Transportation Logistics Management

Transportation Logistics Management

November 04, 2018

Transportation Logistics Management

Introduction

In a world that has fully accepted globalization and regional trade, transportation has become one of the most imperative businesses processes which enable effective carriage of raw materials to the manufacturers and manufactured goods to the final user. Currently, all the means of transportation are effectively used depending on the preference of the client (Akkerman et al, 2010). This crucial business process has led to the emergence of the transport logistics managers whose main role is to ensure that goods being transported reach their destination safely and on time. Over the years, transportation logistics has become one the most important process in the supply chain of any business as the key to satisfying customer demands and gaining a competitive advantage. However, the growth of the transportation and logistics industry has led to the development of new challenges over the years which continue to affect logistics management (McFarlane & Sheffi, 2003). The main challenge within the transportation and logistics management results from planning and risk management which has been caused by the changing environments within the industry. This paper will review some of the sources that have been published in the past few years to create an understanding of the challenges that face the transport and logistics industry. Comment by Javad Seyed: Be specific with challenges through your literature review conclusion. Identify literature gaps which align with your research work

Literature Review

A literature review has become one of the major methods that most of the scholars have chosen to use in research. This is because of the fact that the literature review provides scholars and researchers with a wide range of knowledge that they can use to synthesize new knowledge. This study will look at 15 scholarly sources that have done on the challenges and transportation and logistics as a whole.

One of the scholars that have widely studied transport and logistics is Christopher (2016). According to his study, the author is of the views that there is a huge relationship between transport and logistics and supply chain management. The author in this study focused on how transport and logistics contribute to the efficiency in supply chain management. The argument is also supported by a study that was done by Waters & Rinsler (2014) in which the authors are of the views transport and logistics management improves effectiveness in supply chain management. The authors asserted that any form of failure in transport and logistics will definitely lead to failure in the availability of finished goods in different areas where consumers readily wait for them. The assertions that were made in the study by Christopher (2016) were expounded by the results of the study that was done by Waters & Rinsler (2014) who in the study asserted that there was a direct relationship between transport and logistics and supply chain. The author, however, took a different shift from the assumptions that were claimed by Christopher (2016) that sometimes transportation and logistics can fail but supply chain may be sustained based on the warehouse of the business owners involved in the process. There is, however, an agreement that transportation and logistics have a direct relationship with supply chain management.

Wang et al (2016) in their study focused on creating the understanding of supply chain management as it relates to transportation and logistics. Wang et al (2016) define supply chain in relation to transportation and logistics as “the act of organizing for the commercial transportation of goods or raw materials by ensuring that the transportation systems maintain an effective flow whereby the products being transported can reach the receiver safely and on time,” (Wang et al, 2016). The author is of the views that any challenges that affect transport and logistics equally affect supply chain sustainability efforts. The findings by Wang et al were supported by another different study that was done by Dekker et al (2016). In their separate study, the authors agree with the findings of the study by Wang et al (2016) that transportation and logistics face several challenges which some of them because the problems that supply chain experience. The authors are of the views that there s a room for correcting these challenges in both the short and long-term. however, a study by Christopher (2016) has been criticized by scholars because of the fact that it does not provide applicable recommendations on how these challenges can be overcome.

However, despite the fact that the study by Christopher (2016) has been criticized and uploaded in equal measure, the study provides a logical argument on why most the transport and logistics companies have not been able to last in the industry for a very long time. The authors agree with the findings that were put forward by a study that was done by Branch (2009) and provide significant findings that explain why the industry is dominated by few firms since time immemorial. The authors argue that initiating a company in the industry requires a huge capital and there are several government regulations which act as a barrier to industry entry.

Another study that was done by Christopher (2016) focused on the reasons why the governments in different jurisdictions have been very keen to control the transport and logistics industry. According to the author, most of the transport and logistics companies are under the red eye of the government because of the fact that some of the companies have been involved in transportation and distribution of products that are banned or are illegal. This argument is supported by the findings of the study that was done by Stadtler (2005) in his different study. The author is of the views that one of the challenges that transport and logistics face today is the issue of delays on delivery due to sequential police checks that they have to go through before reaching their destinations. These arguments are however refuted by a study that was done by Fernie & Sparks (2014) in their study that was done in 2014. The authors argue that most of the transportation and logistics companies do not observe transport and logistics rules because they want to make huge profits in the short run. The authors are of the views that transport and logistics industry experience challenges because the industry does not want to adhere to the rules and regulations that have been put in place to guide the operations of the industry.

