Quantitative modelling of reverse logistics networks and product recovery have been the focus of many research activities in the past few decades. Interest to these models are mostly due to the complexity of reverse logistics networks that necessitates further analysis with the help of mathematical models. In comparison to the traditional forward logistics networks, reverse logistics networks have to deal with the quality of returns issues as well as a high degree of uncertainty in return flow. Additionally, a variety of recovery routes, such as reuse, repair, remanufacturing and recycling, exist. The decision making for utilising these routes requires the quality of returns and uncertainty of return flow to be considered. In this research, integrated forward and reverse logistics networks with repair, remanufacturing and disposal routes are considered. Returns are assumed to be classified based on their quality in ordinal quality levels and quality thresholds are used to split the returned products into repairable, remanufacturable and disposable returns. Fuzzy numbers are used to model the uncertainty in demand and return quantities of different quality levels. Setup costs, non-stationary demand and return quantities, and different lead times have been considered. To facilitate decision making in such networks, a two phase optimisation model is proposed. Given quality thresholds as parameters, the decision variables including the quantities of products being sent to repair, disassembly and disposal, components to be procured and products to be repaired, disassembled or produced for each time period within the time horizon are determined using a fuzzy optimisation model. A sensitivity analysis of the fuzzy optimisation model is carried out on the network parameters including quantity of returned products, unit repair an disassembly costs and procurement, production, disassembly and repair setup costs. A fuzzy controller is proposed to determine quality thresholds based on some ratios of the reverse logistics network parameters including repair to new unit cost, disassembly to new unit cost, repair to disassembly setup, disassembly to procurement setup and return to demand ratios. Fuzzy controller’s sensitivity is also examined in relation to parameters such as average repair and disassembly costs, repair, disassembly, production and procurement setup costs and return to demand ratio. Finally, a genetic fuzzy method is developed to tune the fuzzy controller and improve its rule base. The rule base obtained and the results of sensitivity analyses are utilised to gain better managerial insights into these reverse logistics networks.

We are trying to explore and analyze the possible relationship between digitalization and the valuation of global logistics companies. We focus on the top 70 global logistics companies listed on reputable stock exchanges around the world by market value and go through their annual reports and audited financial accounts with a view to create an insight on their level of digitalization. We observe that there is an obvious increase in attention to digitalization by the logistics service providers throughout the world over the last decade. While we are not in the position to prove a causal relationship between digitalization and valuation, we find that an increase in digitalization awareness is strongly related to growth in both financial performance and market valuation in the logistics industry, especially during the recent disrupting period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It seems that investors across different major capital markets, from New York to London, Frankfurt to Tokyo, Hong Kong to Shanghai, are willing to reward digitalization efforts made by a logistics company in the form of both higher absolute value and rate of increase of market capitalization. / Business Administration/Finance

The fast development of the Chinese economy has brought tremendous impact on the growth of logistics industry in the country. China has become the hottest market for both Chinese and foreign third-party logistics companies (3PL providers), and more and more foreign and domestic 3PL providers are being involved in the Chinese logistics industry. To understand the current situation Chinese third-party logistics companies are facing and the competitive strategies they are pursuing, an exploratory investigation was conducted in the study. A multiple case-study approach was adopted as the main strategy and guidance for the study. Under the principle of multiple case studies, multiple instruments (questionnaire, telephone interviews and archive searching) were used in the data collection among three selected case study companies. Also, within-case analysis and cross-case analysis were chosen as the overall framework of data analysis, and content analysis was selected as the main method for qualitative data analysis. Through investigating a variety of aspects of the three case study 3PL companies, the study has identified that all the case study companies have established country-wide logistics networks, have provided customers a range of logistics services, and have adopted different information technology systems in their operations. All the case study companies have achieved constant increase in their sales in recent years. Generally, the competition in the Chinese 3PL industry is fierce, and sometimes chaotic, unfair, and even illegal. Foreign 3PL providers have been considered as major competitor by Chinese 3PL providers. All the case study companies have developed and pursued a number of competitive strategies to gain competitive advantages in both cost and service. The main competitive strategies addressed include distribution network developing strategy, information technological strategy, and long-term partnership strategy.

