Business Commons^™

Britain’S Tea Shortage Scare A Sign Of Trouble Brewing, Nikolaos Valantasis Kanellos, Sarah Schiffling

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The Red Sea supply chain crisis has exposed glaring weaknesses in global transport that pose big questions about how our economy will work moving forward.

An Evaluation Of Ireland’S Sustainable Freight Transport Policy, Xu Zhang, Eoin Plant, Nikolaos Valantasis Kanellos

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Background: The Irish government has put forth sustainable transport policy measures, yet the emphasis is mainly on the active travel and sustainable mobility for passenger transport. Contrariwise, freight transport has not received equal consideration in policy measures, regulatory frameworks, and support schemes towards the low-carbon transition. This study seeks to address this imbalance. Methods: The paper proposes an adaptation of the ASI framework for freight transport and assesses the applicability of a number of international sustainable transport measures based on their potential sustainability impact if adopted in Ireland. The research applied a Policy Delphi Method to a heterogeneous …

Dark Side Of Black Friday: The Major Drawbacks With This Shopping Bonanza, Sarah Schiffling, Nikolaos Valantasis Kanellos

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Black Friday is upon us again. It’s one of the biggest shopping events of the year, although there are mixed signals about how successful it is likely to be in 2021. One recent study found that only a third of consumers plan to take part. The financial strain of COVID-19 is still evident, and inflation running at its highest level in a decade.

All the same, consumer confidence has been rising. According to GlobalData, shoppers are set to spend nearly £9.2 billion in the four days from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. This would still be a big increase …

Purchasing Green Transport And Logistics Services: Implications For Small Business, Pietro Evangelista, Maria Huge-Brodin, Karin Isaksson, Edward Sweeney

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Considering its strong environmental impact, logistics plays a critical role in green supply chain management. It provides strategic links in the supply chain and is an essential function in the delivery of green products to the consumer. There is a general consensus on the fact that more environmentally sustainable companies may be achieved only if transport and logistics activities also become greener. To achieve this objective, buyer companies need to incorporate green considerations in the purchasing of transport and logistics services. This appears particularly challenging for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) because of their traditional lack of managerial, organisational …

Ict Innovation Diffusion In Small Logistics Service Providers: An Empirical Survey, Pietro Evangelista, Edward Sweeney, Claudia-Maria Wagner

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For companies competing in highly dynamic markets, innovation is considered a fundamental component of a successful business as it allows companies to sustain profit margins, sales growth and reduce competitors’ pressures. Information and communication technology (ICT) is essential innovation enablers especially in service companies. The focus of the paper is on the analysis of the role of ICT in innovation processes of small third-party logistics service providers (3PLs). On the basis of quantitative evidence emerging from a recent survey carried out on the Italian 3PL market, the paper analyses how ICT is used to support innovation and the factors the …

The Role Of Information And Communication Technology In Small Italian Logistics Enterprises, Pietro Evangelista, Edward Sweeney

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Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is widely regarded as a key integration enabler in contemporary supply chain configurations. Furthermore, recent years have seen the vertical disintegration of supply chains as increasing numbers of manufacturers and retailers outsource significant parts of their supply chain functionality. In this environment, Third Party Logistics (3PL) providers - the majority of which are small companies - play a pivotal role. This raises important questions about the usage of ICT in this sector. However, there is a paucity of research in the field of small 3PLs with little empirical investigation into the usage of ICT by …

Supply Chain Management Diffusion Among Firms In The Republic Of Ireland, Edward Sweeney, Claudia-Maria Wagner, Bernd Huber

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The changing business environment has sharpened the focus on the need for robust approaches to supply chain management (SCM) and the improvement of supply chain capability and performance. This is particularly the case in Ireland, which has the natural disadvantage of a location peripheral to significant markets and sources of raw materials which results in relatively high transport and distribution costs. Therefore, in order to gain insights into current levels of diffusion of SCM, a survey was conducted among 776 firms in the Republic of Ireland. The empirical results suggest that there is a need for more widespread adoption of …

The Need For Wider Supply Chain Management Adoption: Empirical Results From Ireland, Bernd Huber, Edward Sweeney

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Purpose - Empirical results are provided which suggest that there is a need for more widespread adoption of supply chain management among Irish firms.

Design/methodology/approach - The Republic of Ireland is a small, open, trade-dependent economy and is one of the fastest growing economies in the developed world. However, due to rising costs, there is an increasing trend in Ireland to outsource lower function manufacturing processes to lower cost locations but to retain high skill functions (such as R&D). This trend, together with other factors such as its peripheral location, suggests that supply chain management is critical from an Irish …

An Investigation Into Outsourcing Practice In Ireland: A New Direction In Logistics And Supply Chain Management, Aoife O'Riordan, Edward Sweeney

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Companies are increasingly focusing on the development of core competencies as an integral part of their overall strategy development and implementation. The corollary of this is that functions regarded as being non-core are being outsourced. This paper investigates the case for and against outsourcing and in addition what is happening in Ireland regards outsourcing. Furthermore to analysis of current literature in
the field, an Irish-wide postal and e-mail survey, as well as three case studies revealed many interesting facts. The key findings of the work are manufacturing outsourcing is now the most popular function to be outsourced for both small …

Techonology Usage In The Supply Chain: The Case Of Small 3pls, Pietro Evangelista, Edward Sweeney

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Purpose - In today’s supply chain management (SCM) practices, a successful strategy depends
increasingly on the performance of Third Party Logistics (3PL) providers as they play a key
integrative role linking the different supply chain elements more effectively. Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) has become an important element of 3PL competitive
capability as it enables higher levels of supply chain integration. Recent industry developments
have widened the technological gap between large and small 3PLs. This is critical particularly for
those markets populated by a large number of small 3PLs such as the Italian logistics industry. The
purpose of this paper …

Come Le Piccole Imprese Llogistiche Italiane Utilizzano I'Ict, Pietro Evangelista, Renzo Provedel, Edward Sweeney

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No abstract provided.

Editorial To The Lrn2004 Annual Conference Special Issue Fo The International Journal Of Logistics: Research And Applications, Edward Sweeney

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No abstract provided.

Education, Training And The Role Of Logistic Managers In Ireland, John Mangan, Orla Gregory

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The paper is based on the analysis of the responses of a questionnaire survey of logistics managers working in manufacturing firms in Ireland. The objectives of the survey were to establish the educational and training needs of the practicing logistics manager. The questionnaire was designed to address issues including the various logistics practices undertaken by the respondents' company and the time spent by respondents on these activities; the skills currently required by logistics managers; the attitude to logistics in respondents' companies; the qualifications held and nature of training received by logistics managers; the effectiveness of training received; future training requirements …