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Customer service provision is a growing phenomenon on social media and parcel shipping companies have been among the most prominent adopters. This has coincided with greater interest in the development of analysis techniques for unstructured big data from social media platforms, such as the micro-blogging platform, Twitter. Given the growing use of dedicated customer service accounts on Twitter, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness with which parcel shipping companies use the platform.

This paper demonstrates the use of a combination of tools for retrieving, processing and analysing large volumes of customer service-related conversations generated between parcel shipping companies and their customers in Australia, UK and the USA. Extant studies using data from Twitter tend to focus on the contributions of individual entities and are unable to capture the insights provided by a holistic examination of the interactions.

This study identifies the key issues that trigger customer contact with parcel shipping companies on Twitter. It identifies similarities and differences in the approaches that these companies bring to customer engagement and identifies the opportunities for using the medium more effectively.

The development of consumer-centric supply chains and relevant theories require researchers and practitioners to have the ability to include insights from growing quantities of unstructured data gathered from consumer engagement. This study makes a methodological contribution by demonstrating the use of a set of tools to gather insight from a large volume of conversations on a social media platform.

The application of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has the potential to transform supply chain management (SCM) practice. This study focuses on the role of GenAI, specifically large language models (LLMs), in enhancing the training efficiency and outcomes for supply chain employees.

An intervention-based research approach is used to implement a novel LLM-based methodology for improving both the training process for new employees and the continuous knowledge acquisition experience for existing staff in the supply chain function of an eyewear company.

The preliminary findings show that incorporating an LLM significantly improved the efficiency of the training process and reduced the training cost for employees by 25%. New employees could access relevant information swiftly, reducing training time and enhancing the quality of training. Notable outcomes included faster knowledge acquisition, personalized learning pathways and continuous improvement through user feedback.

This study contributes to the literature by establishing a foundational framework for leveraging LLMs for knowledge management and process automation within SCM. It offers actionable insights for SCM practitioners, highlighting opportunities to adopt LLM-powered methodologies for optimizing training processes, improving decision-making and automate SCM tasks.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the egocentric network-based strategies used by upstream firms to ensure their own resilience when the disruptions originate with downstream partners.

The paper adopts a case study approach as this is well-suited to the investigation of a complex phenomenon from multiple perspectives.

The study finds that the egocentric networks of upstream firms participating in the supply network of a retailer could ensure their own resilience even after the sudden demise of the downstream entity.

The study addresses the lack of adequate empirical research examining resilience from the perspectives of multiple entities in a supply network. It is also one of the few papers to address resilience from the perspective of upstream players in the context of a disruption originating with downstream partners. The findings suggest that the lack of visibility in relation to the financial health of more powerful downstream partners could be problematic from a supplier’s perspective. It identifies well-developed egocentric networks as being essential for minimizing consequences of limited downstream visibility and the impact on social capital.

The success of e-retailers is intrinsically linked to the effectiveness of their logistics processes which, inevitably, involve third party service providers. As the most tangible representative of the e-retailers it is inevitable that customers expect the e-retailer to resolve delivery queries, including on social media platforms. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of e-retailers’ logistics-related customer service interactions on Twitter with a view towards identifying effective and ineffective social media customer service strategies.

The design and public nature of Twitter encourages organic conversations between e-retailers and customers as well as between customers and other customers. The methodology applied here accounts for this by collecting and analysing interactions within and as part of conversations, not as independent observations. In total, 203,349 tweets were collected from 22 of the most popular e-retailers. A random sample of 5,000 logistics-related conversations (16,998 tweets) is used for the analysis presented here and forms a foundation for future research.

Conversations are initiated by customers on the basis of 24 event triggers which can be categorised as occurring either before or after an order is delivered. These can be general queries or related to a specific order or delivery issue. The paper identifies a number of significant findings such as the extent to which e-retailers and logistics providers redirect customers to other channels to resolve queries, ignoring the implicit preference by customers to use Twitter to resolve their problem. Similarly, the lack of interactions between e-retailers and their logistics providers within the Twitter platform to help resolve customer queries results in ineffective customer service.

