Roger E. Jerman

QUALITY MANAGEMENT INFLUENCES ON LOGISTICS PERFORMANCE

The importance of quality management practices in the achievement of operational results and customer satisfaction in logistics has been asserted in many studies. However, though widely adopted, quality management does not have a uniformly accepted framework as a basis for assessment of improvement efforts. This study develops quality management constructs and a casual model based on the criteria utilized in the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Casual relationships between quality management factors and logistics outcomes, specifically logistics operational performance and customer service, are established. Implications of the findings for management are discussed.

Buyer and seller perceptions of transportation purchasing variables

Abstract The study in this article involved the investigation of 15 carrier selection variables over three dimensions by three groups with high involvement in the purchasing decision—traffic managers, sales representatives, and sales managers. The primary focus of the study was the identification of significant differences in the assessment of importance of the technical abilities of a carrier, the service orientation of a carrier and the image of a carrier as perceived by sales managers and sales representatives representing the selling systems, and traffic managers representing the buying systems.

A Causal Analysis of Environment-Reward-Satisfaction Linkages for the Sales Representative

A causal model that postulated linkages of organizational environmental variables, reward variables, and satisfaction for sales representatives was investigated. Findings indicated that the usual assumptions concerning an organizations inability to contribution to intrinsic rewards may not hold.