<p>This thesis develops a method for examining a logistics system and evaluating its performance so that problem areas can be identified. This method is developed based on a literature review and evaluated through workshops and case studies. It consists of four steps; System Description, Input and Output, Transformation and finally Deeper Analysis and Conclusions. By conducting an evaluation based on the method conclusions can be drawn concerning the logistics performance of the system within a week.</p>

This thesis develops a method for examining a logistics system and evaluating its performance so that problem areas can be identified. This method is developed based on a literature review and evaluated through workshops and case studies. It consists of four steps; System Description, Input and Output, Transformation and finally Deeper Analysis and Conclusions. By conducting an evaluation based on the method conclusions can be drawn concerning the logistics performance of the system within a week.

ABSTRACT As enterprises have increased the demand for logistics services, the role of logistics service providers (LSPs) as home bases for merchandise transportation and distribution has consequently become increasingly important. Therefore, how to strengthen the logistics capability and promote the logistics performance has become an important topic. In addition, traditionally the perspective of treating tangible assets as the location of firm¡¦s value has been gradually diminished. The intangible intellectual capital is increasingly playing a pivotal position for the firm¡¦s performance. Researchers studied the field of intellectual capital argued that intellectual capital was the main source of organizational competitive advantages. Besides, they thought that the better the intellectual capital a company has, the better the business can have the ability to generate performance. However, researchers seldom distinguished static intellectual capital from dynamic capability for utilizing intellectual capital. Whereas, this study proposed that these two constructs were different concepts, and would like to explore the impact of utilizing intellectual capital on logistics performance. Consequently, this study integrated the concept of RBT and dynamic capability to offer a conceptual model, a survey of LSPs was undertaken in order to examine the relationships among intellectual capital, logistics capabilities and firm performance, using the structural equation modeling technique (SEM) analysis method. Previous researches had concerned the tangible resources, capabilities and firm performance, however, less from the perspective of intangible resources to study this subject. Hence, after reviewing the relevant literature, we conclude human capital, structural capital, and relational capital as dimensions of intellectual capital. Furthermore, from the empirical results of related scholars¡¦ researches, this study argues that it has a directly significant effect of logistics capabilities on logistics performance, and logistics capabilities are the critical factors for utilizing intellectual capital. Moreover, this research proposes that logistics capabilities are complex constructs. Therefore, we should clarify these constructs and provide an appropriate measurement tool with reliability and validity if we would like to measure them. Consequently, logistics capabilities were identified: service capability, innovation capability, and flexibility capability. Finally, after clarifying the definition and extracting the components of each variable from the literature review, this research deduced several hypotheses and formed the research framework. In this study, we take logistics service providers in Taiwan as the study sample. A total of 1,033 questionnaires were hand delivered and the remaining 109, valid and complete, were used for quantitative analysis. The useable response rate was 10.6%. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was employed to test the research hypotheses. Results indicated that structural capital, relational capital, and logistics capabilities had a significant positive effect on logistics performance. Results also indicated that human capital, structural capital, and relational capital had a positive effect on LSPs¡¦ logistics capabilities. While human capital was not found to have a direct positive effect on LSPs¡¦ logistics performance, it was found to have an indirect effect on logistics performance mediated by logistics capability. According to the results, LSPs should enhance the intangible resource - intellectual capital, further heighten their understanding of logistics capabilities and identify how such capabilities may affect logistics performance, therefore develop effective logistics strategies.

Purpose: This master thesis attempts to propose a guideline for improving logistics performance in terms of cost efficiency and on-time delivery in shipper-TPL provider relationships within offshore outsourcing businesses. Methodology: As a first step, the authors construct a conceptual model based on a thorough literature review. In a second step, empirical data is collected through semi-structured interviews within a single-case study with dyadic perspectives examining the shipper-TPL provider relationship of Ericsson, Sweden and Aramex, Saudi Arabia. Lastly, the authors are able to develop a final detailed model through merging the discovered theoretical and empirical findings. Findings: The findings of this thesis highlight the impact on performance of the factors of communication, culture, work agreements, standardization, system compliance and trust. Based on these factors, the PILOOR Model is developed that illustrates a sequential order of these factors to improve performance. In detail, the findings suggest to start off with communication and culture in order to foster a mutual understanding. Afterwards, work agreements and standardization within processes and communication channels should be established. Thus, considerable efforts are required within the build-up stage of shipper-TPL provider relationships. Within the execution stage, system compliance is found to enhance performance, in which formal and informal communication tools support performance improvements. Finally, this research highlights that trust develops over time by successfully working on the other factors. In addition, it has an overall positive effect on performance once a sufficient level is achieved. Research Implications: This research is the first to propose a guideline for performance improvements within offshore outsourcing of TPL services through the presented PILOOR Model. Thus, this research fills a significant gap within the body of the TPL literature. Furthermore, the PILOOR Model is believed to support practitioners in successfully building-up and executing their offshore outsourcing shipper-TPL provider relationships. Limitations &amp; Further Research: Due to the choice of methodology, this study is limited in terms of generalizability. Therefore, the authors suggest replicating this study within other offshore outsourcing shipper-TPL relationships. Ideally, the developed PILOOR Model should be tested empirically.

