Lena Elisabeth Bygballe and Gøran Persson
The purpose of this paper is to examine and discuss the responses and strategies firms use in relation to their supply base when dealing with current trends in the business…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine and discuss the responses and strategies firms use in relation to their supply base when dealing with current trends in the business landscape, and the different options that they have.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on case study research of a company within the international health care sector to illustrate the relationship between trends, supply base characteristics and supply base strategies.
Findings
The paper presents a framework for a systematic approach that companies can use to develop supply base strategies. The framework illustrates that developing supply base strategies is a dynamic process that not only involves individual actions by the buying company, but also requires close interaction with suppliers.
Originality/value
Previous literature has not specified how different trends affect a company’s supply base in terms of increased complexity and (inter)dependence, and which supply base strategies companies use and the options that they have. The research presented here contributes to fill this void.
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This article is based on two studies, partly financed by the Norwegian Research Council. The first study was carried out in six organizations cooperating in two supply chain…
Abstract
This article is based on two studies, partly financed by the Norwegian Research Council. The first study was carried out in six organizations cooperating in two supply chain alliances. The purpose of this study was to develop a set of hypotheses concerning logistics service providers and their roles in supply chain alliances. The second study, involved interviews carried out in 12 different logistics organizations, and concerned their perception of future trends and future position. The purpose of this article is to highlight and to describe some of the major findings in the two studies on growth strategies for logistics service providers. We propose a matrix categorizing the players and their strategic position. Given the pressures in the industry and the individual strategic position, the strategic choices in fact are limited, leading to some dominating strategic directions that to a certain extent, also explain the structural changes in the industry.
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Geir Gripsrud, Marianne Jahre and Gøran Persson
Distribution arrangements are becoming increasingly complex and dynamic in business as well as in consumer markets. The purpose of the present paper is to explore and discuss the…
Abstract
Purpose
Distribution arrangements are becoming increasingly complex and dynamic in business as well as in consumer markets. The purpose of the present paper is to explore and discuss the theoretical frameworks available to interpret these distribution arrangements, to uncover how they are interrelated and to suggest extensions.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of extant research is undertaken, starting with the literature on supply chain management (SCM). It turns out that prior to the launch of the SCM concept in the early 1980s, two separate research streams coexisted which both pertain to aspects of distribution. These two research streams are described and traced back to a common root.
Findings
It is suggested that SCM may be regarded as an attempt to unite the two separate research streams known as business logistics and marketing channels, respectively. These two approaches have focused on different aspects of distribution arrangements, but both are preoccupied with managerial challenges faced by individual companies. The managerial focus is also very clear in SCM. The paper traces the common roots of all of these approaches to the marketing discipline in the first half of the twentieth century and suggests that this constitutes a basis for the future development.
Originality/value
The contribution of the paper is twofold: first the overview of the different streams of literature dealing with distribution arrangements and how they are interrelated has not been spelled out so clearly before. Second, the discussions undertaken suggest that future research would benefit from going “back to the future” in the sense that one can learn from frameworks developed for the purpose of understanding the supply system as a whole, the role of the individual participants in that system, and the underlying economics of such a system.
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The objective of this study is to revise and enhance existing inventory control models in a way that allows them to be used more efficiently in environments with short lead times.
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this study is to revise and enhance existing inventory control models in a way that allows them to be used more efficiently in environments with short lead times.
Design/methodology/approach
A simulation approach has been chosen to assess the efficiency of the developed model. This simulation is based on randomly generated demand data with a compound Poisson type of distribution.
Findings
Results from the simulation show that traditionally used inventory control methods fail to ensure that desired service levels are attained in environments with short lead times. The simulation also shows that, by using the developed model, the differences between desired and attained service levels can be reduced to fall within limits acceptable in practice.
Originality/value
The study provides an enhanced inventory control model that can be used in environments with short lead time to increase service level performance.
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Gyöngyi Kovács and Karen M. Spens
This paper aims to further the understanding of planning and carrying out logistics operations in disaster relief.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to further the understanding of planning and carrying out logistics operations in disaster relief.
Design/methodology/approach
Topical literature review of academic and practitioner journals.
Findings
Creates a framework distinguishing between actors, phases, and logistical processes of disaster relief. Drawing parallels of humanitarian logistics and business logistics, the paper discovers and describes the unique characteristics of humanitarian logistics while recognizing the need of humanitarian logistics to learn from business logistics.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is conceptual in nature; empirical research is needed to support the framework. The framework sets a research agenda for academics.
Practical implications
Useful discussion of the unique characteristics of humanitarian logistics. The framework provides practitioners with a tool for planning and carrying out humanitarian logistics operations.
