Maintaining efficiency in despatching goods from a depot to geographically dispersed customers may require management at the depot to adjust its delivery routes daily if these customers’ demands fluctuate from day to day. One type of adjustment is to give drivers daily “skip lists” instructing them not to visit customers who have indicated that they do not need delivery on the day in qu…
Positioned at the nexus of import/export flows, customs authorities represent a significant node in a firm's global supply chain network. In light of the traditional need for physical inspection of goods by customs authorities, the significance of this node is often viewed in terms of its potential disruption to the network flow. Customs reforms that aim to facilitate the international flow o…
Any firm participating in external (or inter-firm) benchmarking anticipates at least two benefits: useful statistics on how it performs relative to the other participating firms; and guidance in identifying promising performance improvement actions. Using data from a five-year benchmarking program for firms engaged in import operations, this research illustrates how these benefits might be assu…