Performance measurement is an important concern that has recently attracted much attention in the logistics area from both practitioners and academics. The performance measurement of logistics companies is based upon diverse performance indicators. However, to date, limited attention has been paid to the performance measurement of logistics companies and, also, performance measurement processes have become more complex for logistics companies due to the existence of numerous performance indicators. In this regard, the way in which decision makers in logistics companies deal with some vaguenesses, such as deciding on the most important indicators holistically and determining interrelationships between performance indicators, has remained an issue that needs to be resolved. This study, therefore, aims to offer a comprehensive decision model for identifying the key logistics performance indicators and determining the interrelationships among these indicators from logisticians’ perspective. In line with this purpose, the research first presents a stakeholder-based Balanced Scorecard (BSC) model which provides a balanced view by including financial and non-financial performance indicators and a comprehensive approach as a response to the major shortcoming of the generic BSC regarding the negligence of various stakeholders. Then, a large number of performance indicators used in logistics are systematically examined under the proposed model, and the key indicators are selected through an online survey conducted in the Turkish logistics industry. Subsequently, since the performance measurement indicators are not independent of each other, it is critical to understand the causal relationships among different indicators. In such cases, group decision making techniques are capable of modelling such complexities. After a systematic comparison of these techniques, a realistic and easy-to-follow multi-criteria decision making technique, the Analytic Network Process (ANP), is revealed as a suitably powerful method to determine the interrelationships among the indicators. Additionally, a case study approach based on the data obtained from three logistics companies is used to illustrate both the applicability of the model and the practicality of the ANP application. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the results about the case companies is also analysed with several relevant ‘what-if’ scenarios. Thus, real-life practices of three case companies are investigated with the proposed approach. Consequently, this research proposes the BSC-ANP integration which provides a novel way and in-depth understanding to evaluate logistics performance indicators for the competitiveness of logistics companies. Thus, in order to address the aforementioned vaguenesses, the proposed model in this study identifies key performance indicators with the consideration of various stakeholders in the logistics industry to decide on the most important indicators, and evaluates the interrelationships among the indicators by using the ANP. The results of the study show that the educated employee (15.61%) is the most important indicator for the competitiveness of logistics companies and four prominent indicators (educated employee, managerial skills, cost, and profitability) need to be primarily considered by logistics companies. In this way, with this integration, not only the performance indicators in logistics, but also different stakeholders of logistics companies are assessed by the ANP method. This means that the results of this research are not only useful for helping logistics companies to decide which indicators should be focused on to become more competitive, but also can be used as a reference model by different stakeholders in their decision-making processes in order to select the best logistics provider.