Originality/value
No overarching framework for humanitarian logistics exists in the logistics literature so far. The field of humanitarian logistics has so far received limited attention by logistics academics.
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The purpose of this paper is to describe the advantages, challenges and uncertainties of collecting and analyzing data using participant observation in logistics research.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the advantages, challenges and uncertainties of collecting and analyzing data using participant observation in logistics research.
Design/methodology/approach
Experiences from a participant observation study of an interorganizational radio frequency identification (RFID) implementation in an international environment are presented and reflected on. The RFID implementation included complex interactions between three leading companies.
Findings
The results appear to support an increased use of participant observation in qualitative logistics research, particularly when investigating interorganizational aspects. The analysis highlights values, general limitations and challenges of using participant observation in logistics. The paper illustrates that using participant observation results in significant and detailed findings, which would be difficult to achieve with other methods. Suggestions on how to take advantage of the method's benefits and overcome methodological challenges are provided.
Research limitations/implications
Future research may address experiences from other studies regarding how to analyze and report data from a participant observation study. It may also clarify the role the method is given in case studies and extend the analysis of epistemological aspects conducted in this paper.
Practical implications
This paper may inspire logistics researchers to consider participant observation, either as sole method or as part of a multi‐methodical case study, in order to make use of its benefits and thus broaden the dimensions of logistics research.
Originality/value
A broad literature review indicates that participant observation studies are rather uncommon in logistics research. This paper thus highlights the potential of using this method in logistics research, particularly when investigating the overlooked, but essential, interorganizational aspects of logistics and SCM.
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Vendor managed inventory (VMI) is a model for supply chain collaboration gaining ground in multiple industries around the world. Forecasting is one of several means to predict…
Abstract
Purpose
Vendor managed inventory (VMI) is a model for supply chain collaboration gaining ground in multiple industries around the world. Forecasting is one of several means to predict future demand. The purpose of this paper is to identify what types of advance demand data would be valuable to the supplier for successful replenishment planning in cases of VMI, frequency and means of information exchange.
Design/methodology/approach
The work is based on a literature review and a multiple case study where both successful and unsuccessful VMI collaboration programs are studied. In all cases, the supplier or the customer was a manufacturer. The discussion is based on case‐observations of causes and effects that are compared with existing literature.
Findings
It is found that current inventory status and sales forecasts are the most important kinds of information to be made available to the supplier in a VMI relationship. This also conforms with the general perception of the literature review. Some kinds of information are found valuable while other kinds are found not to be of importance. It was also found that kinds of information differ with the type of supply chain activities being performed by the customer, i.e. there is a different kind of information recommended when the customer makes to stock than when he is a wholesaler or a manufacturer making to order. This observation has not been discussed in the literature reviewed.
Research limitations/implications
The value of generalization from case studies is subject to general discussion. The cases applied in this research encompass Norwegian suppliers and dyads at the upstream end of the value chain. Geographically related cultural differences might limit the applicability of this work.
Originality/value
The findings support the existing literature and this paper takes a practitioner's perspective on information sharing. The aim is to offer a comprehensive yet educational view of information sharing and VMI.
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Bjørnar Aas, Irina Gribkovskaia, Øyvind Halskau and Alexander Shlopak
In the Norwegian oil and gas industry the upstream logistics includes providing the offshore installations with needed supplies and return flow of used materials and equipment…
Abstract
Purpose
In the Norwegian oil and gas industry the upstream logistics includes providing the offshore installations with needed supplies and return flow of used materials and equipment. This paper considers a real‐life routing problem for supply vessels serving offshore installations at Haltenbanken off the northwest coast of Norway from its onshore supply base. The purpose of the paper is to explore how the offshore installation's limited storage capacity affects the routing of the supply vessels aiming towards creating efficient routes.
Design/methodology/approach
A simplified version of the real‐life routing problem for one supply vessel is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming model that contains constraints reflecting the storage requirements problem. These constraints ensure that there is enough capacity at the platform decks and that it is possible to perform both pickup and delivery services.
Findings
The model has been tested on real‐life‐sized instances based on data provided by the Norwegian oil company Statoil ASA. The tests show that in order to obtain optimal solutions to the pickup and delivery problem with limited free storage capacities at installations, one has to include in the formulation the new sets of constraints, the storage feasibility and the service feasibility requirements. In addition, two visits to some platforms are necessary to obtain optimality.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation is the present inability to solve large cases.
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper is to provide a better insight into a real‐life routing problem which has a unique feature arising from the limited deck capacity at the offshore installations that complicates the performance of service. This feature has neither been discussed nor modeled in the vehicle routing literature before, hence the formulation of the problem is original and reveals some interesting results.