Mass customization is coming to the forefront of international supply chains, contributing to an increasing focus on postponement. Third‐party logistics providers, are targeting postponement applications as an extension of their service portfolios. Findings from a multi‐annual survey (1996‐1999) are presented to generate insights into the supply chain mechanisms service providers can use …
Attracting and educating the right supply chain managers are a critical challenge to the realization of most supply chain objectives irrespective of the state of the economy (shortage of personnel several months ago or increasing lay‐offs currently). This is because of the richness of capabilities required to do the job well. Much of our teaching in logistics and supply chain management focus…
Both postponement and outsourcing have been identified as important characteristics of modern and competitive supply chains. The implementation of postponement may require extensive (spatial) reconfiguration of the supply chain. Presents findings from interviews with managers of food, electronics, automotive and clothing manufacturers in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Findings reveal tha…
A special issue on performance measurement interfaces between operations and management control. Therefore, this paper brings together these fields in a specific study. In this paper the role of horizontal control mechanisms, performance measurement in particular, in the development of supply chain operations is assessed. Findings indicate that development of measurement systems contributes sig…
Mass customization is coming to the forefront of international supply chains and this is contributing to an increasing focus on postponement in international channels. Third party logistics service providers, traditionally positioned in this channel are targeting postponement applications as an extension of their service portfolios. Previous findings however suggest that this expansion is not a…
It is expected that, as the next step in the development of distribution channels, companies will decentralize their final manufacturing into their distribution centers. It has also been suggested that companies are increasingly beginning to customize products based on customer orders. Both the repositioning of final manufacturing into the distribution channel and the move towards customization…
In this special issue two papers were devoted to the third-party logistics sector as one of the focal industries for the construction of modern European logistics systems. This is not so strange, given the multitude of developments, sometimes turbulent of nature. DP/Danzas has acquired the land division of Nedlloyd and within months acquired Air Express International. FedEx has relaunched its E…
To lower the environmental damage of business we need to examine our “ecological footprint”. We need to move forward with the business at the same time. In order to solve that dilemma, a value‐seeking and proactive approach to greening is proposed in the (general) management literature. However, literature on the role of supply chain operations, mostly published in the area of reversed …
This epilogue presents the experiences of UPS Worldwide Logistics, a company known to be leading in the development and implementation of a fourth-party logistics business model. This model applies information integration initially in logistics and transport operations. But UPS WWL has achieved full supply chain integration and strategic applications of the information availability to the benef…