É crescente a busca de parcerias entre as empresas de uma cadeia de suprimentos frente à concorrência, ao domínio de grandes empresas, à necessidade do aumento da eficiência logística e, ao mesmo tempo, à necessidade de redução dos custos logísticos. O estudo do relacionamento de parcerias pode traduzir no melhor entendimento das necessidades de cada participante dessa cadeia. Dessa forma, esta tese visa conhecer o estado de colaboração em logística na cadeia do varejo supermercadista no Brasil. Os objetivos são: (a) identificar e avaliar os principais elementos de colaboração existentes entre os parceiros indústria e varejo; (b) identificar quais elementos os parceiros consideram mais importantes para a construção do conceito de colaboração; (c) avaliar o efeito da colaboração na cadeia do varejo supermercadista, em especial no desempenho logístico e nos custos de transação. As teorias e conhecimentos relacionados à pesquisa são referentes a colaboração na cadeia de suprimentos, ao desempenho logístico e a economia dos custos de transação. A metodologia é composta por um estudo qualitativo e quantitativo. O estudo qualitativo, realizado em uma grande rede de varejo supermercadista, teve como objetivo conhecer e avaliar as operações logísticas e servir de entrada para a construção e análise da pesquisa quantitativa. Esta, realizada com uma amostra de 125 representantes da indústria, permitiu construir um modelo de colaboração que pudesse ser utilizado para avaliar os objetivos propostos e servir como ponto de partida para futuras pesquisas. Para tanto, análises estatísticas multivariadas foram utilizadas para testar empiricamente os resultados. Estes mostraram que os principais elementos que formam o conceito de colaboração, segundo os participantes, podem ser classificados em três fatores: fator de integração estratégica (composto pelos elementos de integração estratégica), fator de integração tática (composto pelos elementos ações conjuntas, compartilhamento de custos e ganhos logísticos, compartilhamento de informações logísticas e comerciais) e fator interpessoal de colaboração (composto pelos elementos interpessoais). Estes formam a base da parceria, são os que mais contribuem para uma maior intensidade de colaboração em relação aos demais e que influenciam na construção de um relacionamento sustentável. Por outro lado, a colaboração com base no compartilhamento dos custos e ganhos logísticos tem a menor intensidade e os elementos estratégicos de colaboração, apesar de serem importantes nesse processo, ainda são poucos explorados, tanto pelas empresas, quanto na literatura de colaboração logística na cadeia do varejo supermercadista. Além disso, os resultados mostraram que os participantes julgam como mais importantes, para o processo de colaboração, os elementos confiança, reciprocidade, interação entre as áreas funcionais, compartilhamento de informações e objetivos e metas conjuntas. Conclui-se que alguns desses elementos de colaboração tendem à parceria ou à integração e que outros tendem apenas ao estágio de coordenação das atividades logísticas na cadeia do varejo supermercadista. Alguns elementos de colaboração influenciam positivamente o desempenho logístico das indústrias, principalmente se tratando de desempenho logístico diferenciado (entregas urgentes e em períodos de demanda alta) e realizado por grandes empresas. O aumento de colaboração estratégica (relacionada aos elementos de integração estratégica) e de ações conjuntas (relacionada aos elementos de integração tática) contribui para a diminuição de incertezas entre os participantes e essas ações conjuntas contribuem para o aumento do investimento em ativos específicos. / The partnerships between the firms on supply chain are increasing due to: competition, domain by large companies, necessity the increase of logistic efficiency, at the same time, due to necessity of logistic costs reduction. The relationship study of partnerships can mean on the best knowledge the necessities of each participant on this chain. This thesis aims to study the state of collaborative logistic in the retail market chain in Brazil. The objectives are: (a) to identify and to evaluate the main collaborative elements between the industry and retail chain partners; (b) to identify which elements the partners consider more important for the construct of collaboration concept; (c) to evaluate the effect of the collaboration in the retail market chain, in special on the logistic performance and the transaction costs. The theories and knowledge related to the research are collaboration in supply chains, the logistic performance and the economy transaction costs. The methodology consists of qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative one that was carried through in a big retail chain had as objective to understand and to evaluate the logistic operations. This study also served as the foreward for construction and analysis of the quantitative research. This research is composed by 125 representatives of the industry and had as objective to construct a collaborative model. This model could be used to evaluate the objectives and to serve as starting point for future research. For this, multivaried statistical analysis was used as a way to test the research results. These research results showed that the main collaborative elements, according to participants, can be classified in three factors: factor of strategical integration (composed by the elements of strategic integration), factor of tactical integration (composed by the elements joint actions, logistic sharing of costs and profits, sharing of logistic and commercial information) and factor intangible collaboration (composed by interpersonal elements). The interpersonal elements form the partnership base, contribute for a bigger intensity of collaboration in comparison to others and influence the construction of a sustainable relationship. On the other hand, the collaboration on the sharing basis of the costs and logistic profits has the lesser intensity. The collaborative strategical elements, although to be important in this process, they are still few explored, as such by companies, as much in the literature of collaborative logistic in the retail chain. Moreover, the results had shown that the participants consider as more important, for the collaborative process, the elements of confidence, reciprocity, interaction between the functional areas, information sharing and objectives and joint goals. The conclusions are: some of these collaborative elements tend to develop into partnership or integration and that others tend only a stage of coordination of the logistic activities in the retail chain. Some collaborative elements influence positively the logistic performance of the firms, mainly when it concerns a differentiated logistic performance (urgent deliveries and deliveries in periods of high demand) and carried through by large companies. The increase in strategic collaboration and joint actions contributes for the reduction of uncertainties between the participants and these joint actions contribute for the increase of investment in specific assets.