Independent de la performance remarquable accomplie par la logistique d’aujourd’hui, les réseaux actuels sont majoritairement dédiés à un acteur et donc très peu interconnectés. Cette fragmentation conduit une difficulté de mutualisation des flux et dès lors à une efficacité limitée. Ces organisations dédiées et hétérogènes sont de plus en plus challengées par les nouveaux défis d’aujourd’hui posés à l’efficacité, l’efficience et la résilience. Pour répondre à cet antagonisme, un innovant concept logistique - l’Internet Physique (PI) - a été proposé. Dans ce système, les infrastructures et les moyens de transport peuvent être organisés de façon dynamique et attribués à court ou à long terme en fonction des besoins. Par conséquent, les décisions des opérations logistiques peuvent être prises de façon dynamique, agile, et donc de manière plus optimale. Cette thèse concentre les perspectives de PI concernant la gestion de stocks et du transport par rapport aux défis de l’efficacité et de la résilience.Comme l’étude de l’efficacité de PI par rapport au transport a été déjà effectuée, le premier objectif de cette recherche est d’explorer les potentiels de l’interconnexion des réseaux dans la gestion de stocks, qui n’a par encore été adressé. À cette fin, nous examinons d'abord les trois nouvelles pratiques apportées par PI : 1) les stocks distribués à proximité des clients finaux; 2) le transbordement de stocks entre les hubs; 3) de multiples options dynamiques de sélection de la source pour chaque commande. Deux modèles de gestion de stocks correspondants sont proposés. Cette étude sert de guide pour des décisions de stockage pour les vendeurs dans un tel système logistique ouvert.Après l’analyse d’efficacité de PI, la deuxième partie de cette thèse concerne la résilience des modèles de stockage et de transport dans PI confrontés à des interruptions dans la chaîne logistique. On a étendu les modèles de stockage et de transport avec interruptions imprévisibles dans les infrastructures telles que l’usine ou les hubs. Des stratégies différentes sont développées pour atténuer les risques de perturbation des flux. Des études numériques sont effectuées pour évaluer la performance des modèles proposés.En résumé, cette recherche est la première qui étudie le potentiel de l’Internet Physique pour la gestion de stock et la résilience de ce système. D’après les résultats, il n’y a aucun doute que le PI change le design de chaîne logistique d’aujourd’hui et améliore la performance de gestion de logistique à la fois en efficience et en résilience. / Irrespective of significant performance achieved, today’s logistics networks are overwhelmingly dedicated to an actor and therefore poorly interconnected. This fragmentation exhibits inevitable inefficiency and needs to be changed in respond to today’s new arising challenges in efficiency and resilience. To solve this antagonism, an innovative concept - Physical Internet (PI) - has been proposed which is a fully interconnected, open, dynamic logistics system. In such a system, the facilities and means of transportation can be dynamically organized and allocated in the short-term or long-term according to the economic environment. As a result, decisions can be made dynamically, agilely, and thus optimally. This thesis studies the perspectives of the PI to inventory management and transportation regarding the challenges in efficiency and resilience.As the efficiency of the PI to transportation has been carried out in literature, the first objective of this thesis is to explore the potentials of the PI to inventory management. To this end, we firstly qualitatively examine the new practices brought by the PI and conclude three main characteristics: 1) Distributed stocks near end customers; 2) Transshipment of inventories; and 3) multiple dynamic source options. Corresponding inventory models and solutions are proposed and evaluated with numerical experiments in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). This part of study gives a guideline for the vendors applying the PI to make inventory decisions in such an open logistic system.The second objective is to analyze the resilience of the proposed PI enabled inventory and transportation model confronted to disruptions. The proposed inventory and transportation model are extended with different disruptions at facilities including plants and hubs. Different disruption strategies are developed. Numerical studies in FMCG are carried out.In a word, this research investigates the inventory management in the PI and the resilience of PI enabled logistics models. It is the first time such a work is done and it should be upfront. From the results of studies, there is no doubt that the PI changes today’s supply chains design and improve the performance of supply chain management both in efficiency, effectiveness and resilience.