The study identifies the way in which e-retailers can substantially improve the effectiveness of the customer service they provide on Twitter by ensuring that customer queries can be resolved within the platform and by working with their logistics partners to do the same. This is critical since problems may be directed to the e-retailer or the logistics provider but both companies jointly suffer the consequences of poor customer service.

The study examines a hitherto underexplored aspect of retail logistics – the social media-based customer service activities of e-retailers. Methodologically, the study is rooted in the acknowledgement that interactions on Twitter form conversations and analyses should take this into account. This is a distinctly different approach from existing Twitter-related studies which conduct an automated sentiment analysis of tweets. This approach reveals a rich picture of interactions and, importantly, identifies where conversations between e-retailers begin, how they develop and how they conclude.

The coronavirus pandemic led to supply chain disruptions resulting in adverse economic impacts on global supply chains. Nationwide lockdowns in countries that play key roles in global manufacturing restricted freight movements through air, ocean, and land routes resulting in delivery delays, higher freight rates and congestion. At the same time, the pandemic has accelerated the growth of the e-commerce sector. Concern around infections has led to a surge in first-time online consumers for categories such as health and pharmaceuticals and fast-moving consumer goods. Companies have had to rethink their approaches to optimising warehouse locations and inventory to meet customer demand. From a freight perspective, the focus has shifted from a single-mode model towards multi-modal logistics to reduce costs and dependence on any one mode. This chapter will review recent developments, long term impacts and opportunities for growth in the context of this important sector and illustrate some of the key impacts of the pandemic using the example of the emerging economy in India. It concludes by synthesising key takeaways and reflecting on the future of the sector.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the interactions that are engaged in when specialist organizations collaborate in business networks organized around global value chains. Interaction costs are defined as including transaction costs plus the costs for exchanging information and ideas. The view is forwarded that as interaction costs decrease, potential business partners have greater scope to interlink their business strategies and operations to co‐create value.

The paper draws on ideas linking the emergence of new forms of organization, technology and innovation, and global business strategy. In particular, its focus is on how ICT is transforming the ways in which organizations around the globe interlink through innovative approaches to operational and strategic imperatives.

Three factors that are either reducing interaction costs or increasing the effectiveness or frequency of interactions are identified and examined: the convergence of technologies, the delineation of roles within value chain business networks, and the emergence of innovative interaction strategies among network participants.

Further developments of “interactions theory,” based on the four factors discussed in this paper, would increase our knowledge of contemporary business models. A greater understanding of how interactions influence strategy and operational decisions is needed.

Advances in interaction efficiency will facilitate an increase in the number of businesses working together as networks. The speed and transparency of business arrangements will increase. As a consequence, executives will require advanced technology and relationship management skills.

This paper builds on previous conceptualizations, but provides a more encompassing and integrated explanation of new business approaches than most other accounts.

Transport and pandemics are interlinked given the ubiquitous nature of modern transport systems. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided much evidence for both virus contagion but also containment and how transport plays a role in both. As the world and its cities experienced lockdowns, there were travel restrictions, physical social distancing rules, transport systems shut down, changed operations, a re-opening with lower demands in some sectors (e.g., air transport and urban public transport services) and an increased demand in others (e.g., freight and home deliveries). These changes brought about a series of reactions at all levels, from governments and local authorities, operators of all transport modes but also personal and individual behaviour. This volume provides evidence on an array of transport and pandemic experiences through a collection of works from around the world, each chapter discussing a mode, a region and possible future outcomes. This introductory chapter provides the context for this volume with an overview of literature that looks at transport and pandemics, a timeline of events that marked the COVID-19 pandemic developments across different parts of the world, and finally an overview of the chapters in the volume. It concludes with some insights from the editors on the future of transport in a post-COVID world.