Business Commons^™

Fedex Ground Strategic Audit, Samantha Gates

Honors Theses

FedEx Ground is an operating segment of the parcel carrier giant FedEx Inc. The company, known for shipping products via delivery truck, has remained one of the largest parcel carriers in the country, despite drastic changes in its environment. This report seeks to understand the changing operating environment of FedEx Ground, its competitive advantages, and the future challenges it may face. The analysis uses PESTEL and Porter's Five Forces analyses to evaluate the changing external environment and industry FedEx Ground operates in. Additionally, challenges and recommendations are offered to navigate the future of this company.

Lessons Learned: Simon Potter, Maryann Haggerty

Journal of Financial Crises

Simon Potter, an economist, worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for more than two decades. Leading up to the Global Financial Crisis, he was the New York Fed’s associate director of economic research; in 2010, he became director. In 2012, he shifted to become the head of the markets group, putting him at the helm of the Fed’s open markets operations, the mechanism by which the central bank steers monetary policy and interest rates. He moved to the private sector in 2019. For this April 2021 Lessons Learned interview, he emphasized that these are his personal opinions, …

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

Articles

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 …

The Rise Of Blockchain Technology In Businesses, Haiqiang Chen

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

A blockchain is a digitally distributed and decentralized ledger of all transactions across a peer-to-peer network. Using this technology, transaction participants can confirm transactions without a need for a central clearing authority, making the technology a legitimate disruptor for fields like contracts, financing, and supply chain. Benefits of blockchain technology include immutability, efficiencies, and decentralization.

This project poster studied how blockchain technology influences supply chain, logistics, and supply chain finance through case studies. Particularly, this project examined Walmart's 2016 pork pilot program launch, the Haikou and Sanya Port hub in China, and the "We Chain" financing system in Tencent company.

Determinants For The Uptake Of Alternatively Fuelled Hgvs: Towards A Maturity Framework, Nikolaos Valantasis Kanellos, Xu Zhang

Conference Papers

Purpose of this paper: Alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFVs) have received increasing attention from policy makers and industry practitioners because they are perceived as a silver bullet for decarbonising freight transport (Mohammed et al., 2020; ITF 2021). However, the uptake rate of AFVs by heavy goods vehicle (HGV) freight operators in Europe remains low. With 97.8% of all trucks in the EU running on diesel, only 0.04% of trucks are zero-emission vehicles (ACEA, 2021). Price, technology maturity, infrastructure, and government policy support are factors examined by freight transport operators who consider the switch to AFVs as a low-carbon option (Mohammed et …

Mitigating Supply Chain Disruptions, Risks, And Vulnerabilities, John Jeong Kim

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The global supply chain has made numerous incredible strides in improving processes to keep the supply chain functional. However, supply chain businesses suffer disruptions from many different factors, which impact the supply chain businesses and customers. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the various ways the supply chain industry incurs disruption from the lack of enhanced security and the development of potential ideas on how disruptions receive mitigation. The background of the issue was researched, followed by the interview of eleven high-level supply chain managers and employees to obtain data for understanding the factors that contribute …

Technology Innovation Strategies Supply Chain Managers Adopt To Improve Product Marketing And Profitability, George Richard Rapciewicz Jr.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Improperly planned capital investments in new technologies could result in lost productivity for e-procurement and supply chain managers in the e-commerce industries. Grounded in the technology acceptance model, the qualitative multiple case study design was used to explore strategies business managers use to adopt technology innovations to improve product marketing and profitability. Participants were five supply chain business managers and owners from five separate organizations in the southwestern region of the United States. Data were collected via responses submitted through Google Forms and emails, written logs, telephone calls, and recorded audio. Thematic analysis resulted in two key themes: perceived ease …

Optimization Of Lean And Agile Supply Chain Management Practices In The Aviation Industry, Constantine M. Koursaris, Valerie P. Denney

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Organizations that provide products and/or services must be able to execute fast, adaptive supply and (fluctuating) demand practices. From producers to consumers, and every stakeholder involved throughout the supply chain network processes, a collaborative relationship promotes sharing information that is beneficial to all. This long-term relationship then flourishes and in return stimulates the growth, health, and stability of the supply chain. Understanding the organizational processes and requirements is a complex endeavor. However, with technological advances and with the right type of data collected, it is possible to optimize entire supply chain networks.

This research study, seeks to provide an insight …

Containing Compounding Container Congestion, Curtis Salinger

CMC Senior Theses

The Covid-19 pandemic caused major disruptions throughout the container shipping supply chain. Professor Dongping Song of Liverpool University wrote a paper discussing the logistical vulnerabilities in the supply chain, including the issue of congestion in ports. This paper examines the Port of Los Angeles from 2018-2021 as it relates to Song’s paper to see how its operations were impacted during the Covid-19 timeframe. It is found that labor shortages, chassis shortages, and change in trade behavior each contributed to the congestion. Unfortunately, the implemented policies were insufficient to bolster the port against sustained challenges and congestion continues to worsen.