and organizes these into a taxonomy. Originality/value - The paper examines studies across multiple levels of analysis and integrates multiple fields of knowledge to show how research on sustainability in purchasing and supply is structured

Open data from the first and second observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo

Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo are monitoring the sky and collecting gravitational-wave strain data with sufficient sensitivity to detect signals routinely. In this paper we describe the data recorded by these instruments during their first and second observing runs. The main data products are gravitational-wave strain time series sampled at 16384 Hz. The datasets that include this strain measurement can be freely accessed through the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center at http://gw-openscience.org, together with data-quality information essential for the analysis of LIGO and Virgo data, documentation, tutorials, and supporting software

Search for intermediate-mass black hole binaries in the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo

International audienceIntermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) span the approximate mass range 100−105 M⊙, between black holes (BHs) that formed by stellar collapse and the supermassive BHs at the centers of galaxies. Mergers of IMBH binaries are the most energetic gravitational-wave sources accessible by the terrestrial detector network. Searches of the first two observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo did not yield any significant IMBH binary signals. In the third observing run (O3), the increased network sensitivity enabled the detection of GW190521, a signal consistent with a binary merger of mass ∼150 M⊙ providing direct evidence of IMBH formation. Here, we report on a dedicated search of O3 data for further IMBH binary mergers, combining both modeled (matched filter) and model-independent search methods. We find some marginal candidates, but none are sufficiently significant to indicate detection of further IMBH mergers. We quantify the sensitivity of the individual search methods and of the combined search using a suite of IMBH binary signals obtained via numerical relativity, including the effects of spins misaligned with the binary orbital axis, and present the resulting upper limits on astrophysical merger rates. Our most stringent limit is for equal mass and aligned spin BH binary of total mass 200 M⊙ and effective aligned spin 0.8 at 0.056 Gpc−3 yr−1 (90% confidence), a factor of 3.5 more constraining than previous LIGO-Virgo limits. We also update the estimated rate of mergers similar to GW190521 to 0.08 Gpc−3 yr−1.Key words: gravitational waves / stars: black holes / black hole physicsCorresponding author: W. Del Pozzo, e-mail: [email protected]† Deceased, August 2020