1. Problem one: Shipment planning in a dynamic environment. The planning of air cargo logistics is a complex endeavor that involves the collaboration of multiple logistics agents to deliver shipments in a timely, safe, and economic manner. Airfreight forwarders coordinate and manage shipments for their clients, and with the development of Internet logistics platforms, airfreight forwarders can now trade jobs and resources with other participants effectively. The incorporation of trading alternatives significantly complicates the shipment planning process. / 2. Problem two: e-services platform design. The need for business logistics starts with a buyer and a seller. It involves arrangements of materials/products moving from the seller to the buyer and payment flows from the buyer and the seller. When the logistics arrangements are not done by the buyer nor the seller but rather by a specialist, we call the specialist a 3rd party logistics (3PL) service providers. A typical logistics service/job involves many agents, for instance, forwarders, truckers, warehouse operators, carriers, etc. In the process, a lot of information will be shared and exchanged among the agents, the buyer and the seller. With the advancement of information technologies, an emerging trend is to have the business dealing, information sharing and even payment arrangement among the logistics agents, buyers and sellers done through e-services on the Internet. In this thesis, we propose a 4th party logistics (4PL) platform, which is an Internet environment to enable and facilitate 3PL providers collaboratively provide services to buyers and sellers. / The proposed platform is called 4PL platform because it facilitates the 3PL agents. To better serve its 3PL clients, the platform should be "neutral", meaning it will not provide logistics services competing with its clients. The 4PL platform will facilitate its clients through e-services. However, existing e-services technology only allows e-services to be provided to individual clients. The idea of providing e-service to collaborating clients is new. We called it the 3rd party e-Service. In this thesis, we have conceptualized and further defined the 3rd party e-Service. To realize the 3rd party e-Service, we have first proposed a 3rd party service-oriented architecture and then developed a set of new elements to the existing e-Service description technology. To prove the concept, the new architecture, and the new description technology, we put into action. Using the shipment planning model as an example, we are able to offer shipment planning e-service to collaborating agents on the Internet. / This dissertation studies two research problems in a 4th party logistics platform. / This study proposes a dynamic decision framework for air cargo shipment planning, within the dynamic environment of bidding and trading. The framework has three phases: estimation, trading, and execution. Planning in the phases proceeds iteratively until an acceptable plan is obtained and shipments are set and fulfilled. The optimization of shipment planning is formulated as a mixed 0-1 LP model from a portfolio point of view. Unlike the models in previous research, this model targets profit maximization and takes into account the decisions of job selection and resource selection, and can be solved using a Tabu-based approach. We also discuss the respective rules and strategies that would aid the decision-making processes in the framework. / Chen Gang. / "February 2006." / Advisers: Waiman Cheung; Chi Kin Leung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: A, page: 4358. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-106). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

Recent interest in logistics and physical distribution has fueled a move to position such activities as mainstream marketing functions. Transportation has been of particular interest due to the changes in the regulatory environment in the United States in the last decade. The changes have resulted in an extremely competitive market facing the carriers, and have provided shippers with a strategic opportunity to use physical distribution as a competitive tool in the marketplace. Research in the past in the area of transportation purchasing has focussed on identification of carrier characteristics that are considered important in the selection process. The present study viewed purchasing of transportation as an organizational service buying phenomenon. The carrier selection decision was viewed within the framework of the Sheth (1973) model of industrial buying behavior. Organizational characteristics, environmental variables and source loyalty toward existing Carriers were empirically investigated to determine their influence on the locus of the shippers carrier selection decision. The impact of the variables above on the development of criteria for carrier selection was also investigated. The impact of shippers' source loyalty toward existing carriers on the buyclass variable, and the decision outcome were also investigated. Organizational variables such as terms of shipment used, nature of firms business, and usage of intermodal carriage were found to have significant relationship to the locus of the carrier selection decision. Among environmental variables, sources of information that were utilized had a significant relationship to the locus of the carrier selection decision. Source loyalty toward existing carriers was found to be positively related to the frequency of purchase situations that were classified as routine purchase. Carrier selection criteria used by shipper firms were found to differ as the firms differed in their organization characteristics and environmental variables facing them. The results of the study provide an empirical test of a portion of the industrial buyer behavior model (Sheth 1973). The results provide carrier companies with tools to segment their potential market, and knowledge of the shippers carrier selection decision process. / Ph. D.