É crescente a busca de parcerias entre as empresas de uma cadeia de suprimentos frente à concorrência, ao domínio de grandes empresas, à necessidade do aumento da eficiência logística e, ao mesmo tempo, à necessidade de redução dos custos logísticos. O estudo do relacionamento de parcerias pode traduzir no melhor entendimento das necessidades de cada participante dessa cadeia. Dessa forma, esta tese visa conhecer o estado de colaboração em logística na cadeia do varejo supermercadista no Brasil. Os objetivos são: (a) identificar e avaliar os principais elementos de colaboração existentes entre os parceiros indústria e varejo; (b) identificar quais elementos os parceiros consideram mais importantes para a construção do conceito de colaboração; (c) avaliar o efeito da colaboração na cadeia do varejo supermercadista, em especial no desempenho logístico e nos custos de transação. As teorias e conhecimentos relacionados à pesquisa são referentes a colaboração na cadeia de suprimentos, ao desempenho logístico e a economia dos custos de transação. A metodologia é composta por um estudo qualitativo e quantitativo. O estudo qualitativo, realizado em uma grande rede de varejo supermercadista, teve como objetivo conhecer e avaliar as operações logísticas e servir de entrada para a construção e análise da pesquisa quantitativa. Esta, realizada com uma amostra de 125 representantes da indústria, permitiu construir um modelo de colaboração que pudesse ser utilizado para avaliar os objetivos propostos e servir como ponto de partida para futuras pesquisas. Para tanto, análises estatísticas multivariadas foram utilizadas para testar empiricamente os resultados. Estes mostraram que os principais elementos que formam o conceito de colaboração, segundo os participantes, podem ser classificados em três fatores: fator de integração estratégica (composto pelos elementos de integração estratégica), fator de integração tática (composto pelos elementos ações conjuntas, compartilhamento de custos e ganhos logísticos, compartilhamento de informações logísticas e comerciais) e fator interpessoal de colaboração (composto pelos elementos interpessoais). Estes formam a base da parceria, são os que mais contribuem para uma maior intensidade de colaboração em relação aos demais e que influenciam na construção de um relacionamento sustentável. Por outro lado, a colaboração com base no compartilhamento dos custos e ganhos logísticos tem a menor intensidade e os elementos estratégicos de colaboração, apesar de serem importantes nesse processo, ainda são poucos explorados, tanto pelas empresas, quanto na literatura de colaboração logística na cadeia do varejo supermercadista. Além disso, os resultados mostraram que os participantes julgam como mais importantes, para o processo de colaboração, os elementos confiança, reciprocidade, interação entre as áreas funcionais, compartilhamento de informações e objetivos e metas conjuntas. Conclui-se que alguns desses elementos de colaboração tendem à parceria ou à integração e que outros tendem apenas ao estágio de coordenação das atividades logísticas na cadeia do varejo supermercadista. Alguns elementos de colaboração influenciam positivamente o desempenho logístico das indústrias, principalmente se tratando de desempenho logístico diferenciado (entregas urgentes e em períodos de demanda alta) e realizado por grandes empresas. O aumento de colaboração estratégica (relacionada aos elementos de integração estratégica) e de ações conjuntas (relacionada aos elementos de integração tática) contribui para a diminuição de incertezas entre os participantes e essas ações conjuntas contribuem para o aumento do investimento em ativos específicos. / The partnerships between the firms on supply chain are increasing due to: competition, domain by large companies, necessity the increase of logistic efficiency, at the same time, due to necessity of logistic costs reduction. The relationship study of partnerships can mean on the best knowledge the necessities of each participant on this chain. This thesis aims to study the state of collaborative logistic in the retail market chain in Brazil. The objectives are: (a) to identify and to evaluate the main collaborative elements between the industry and retail chain partners; (b) to identify which elements the partners consider more important for the construct of collaboration concept; (c) to evaluate the effect of the collaboration in the retail market chain, in special on the logistic performance and the transaction costs. The theories and knowledge related to the research are collaboration in supply chains, the logistic performance and the economy transaction costs. The methodology consists of qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative one that was carried through in a big retail chain had as objective to understand and to evaluate the logistic operations. This study also served as the foreward for construction and analysis of the quantitative research. This research is composed by 125 representatives of the industry and had as objective to construct a collaborative model. This model could be used to evaluate the objectives and to serve as starting point for future research. For this, multivaried statistical analysis was used as a way to test the research results. These research results showed that the main collaborative elements, according to participants, can be classified in three factors: factor of strategical integration (composed by the elements of strategic integration), factor of tactical integration (composed by the elements joint actions, logistic sharing of costs and profits, sharing of logistic and commercial information) and factor intangible collaboration (composed by interpersonal elements). The interpersonal elements form the partnership base, contribute for a bigger intensity of collaboration in comparison to others and influence the construction of a sustainable relationship. On the other hand, the collaboration on the sharing basis of the costs and logistic profits has the lesser intensity. The collaborative strategical elements, although to be important in this process, they are still few explored, as such by companies, as much in the literature of collaborative logistic in the retail chain. Moreover, the results had shown that the participants consider as more important, for the collaborative process, the elements of confidence, reciprocity, interaction between the functional areas, information sharing and objectives and joint goals. The conclusions are: some of these collaborative elements tend to develop into partnership or integration and that others tend only a stage of coordination of the logistic activities in the retail chain. Some collaborative elements influence positively the logistic performance of the firms, mainly when it concerns a differentiated logistic performance (urgent deliveries and deliveries in periods of high demand) and carried through by large companies. The increase in strategic collaboration and joint actions contributes for the reduction of uncertainties between the participants and these joint actions contribute for the increase of investment in specific assets.

