Matching volatile demand with transportation services in Vietnam

Abstract

Purpose – Demand for retail transportation is typically volatile, and it is driven by the end of period (month) spiky deliveries. This is especially the case in emerging markets. The purpose of this paper is to examine situation in one of the leading Vietnamese logistics service company with numerous customers within the area of Ho Chi Minh City. Design/methodology/approach – Research work is based on a case study within a company called Gemadept, who is providing logistics services in Vietnam. Researchers were given access to the company data on distribution system, and the authors had collected daily data from transportation operations. Findings – Considerable truck utilization can be achieved even with volatile retail demand environment if optimization is applied to allocate trucks and drivers on certain routes and customer demand points. Relaxing service level of customers shall improve situation further, but not significantly. However, from logistics service point of view, it would be best to use numerous shifts per day (night shift option) to distribute products – this would enable high utilization of distribution fleet while overcoming spiky demand. Research limitations/implications – Analyses are dependent on a single case study of one logistics service provider in Vietnam. While this may limit the findings to some extent, but with rich case data and observations within the company distribution system, it provides the required depth to build an optimized model for the company. Practical implications – In volatile demand environment, it is important to allocate trucks and drivers as well as work schedule in a systematic order, and not based on trial-and-error human intervened timetable. System perspective also enables evaluation of different strategies and their implications on performance. Originality/value – Research work represents one of the seminal studies of Vietnamese retail logistics sector, and verifies that demand uncertainty is high in such environment in addition to exhibiting the end of period demand spikes (hockey stick effect).

Optimasi Penyusunan Barang Dalam Rangka Meningkatkan Utilitas Aktivitas Loading Menggunakan Software Cube Iq Di PT.ASR

“…Adapun data yang diambil secara pengukuran langsung maupun dari dokumen perusahaan yaitu, jenisjenis produk jadi, berat produk, jumlah permintaan produk jadi, dan data spesifikasi master box. [8] Kemudian data diolah dengan menggunakan metode-metode pengolahan data agar inti permasalahan dapat diketahui dengan jelas dan dapat menjadi pertimbangan peneliti dalam mengambil keputusan Metode-metode pengolahan data yang dilakukan adalah perhitungan jumlah produk jadi yang dimuat sesuai permintaan dan perencanaan loading menggunakan aplikasi software Cube IQ. Alur penelitian ini ditunjukkan pada Gambar 1.…”

The framework for designing new logistics service product: a multi-case investigation in China

“…For optimization, the basic principle of SDM is to increase supply capability and identify demand accurately while considering other determinants as well (Bitran and Mondschein, 1997). Specifically, peak demand should be transferred to an off-peak period, achieving real harmonization and a high degree of SDM (Tan et al , 2016). The ability to match supply and demand is an important determinant of success in many service-oriented businesses because customer satisfaction improves once customer requirements are matched with service supply during new service design (Kimita et al , 2009).…”

Competitor concentration, networking, and customer acceptance

“…We bring social network and institutional theories to the analysis of location decisions and empirically test the hypotheses with a sample of small firms in Vietnam. As the nation is transitioning from central planning to a market economy (Tan et al, 2016), issues such as legitimacy and customer acceptance remain critical in Vietnam (Nguyen, 2005). The focus on a single country offers the ability to control other confounding variables, such as culture, as we consider competitor geographic concentration.…”

“…The focus on a single country offers the ability to control other confounding variables, such as culture, as we consider competitor geographic concentration. Since Vietnam shares many institutional characteristics with other transition economies (Nguyen et al, 2007;Tan et al, 2016;Welter and Smallbone, 2011), the insight gained from this study could serve as a starting point for more internationally comparative research into location and marketing considerations in the future.…”