According to study Sheffi (2001), transport, did that and logistics managers have a huge role to play in the management of the challenges that face the industry and the companies that operate in the industry. The authors are of the views that managers have to work hard to ensure that their employees that operate in the field comply with the rules and regulations that are rather have been implemented to regulate the industry. The authors, however, note that this is not a major challenge though is of significance as far as smooth operations of the industry are concerned. Johnson (2014) disagrees with the argument which was made by Sheffi (2001) that the rules and regulations in the transport and logistics industry are not major predicaments to the smooth operations of the industry players. The author is of the views that companies that adhere to the rules and regulations that regulate the operations of the industry players have a huge impact on the profitability and efficiency in the industry. For instance, the author argues that some governments require that all the vehicles that transport goods are checked at a very police roadblock. This definitely will increase the time it takes for the goods to reach their destination.

A different study that was done by Grant (2012) and Sheu (2007) in their different studies agree that the major challenges impacting the transport and logistics industry are the management of industry employees. The authors in their different studies agree that managing employees is the major challenge that must be dealt with speed to ensure that the industry is streamlined and meet its expectations. the author of these two different studies agrees with the study findings of a study that was done by Speranza (2018) in which the author argues that apart from planning for the transportation of products, logistics management requires expertise in relating to and dealing with staff members who involved in the entire process. For example, drivers will be required to work in very remote and diverse geographical locations which might not augur well to personal interests. Due to this, it becomes difficult to retain most of the employees involved in the industry.

Conclusion/Summary

There are several studies that have been done on transport and logistics as a subject or rather sector in the business sector. Several challenges that affect the industry have been the major focus of the studies that have been done in the past and recently. These studies have provided important knowledge that has been used by the transportation and logistics industry to enhance their effectiveness in the management of the operations in the sector. However despite the fact that most of the studies that have been done, there is a huge gap in literature as far as challenges that managers face in ensuring that there is effective management of the sector operations. The gaps include scarce knowledge on how the managers in the industry can overcome the challenges that face the industry which has reduced their profitability. There is a huge gap in the literature that focuses on the effects of government regulations on the operations of the industry players. In this regard, there is need to have studies conducted and published on these topics in transport and logistics industry which will provide knowledge that will help management team to effectively overcome the obstacles that face their activities. Comment by Javad Seyed: Where are the gaps concluded from literature review. How these gaps will be addressed by your research work

References

Akkerman, R., Farahani, P., & Grunow, M. (2010). Quality, safety, and sustainability in food distribution: a review of quantitative operations management approaches and challenges. Or Spectrum, 32(4), 863-904.

Branch, A. E. (2009). Global supply chain management and international logistics. New York: Routledge.

Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.

Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.

Dekker, R., Bloemhof, J., & Mallidis, I. (2012). Operations Research for green logistics–An overview of aspects, issues, contributions, and challenges. European Journal of Operational Research, 219(3), 671-679.

Fernie, J., & Sparks, L. (2014). Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan page publishers.

Grant, D. B. (2012). Logistics management. Pearson Higher Ed.

Johnson, P. F. (2014). Purchasing and supply management. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

McFarlane, D., & Sheffi, Y. (2003). The impact of automatic identification on supply chain operations. The international journal of logistics management, 14(1), 1-17.

Sheffi, Y. (2001). Supply chain management under the threat of international terrorism. The International Journal of logistics management, 12(2), 1-11.

Sheu, J. B. (2007). Challenges of emergency logistics management.

Speranza, M. G. (2018). Trends in transportation and logistics. European Journal of Operational Research, 264(3), 830-836.

Stadtler, H. (2005). Supply chain management and advanced planning––basics, overview, and challenges. European journal of operational research, 163(3), 575-588.

Wang, G., Gunasekaran, A., Ngai, E. W., & Papadopoulos, T. (2016). Big data analytics in logistics and supply chain management: Certain investigations for research and applications. International Journal of Production Economics, 176, 98-110.

Waters, D., & Rinsler, S. (2014). Global logistics: New directions in supply chain management. Kogan Page Publishers.

1.Collect, organize, analyze, and critique 15 + peer-reviewed research articles that are related to a topic area and problem statement.

2.Write an introduction to your topic and the overall problem you are addressing.


3.Write a literature review.

4.Conclude your literature review with a summary of the gaps in the Literature and how this aligns with your research area of interest.

5.
Your writing should follow the standards established in the course and in-text and end-of-text references should follow APA style manual format.