Growing pressure on the packaging design to enhance the environmental and logistics performance of a packaging system stresses the packaging designers to search new design strategies that not only fulfill logistics requirements in the supply chain, but also reduce the CO 2emissions during the packaging life cycle. This thesis focuses on the packaging design process and suggests some improvements by considering its logistics performance and CO 2emissions. A Green packaging development model was proposed for corrugated box design to explore the inter-dependencies that exist among compressive strength, waste and CO2emissions. The verification of the proposed model unveils the significance of a holistic view of the packaging system in the packaging design process and reveals the importance of packaging design decisions on the logistics performance and CO 2 emissions. The thesis finally concluded that the packaging logistics performance should be considered in a packaging design process to explore the Green packaging design solution.

The objective of this dissertation is to first identify if there are any academic research gaps in our understanding of the medical supply chain and secondly to understand the role and impact of logistics on the human organ transplant process. The first essay identifies the current status of medical supply chain literature and provides future direction for improving the medical supply chain. This was accomplished by preforming a systematic literature review and a bibliometric analysis from 2,160 publications was conducted. The second essay explores how logistical aspects impact transplant logistics performance and the quality of life for the transplant recipient. Survey data was collected from medical professionals and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The third essay identifies the factors are influencing the number of donor kidneys discarded each year. A retrospective analysis of all deceased donor kidneys procured in hospitals in UNOS region 4 (Texas and Oklahoma) from January 1, 2001, to June 28, 2021, was conducted. Data was analyzed using multinomial logit regression and panel data analysis. As a result, we identified several medical and logistics factors that have influenced the number of donor kidneys discarded in the United States.

Yes / Performance measurement of logistics companies is based upon various performance indicators. Yet, in the logistics industry, there are several vaguenesses, such as deciding on key indicators and determining interrelationships between performance indicators. In order to resolve these vaguenesses, this paper first presents the stakeholder-informed Balanced Scorecard (BSC) model, by incorporating financial (e.g. cost) and non-financial (e.g. social media) performance indicators, with a comprehensive approach as a response to the major shortcomings of the generic BSC regarding the negligence of different stakeholders. Subsequently, since the indicators are not independent of each other, a robust multi-criteria decision making technique, the Analytic Network Process (ANP) method is implemented to analyze the interrelationships. The integration of these two techniques provides a novel way to evaluate logistics performance indicators from logisticians' perspective. This is a matter that has not been addressed in the logistics industry to date, and as such remains a gap that needs to be investigated. Therefore, the proposed model identifies key performance indicators as well as various stakeholders in the logistics industry, and analyzes the interrelationships among the indicators by using the ANP. Consequently, the results show that educated employee (15.61%) is the most important indicator for the competitiveness of logistics companies.