Dynamic macroeconomic conditions and non-binding truckload freight contracts enable both shippers and carriers to behave opportunistically. We present an empirical analysis of carrier reciprocity in the US truckload transportation sector to demonstrate whether consistent performance and fair pricing by shippers when markets are in their favor result in maintained primary carrier tender acceptance when markets turn. The results suggest carriers have short memories: they do not remember shippers' previous period pricing or tendering consistency when making freight acceptance decisions. However, carriers appear to be myopic and respond to shippers' current market period behaviors, ostensibly without regard to shippers' previous behaviors. truckload freight transportation, tender acceptance, market cycles
The body of literature on truckload (TL) transportation procurement decisions by firms (shippers) and their transportation service providers (motor carriers) has been driven by real‐world challenges faced by a large and important segment of the economy. The field has received the attention of researchers from a wide range of domains. While this attention demonstrates the appeal of these complex procurement problems, it also underscores a key challenge: the literature is dispersed and uncoordinated. This makes it difficult to identify meaningful new streams of research, risks slowing progress in the field, and limits the exposure of the research to wider supply chain audiences. With this review of the existing literature, we coordinate the growing set of research in this domain and demonstrate how the TL procurement literature is positioned within the broader streams of service procurement research. We develop a framework that describes the types (make vs. buy) and timing (strategic or execution stage) of decisions about the procurement of TL transportation services, organized by which actor's perspective is taken—the shipper's or the carrier's. We suggest areas of future research informed by an existing set of industry‐led research and the gaps we have identified in the academic literature.
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