Title:  Value-added logistics services:

　　Using delivery variety to improve fill rates and sales

Speaker: Martin E. Dresner, Professor and Departmental Chair,

　　Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland.

Time: 10:00-12:00, am., 26, Jun. (Fri.), 2015.

Venue: Room 308, Tongji Building A

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on a key logistics service—product delivery—and analyzes the impact of delivery options offered (delivery variety) on performance measures: fill rates and sales. Using a mediation model, we develop the relationship between delivery variety andsalesthroughthe mediating role of the unitfill rate. Analyzing data from over one hundred distribution centers from a large soft drink bottling firm, we find that an increase in delivery variety will raise fill rates and indirectly improve sales through the mediating role of the fill rate. These findings provide implications for decision making on the variety of logistics services andunveila better understanding of the relationship among logistics services, operations, and marketing outcomes.

Keywords: Empirical analysis; Logistics services; Mediation analysis

A Short Bio:

Martin Dresner has served on the faculty of the R.H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland since 1988, where he is currently Professor and Chair of the Logistics, Business and Public Policy Department.  He received his Ph.D. in Policy Analysis from the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.  Dresner’s research focuses on two broad areas, air transport policy and logistics management. He has published over 80 papers in refereed journals. Professionally, he is President of the Air Transport Research Society (ATRS), an academic organization devoted to research in the aviation industry.  In addition, Dresner is on the Scientific and Steering Committees of the World Conference on Transportation Research. Dresner is immediate past editor of Research in Transportation Economics and a former editor of Transportation Journal.  He sits on the editorial boards of several journals in the transportation, logistics and supply chain fields. Dresner is a former president of the Transportation and Public Utilities Group (TPUG) of the Allied Social Sciences Association, and of the Transportation Research Forum (TRF).  He has testified before the U.S. House Aviation Subcommittee, and has worked on consulting projects for a number of organizations, including the Maryland Aviation Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Department of Energy.