Auch wenn Multichannel-Vertriebsstrategien Gegenstand vieler Untersuchungen sind, befassen sich nur wenige Studien mit ihren Auswirkungen auf Logistik- und Transportorganisation. Die zentralen Fragen lauten daher: Wie verändern sich die Warenströme durch die Einführung des Lebensmittelonlinehandels? Und haben verschiedene Formen von Onlineangeboten unterschiedliche Auswirkungen auf die Warenströme? Für die vorliegende kumulative Dissertation wurden Daten aus Frankreich und Deutschland analysiert. Im Mittelpunkt standen die Auswirkungen des Lebensmittelonlinehandels auf die Lieferkette, einschließlich der letzten Meile. Darüber hinaus war es das Ziel, die Strategien und den logistischen Transport der Distributoren im Hinblick auf den Kontext, in dem sie auftreten, zu verstehen. Die Arbeit bietet eine umfassende Untersuchung der beiden Märkte Deutschland und Frankreich. Die Ergebnisse einer vergleichenden Analyse zeigen, wie unterschiedlich sich die Warenflüsse über die gesamte Supply Chain durch das Angebot von Onlinewaren verändern. Neben der letzten Meile erfahren auch die vorgelagerten Strukturen in der Lieferkette eine Veränderung: I) Neue Standorte in Kundennähe für die Organisation der Onlinelebensmitteldistribution werden erschlossen. II) Eine Dezentralisierung von Distributionsstrukturen findet statt. III) Es entstehen neue Beziehungen zwischen Akteuren der Lieferkette. Die Ergebnisse der Analysen tragen zu einem besseren systematischen Verständnis von Onlinelebensmittelpraktiken bei Forschern und Praktikern bei. / Bien que les stratégies de distribution multicanale fassent l'objet de nombreuses recherches, peu d'études traitent de leur impact sur l’organisation de la logistique et des transports. Par conséquent, notre problématique est la suivante : comment les flux de marchandises évoluent-ils suite à l'introduction de l'épicerie en ligne ? Et quels sont les impacts des différentes formes d'offres en ligne sur les chaines d’approvisionnement ? Pour ce mémoire de synthèse, des données provenant de France et d'Allemagne ont été analysées et comparées. L'accent est mis sur l'impact du commerce d'alimentaire en ligne sur la totalité de la chaîne d'approvisionnement. En outre, l'objectif de ce mémoire est de comprendre les stratégies logistiques et de transport des distributeurs en fonction du contexte géographique dans lequel ils interviennent. La recherche est basée sur un ensemble de méthodes, en mettant l'accent sur les méthodes de la recherche qualitative et les analyses quantitatives complémentaires. Grâce à la comparaison de la situation en France et en Allemagne, et à l'analyse approfondie des acteurs du marché (via des entretiens avec des experts), le mémoire offre une réflexion complète sur les deux marchés. Les résultats des analyses montrent que l'offre des biens alimentaire en ligne modifie le flux des marchandises toute au long de la chaine d’approvisionnement, depuis le traitement des commandes jusqu’à la livraison. En effet : 1) de nouveaux sites pour l'organisation de la distribution alimentaire en ligne sont développés, souvent situés à proximité des clients ; 2) on observe une décentralisation des structures de distribution ; 3) de nouvelles relations entre les acteurs de la chaîne d'approvisionnement apparaissent. Les résultats de ces analyses contribuent à une meilleure compréhension systématique des pratiques de la distribution alimentaire en ligne. / Even though multichannel distribution strategies are the subject of many research studies, few have addressed their impact on logistics and transport organisations. The present research addresses this gap by investigating the central questions: ‘How do commodity flows change through the introduction of online grocery services? Can different configurations of online grocery services, and thus different commodity flows, be observed in France and Germany?’ For this cumulative dissertation, data from France and Germany were analysed. The impact of online grocery sales on supply chains was examined through a comparative analysis, and the relevance of different settings and contextual environments was established. The analyses show that the decision to offer goods online impacts the entire supply chain of the grocer, and the impact differs in France and Germany. Order processing, last-mile delivery and upstream structures in the supply chain are experiencing three fundamental areas of change: I) new locations for the organisation of online food distribution – usually close to the customers – are being developed; II) a decentralisation of distribution structures is taking place; and III) new relationships between actors in the supply chain are emerging. The thesis systematically records and describes adaptation mechanisms and reveals the differences in the supply chain structures compared to the stationary food trade. Based on the structured analysis of two neighbouring but distinct markets, further insights relevant to research and practice could be generated. The results of the analyses contribute to a better systematic understanding of online food practices among researchers and practitioners.