International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

Shashank Rao; Deepak Iyengar; Thomas J. Goldsby

2013 International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

doi: 10.1108/IJPDLM-07-2012-0207

Purpose – Scholarly interest in carrying out impactful research continues to remain high. Yet, given that citations of scholarly work can never decrease with time, traditional measures of research impact (such as raw counts of citations) unwittingly discriminate against early career researchers and also make it hard to identify future high impact scholars. In the current study, the paper compares several commonly used measures of research impact to identify one that best normalizes for the effect of career stage. The measure thus applies equally across most career stages, providing a usable impact benchmark for logistics scholars irrespective of seniority level. The paper also aims to present benchmarks on that metric to help logistics scholars identify their research impact vis‐à‐vis their peers. Design/methodology/approach – Bibliometric data on the research of 702 logistics scholars were collected and analyzed by dividing the scholars into different cohorts based on seniority. Comparisons of different citation metrics were then made. Findings – The h‐rate provides the most appropriate basis for comparing research impact across logistics scholars of various career stages. Benchmark h‐rates are provided for scholars to identify their research impact. Originality/value – The authors are unaware of any other work in the logistics field that measures the research impact of logistics scholars in this manner.

Marina Dabić; Vojko Potocan; Zlatko Nedelko; Tyler R. Morgan

2013 International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

doi: 10.1108/IJPDLM-10-2012-0325

Purpose – In the global economy, managers of organizations are constantly innovating with their use of available supply chain management tools. Some tools, like strategic planning and customer segmentation, have gained strong global acceptance while others are less universal. The paper aims to focus the contribution on the organizational factors that predict firm usage of supply chain management tools in two Eastern Europe countries, Slovenia and Croatia, while also comparing them to the global use of similar management tools. Design/methodology/approach – This research provides an empirical analysis of supply chain management tool usage from a survey of 155 firms in Slovenia and 185 firms in Croatia while also comparing these findings to results from a global Bain & Company survey. Findings – The 25 most commonly used supply chain management tools in the Eastern European survey were found to be relatively similar to those used across Europe and North America. However, further analysis of five selected tools reveals important differences. Evidence is found to support that particular organizational factors have a significant influence on supply chain management tool usage, of specific importance is the education level of the organization manager. Originality/value – The findings are useful for business practice in understanding the influences of organizational factors on supply chain management tool usage. Also, the research is original as previous management literature has not provided a similar approach to researching management tools and their usage.

Klas Hjort; Björn Lantz; Dag Ericsson; John Gattorna

2013 International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

doi: 10.1108/IJPDLM-02-2013-0020

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to empirically test whether a “one size fits all” strategy fits the fashion e‐commerce business and second, to evaluate whether consumer returns are a central aspect of the creation of profitability and, if so, to discuss the role of returns management (RM) in the supply chain strategy. Design/methodology/approach – Transactional sales and return data were analysed and used to categorise customers based on their buying and returning behaviours, measuring each customer's net contribution margins. Findings – The e‐commerce business collects a vast quantity of data, but these data are seldom used for the development of service differentiation. This study analysed behaviour patterns and determined that the segmentation of customers on the basis of both sales and return patterns can facilitate a differentiated service delivery approach. Research limitations/implications – This research empirically supports the theory that customer buying and returning behaviours can be used to appropriately categorise customers and thereby guide the development of a more differentiated service approach. Practical implications – The findings support a differentiated service delivery system that utilises a more dynamic approach, conserving resources and linking the supply chain and/or organisational strategies with customers' buying and returning behaviours to avoid over and underservicing customers. Originality/value – Consumer returns are often viewed as a negative aspect of doing business; interestingly, however, the authors revealed that the most profitable customer is a repeat customer who frequently returns goods.

Yacan Wang; Vincent Wiegerinck; Harold Krikke; Hongdan Zhang

2013 International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

doi: 10.1108/IJPDLM-01-2013-0011

Purpose – The paper aims to explore the reasons underlying the key assumption in the closed‐loop supply chain (CLSC) literature that consumers' purchase intention is lower for remanufactured products than for new products. It aims to complement the predominantly operation‐focused CLSC research by examining consumers' perception of and behavior relating to remanufactured products. Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical model is developed by integrating the concepts of perceived benefits and product knowledge with the theory of planned behavior and the theory of perceived risk. Then the model is examined through an empirical study in the Chinese automobile spare parts industry involving 288 respondents and using structural equation modeling. Findings – The results indicate that purchase intention is directly influenced by purchase attitude followed by perceived behavioral control and indirectly influenced by perceived risk, perceived benefit and product knowledge via attitude. Therefore, effective measures to promote consumers' purchase intention rely on coordinated policies built on multiple pillars instead of single factors. Originality/value – This is one of the first empirical studies to explore the factors that underpin consumers' purchase intention regarding remanufactured products. The results can be used to validate the key assumptions in operational models and foster new research in the context of CLSCs.