Dawn M. Russell

People and information technology in the supply chain

Understanding people and how they factor into complex information technology (IT) implementations is critical to reversing the growing trend of costly IT implementation failures. Accordingly, this article presents an approach to dissecting the social and organizational influences impacting peoples’ acceptance of technology designed to improve business performance. This article applies the diffusion of innovation theoretical framework to understand and analyze IT innovation implementation challenges. The diffusion approach is applied to two recent cases of implementations of IT supply chain innovations at two aerospace firms, both with complex, global, inter‐firm supply chains. Results indicate that several social and organizational factors do affect the implementations success. Those factors include users’ perceptions of the innovation, the firms culture, the types of communication channels used to diffuse knowledge of the innovation and various leadership factors.

Building supply chain collaboration: A typology of collaborative approaches

Purpose – This research aims to examine the characteristics, requirements, benefits, and barriers to various collaborative relationships and proposes a typology of collaborative approaches.Design/methodology/approach – The research discusses insights and observations from exploratory interviews with 21 managers from ten different manufacturers and retailers.Findings – A typology of three types of collaborative approaches (collaborative transaction management; collaborative event management; and collaborative process management) is proposed. The three collaborative approaches are compared and contrasted. Benefits and limitations associated with each type of collaboration are discussed.Practical implications – Managers can use the typology to assess current collaborations and seek ways to improve current collaborative efforts. Managers can also use the typology to develop collaborative strategies across a broad spectrum of relationships in order to determine which type of collaboration best fits each indivi...

Sourcing from low‐cost countries: Identifying sourcing issues and prioritizing impacts on logistics performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the issues pertinent to sourcing internationally from low‐cost countries (LCCs) and to understand which issues are associated most strongly with a firms logistics performance.Design/methodology/approach – Comparative examination of supply sources in developed countries and LCCs is conducted using a paired‐sample setting. Data acquired by a mail survey of US‐based manufacturing firms are analyzed using a canonical correlation analysis (CCA). CCA helps to reveal the structure of relationships within and between a set of sourcing issue variables and a set of the logistics performance variables investigated.Findings – Results indicate that the issues that should be priorities for improvement are: supplier production capability; business culture and practices; and communication infrastructure.Research limitations/implications – The survey data and analysis focused on US manufacturing firms importing from LCCs. However, there is increasing activity of US re...

CUSTOMER DRIVEN MARKETING IN THE TRANSPORTATION/LOGISTICS INDUSTRY.

Since deregulation of the airlines in 1978, and rail and truck in 1980, the transportation/logistics Industry has undergone significant changes. The trend has been one of improved efficiency and extreme price and cost pressures, requiring more of a customer driven marketing approach on the part of transportation/logistics service providers. This article identifies some of the more significant changes that have affected the industry and offers considerations for decision making to those who are tasked with making critical marketing decisions. Finally, a vision of the future of the transportation/logistics industry is presented.

Seaport-inland port dyad dynamics: an investigation of service provisions and intermodal transportation linkages

This research investigates the operational and logistical dynamics of seaports and inland ports. Face-to-face semi-structure interviews were conducted on three seaport-inland port dyads that actively use intermodal transportation to move freight between the seaports and connected inland ports. The three dyads are the port of Virginia and Virginia Inland Port (VIP) in the USA, the Port of Sydney and Minto terminal in Australia, and the Port of Gothenburg and Hallsberg terminal in Sweden. Findings of this research provide essential understanding of the range of services provided at the three inland ports studied, offering a benchmark for ports around the world in devising their business portfolio.

Sustainable logistics and supply chain management: A holistic view through the lens of the wicked problem

This study takes a holistic perspective of sustainable logistics and supply chain management (SLSCM), exploring the interdependencies among sustainability, financial strength and customer performance in logistics and supply chain management. Firms often struggle to understand when sustainable performance is improving and most importantly, what it costs them in terms of financial and customer performance. The theoretical lens of the wicked problem provides a framework to understand why sustainability performance shows mixed results. Hypotheses that investigate aggregate-level links between sustainable practices of global companies are tested with regression analysis and firm-level data from three widely used databases. Efforts to improve SLSCM can have a positive impact on performance; however, it comes at a price. For example, we find that firms that achieve the highest sustainability recognition have a lower return on assets (ROA) and that a leadership position in sustainability performance requires resources and a long-term view of return on investment.