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The use of drop-shipping strategies, the practice where end-consumer orders are fulfilled directly from upstream suppliers upon a retailer's request, has grown in popularity. Due in large part to the growth of online retailing and the increased focus on integrated omni-channel fulfilment, retailers continue to express the strategic urgency of drop-shipping operations. In a broader sense, the concept of drop-shipping represents a new and emerging aspect of the supply chain triad phenomenon, where a buyer contracts with a supplier to deliver services directly to the buyer's customer. In order to more fully understand the operational nuances and upstream impacts of triadic service supply chain relationships, we adopt a qualitative research methodology to investigate suppliers in the service triad, a perspective that has been, to-date, under-researched. By exploring these issues in the context of the drop-shipping service triad, we more specifically shed light on the processes and operational challenges that suppliers face when assuming the bridge position in drop-shipping service triads. Therefore, this research extends the current drop-shipping literature by shifting the research focus away from retailers to suppliers; and hence, shifting the focus from strategic use of drop-shipping towards a more tactical/operational perspective by exploring those who carry out drop-shipping operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To prevent customers from leaving stores empty‐handed when encountering a stockout, retailers increasingly leverage their inventory visibility and order fulfillment capabilities to implement "save the sale" tactics. Retailers have several logistics service options available in designing "save the sale" stockout recovery initiatives: "buy at store—ship from (different) store" and the "buy at store—ship from DC," leading to different order fulfillment speeds. In addition, there is the home delivery approach, which is generally more convenient to customers than the option of store delivery for customer pick‐up. In this paper, we explore how customers evaluate and respond to varying elements of these "save the sale" stockout recovery services when experiencing an in‐store stockout. Building on justice theory and literatures on service recovery and impression formation, we develop a series of four experiments. We explain and provide empirical evidence for (1) why and how customers assess specific stockout service recovery dimensions (i.e., order fulfillment speed and delivery location) as more just, (2) how customers appraise the justice of these bundled stockout recovery dimensions, (3) how purchase involvement and monetary offers impact these perceptions, and (4) how justice perceptions and stockout recoveries impact the likelihood of "saving the sale." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most truckload freight in the United States is priced using long‐term contracts. It is widely recognized in industry that contract prices evolve based on prices shippers pay for one‐time spot market transactions. This research examines whether the impact of spot market prices on contract prices has become more pronounced following the start of the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate. We draw on economic theories regarding how firms process information to explain why the ELD mandate, by reducing carriers' ability to artificially adjust capacity up or down as spot prices changed, should strengthen this relationship. To test this prediction, we construct a database that combines monthly proprietary spot market pricing data from DAT Solutions with monthly public contract pricing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We test our predictions using time series regression and evaluate the robustness of our findings using both instrumental variable estimation and seemingly unrelated regression to rule out reverse causality. Consistent with our theorizing, we further this relationship has become more pronounced since the ELD mandate started. We explain the importance of these findings to theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world's population continues to urbanize, providing efficient and effective logistics service to customers in urban areas has become an increasingly important, but difficult task. Recent vehicle routing studies suggest that logistics planners face numerous difficulties during decision‐making due to certain complexities associated with the urban environment, but to date, specific challenges have remained unidentified. Using a multiple case study methodology, this research examines several environmental characteristics that influence vehicle routing decisions across eight U.S. urban centers, and contrasts decisions firms make when creating solutions to address these factors. Cross‐case synthesis uncovered patterns connecting specific environmental characteristics with variations on traditional vehicle routing decisions. Results allow us to construct a theoretical framework and propositions to guide managers when tailoring urban logistics strategies to urban environments having different combinations of structural characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing wolf populations are a concern for wildlife managers in the Midwestern U.S. Understanding the psychological mechanisms that contribute to public perceptions of risk will enable development of strategies that seek to mitigate these risks, and suggest where outreach efforts may facilitate acceptance of wolves. We examined the psychological factors that influence Illinois residents' perceived risks from wolves. We hypothesized that individuals' perceived risks from wolves were a function of their attitudes toward wolves, negative affect toward wolves, and basic beliefs about wildlife. Data were obtained from a survey of the Illinois public (n = 784). Negative affect and attitudes toward wolves were direct predictors of perceived risks. Basic beliefs predicted attitudes and negative affect toward wolves. Negative affect predicted attitudes. Basic beliefs had direct and indirect effects on perceived risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of a major logistics and distribution variable, namely case pack quantity, on the performance of a consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturing firm is investigated. Evidence indicates that case pack quantity has a substantial impact on market retail share, based on the store-level fill rate and product rate-of-sale (ROS).

Traditional inventory models fail to take into account the dynamics between the retail sales floor and the backroom, commonly used by retailers for extra storage. When a replenishment order for a given item arrives at a retail store, it may not fit on the allocated shelf space, making backroom storage necessary. In this article, we introduce the backroom effect (BRE) as a consequence of misalignment of case pack size, shelf space, and reorder point. This misalignment results from the fragmented nature of inventory policy decision making in the retail industry and affects basic trade-offs in inventory models. We specify conditions under which the BRE exists, quantify the expected amount of backroom inventory, derive an optimal short-term inventory policy, and assess the impact of the BRE on the optimal inventory policy and total costs. Our results indicate that ignoring the BRE leads to artificially high reorder points and higher total costs. The paper concludes with a discussion of theoretical and managerial implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]