Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Knowledge Management and Business IntelligenceIn a fast-moving world some business exists due to the interconnectivity between countries. This happens because transports are able to reach the other side of the globe within few days and without being too expensive compensating the lower costs of production and competitive advantages. This is true for well-organized and big supply chains but even them can benefit from integration with disconnected and more complex supply chain as it is the case of e-commerce chains. The transaction of small packages from online shopping required in a totally distinct country of the place of production have very specific characteristics as they are spot flows, hard to predict and to combine with other goods owing to the fact that the destination of flows are different every time and it is not always worth it to dedicate a transport for such a small goods value and in addition most times, logistics have to answer to some challenging marketing requirements meaning they have time windows to fulfil. Last mile is a big part of logistics transports and is one important part of it that can really help companies having better prices and revenues for their transports. Last mile solutions need to be easy to implement and really have to translate in quick gains to logistic companies that are largely reducing their margins to increase competitiveness. In this context, the study aims to investigate and define a method following design Research Methodology hopping to draw some innovative solutions for the problem of last mile.
In this respect, the work developed intends to study the solutions already implemented and extract insights on how distribution is made and how to maximize last mile profit through the mature of an algorithm able to reduce inefficiencies in a simple way without having to wiggle too much the structure of businesses as resources of last mile service providers are understood to be scarce as many last mile companies are small sized and running under big logistic players.
The solution aims to attain the different marketing requirements exactly as it was defined without having to compromise anything but still being able to make good profit margins and perhaps make room for new opportunities to arise that previously were not profitable
