Pricing and timing of consolidated deliveries in the presence of an express alternative: Financial and environmental analysis

摘要: Shipment consolidation has been advocated by researchers and politicians as a means to reduce cost improve environmental performance of logistics activities. This paper investigates consolidated transport solutions with common shipment frequency. When service provider designs such solution for its customers, she faces trade-off: have the most time-sensitive customers join solution, frequency must be high, which makes it difficult gather enough demand reach scale economies solution; but not having join, there will less per time unit, also economies. In this we investigate provider's pricing timing problem implications optimal policy. The is responsible multiple customers' transports, offers all two long-term contracts at different prices: direct express delivery immediate dispatch full cost, or given reduced cost. It shown that policy largely driven customer heterogeneity: limited heterogeneity in costs leads very policies compared large heterogeneity. We argue reason so many projects fail may due strategic mismatch between show even if implemented, lead larger impact than deliveries inventory build-up higher-than-optimal transport. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. Association European Operational Research Societies (EURO) within International Federation (IFORS). All rights reserved.