International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

Michael Bommer; Brian O’Neil; Shadrach Treat

2001 International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

doi: 10.1108/09600030110366375

Competition in the beverage industry is increasing on all fronts (advertising, price, product proliferation, service, etc.). As a result, distributors need to understand what is important to retailers and assess how they and their competitors are meeting those needs in the supply chain. In this paper a performance system is proposed to assess the distributor‐retailer interface based on the integration of a number of concepts including customer service, relationship exchanges, competitive benchmarking, order winners (consumer preference perceptions), and portfolio analysis.Various performance matrices are constructed which indicate the importance level and service effectiveness for categories of service provided to retailers. These importance/ performance matrices provide a basis for distributors to develop marketing strategies for categories of retailers, as well as for individual retailers.

Chad W. Autry; Patricia J. Daugherty; R. Glenn Richey

2001 International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

doi: 10.1108/09600030110366384

Many firms are placing greater emphasis on managing returned product. Reverse logistics programs are being used to recover assets that would otherwise be lost. Research results are presented covering reverse logistics programs in the electronics industry, specifically among firms selling through catalogs. The paper looks at how reverse logistics performance and satisfaction with reverse logistics service are influenced by industry, firm size/sales volume, and internal or external assignment of responsibility for disposition. The results are mixed. Performance is significantly impacted by sales volume, while industry effects significantly impact satisfaction. Neither performance nor satisfaction was significantly influenced by location of responsibility for disposition.

A.P. Giddings; T.G. Bailey; J.T. Moore

2001 International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

doi: 10.1108/09600030110366410

Response surface methodology (RSM) is used for optimality analysis of the cost coefficients in mixed integer linear programming. This optimality analysis goes beyond traditional sensitivity and parametric analysis in allowing investigation of the optimal objective function value response over pre‐specified ranges on multiple problem parameters. Design of experiments and least squares regression are used to indicate which cost coefficients have the greatest impact on the optimal total cost surface over the specified coefficient ranges. The mixed integer linear programming problems of interest are the large‐scale facility location and allocation problems in supply chain optimization. A system that automates this process for supply chain optimization at PFS Logistics Consulting is discussed and an example is presented.

Richard Lancioni; Howard Forman; Michael Smith

2001 International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

doi: 10.1108/09600030110366429

The growth of logistics departments in colleges and universities has been unprecedented in the past ten years. In response to this demand, schools expanded their programs to accommodate more students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. While schools have typically structured their logistics departments differently, they, for the most part, failed to develop their programs to more accurately reflect the multi‐disciplinary nature of supply‐chain management. The article examines the structures of logistics departments against the backdrop of teaching supply‐chain management. Strengths and weaknesses of the structures are identified with a series of recommendations set forth to help schools cope with the increased enrollments and the dynamics of the logistics field.