Designing a locating-routing three-echelon supply chain network under uncertainty

PurposeIn the present research, location and routing problems, as well as the supply chain, which includes manufacturers, distributor candidate sites and retailers, are explored. The goal of addressing the issue is to reduce delivery times and system costs for retailers so that routing and distributor location may be determined.Design/methodology/approachBy adding certain unique criteria and limits, the issue becomes more realistic. Customers expect simultaneous deliveries and pickups, and retail service start times have soft and hard time windows. Transportation expenses, noncompliance with the soft time window, distributor construction, vehicle purchase or leasing, and manufacturing costs are all part of the system costs. The problem's conceptual model is developed and modeled first, and then General Algebraic Modeling System software (GAMS) and Multiple Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) and non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGAII) algorithms are used to solve it in small dimensions.FindingsAccording to the mathematical model's solution, the average error of the two suggested methods, in contrast to the exact answer, is less than 0.7%. In addition, the performance of algorithms in terms of deviation from the GAMS exact solution is pretty satisfactory, with a divergence of 0.4% for the biggest problem (N = 100). As a result, NSGAII is shown to be superior to MOSPSO.Research limitations/implicationsSince this paper deals with two bi-objective models, the priorities of decision-makers in selecting the best solution were not taken into account, and each of the objective functions was given an equal weight based on the weighting procedures. The model has not been compared or studied in both robust and deterministic modes. This is because, with the exception of the variable that indicates traffic mode uncertainty, all variables are deterministic, and the uncertainty character of demand in each level of the supply chain is ignored.Practical implicationsThe suggested model's conclusions are useful for any group of decision-makers concerned with optimizing production patterns at any level. The employment of a diverse fleet of delivery vehicles, as well as the use of stochastic optimization techniques to define the time windows, demonstrates how successful distribution networks are in lowering operational costs.Originality/valueAccording to a multi-objective model in a three-echelon supply chain, this research fills in the gaps in the link between routing and location choices in a realistic manner, taking into account the actual restrictions of a distribution network. The model may reduce the uncertainty in vehicle performance while choosing a refueling strategy or dealing with diverse traffic scenarios, bringing it closer to certainty. In addition, two modified MOPSO and NSGA-II algorithms are presented for solving the model, with the results compared to the exact GAMS approach for medium- and small-sized problems.

Consumer Motivations for Adopting Omnichannel Retailing: A Safety-Driven Perspective in the Context of COVID-19

This study aims to understand the influence of COVID-19 on consumers' fears and self-protection motivations. Furthermore, the study seeks to understand the effects of these fears and motivations on consumers' intentions to use omnichannel retailing. A modified theoretical model is proposed by integrating protection motivation theory (PMT) and extending the extended parallel process model (E-EPPM). A total of 398 valid questionnaires are collected and used for further structural equation modeling analysis. The results suggest that the perceived severity, perceived vulnerability, and health anxiety positively impact perceived fears surrounding COVID-19. Furthermore, it is found that perceived fear, self-efficacy, and response efficacy will affect the protection motivation of consumers and ultimately contribute to their behavioral intention to use omnichannel retailing. The findings theoretically enrich the research on COVID-19, PMT, and E-EPPM and empirically provide managerial implications for omnichannel retail service providers.

Perceived idle wait and associated emotional discomfort: An analysis of retail waiting experience

Waiting involves both cognition and emotions. It has a bearing on the overall perception of retail service quality. The advancement in retailing has triggered scholarly conversations on the psychological impact of waiting at the retail checkout. Prior studies confirm customers being deeply involved in the passage of time and time estimation during the entire waiting period. This study investigates the customer idle time and its implication on emotional discomfort resulting from crowding stress. The study employed confirmatory sampling wherein specific sample elements are chosen since they are the key respondents to confirm hypotheses being tested. Accordingly, 385 respondents (shoppers) visiting the leading organized retailers located in major localities in Bengaluru were approached. The responses were analyzed using a Chi-squared test and Pearson correlation. The outcome reveals that irrespective of age and gender, customers visiting the offline retail outlets experience emotional discomfort. The young customers aged 18-30 dislike waiting in the queue at the checkout compared to older customers. In contrast, gender did not affect the inclination to wait. The idleness during the checkout waits causes emotional discomfort on most occasions. The findings supplement the growing research in psychology on the actual and perceived consumption of time, focusing on idleness. The study concludes that customers desire to avert an unproductive use of time, thus lowering their emotional discomfort.

A Postdigital Perspective on Service Work: Salespeople’s Service Encounters in the Connected Store

Covid-19 has disrupted global markets, accelerated the digital transformation of frontline service, and changed how service organisations, frontline service employees, and consumers interact. This article explores how digitalisation is changing retail service work from a postdigital perspective. The article draws on an ethnography of salespeople’s service encounters in speciality chain stores between July 2015 and August 2021. Using a practice theory framework (the theory of practice architectures), the article explores what conditions form salespeople’s service encounters in connected stores and how retail organisations’ digitalisation of frontline service changes salespeople’s practice of service encounters. The contributions of this article to the ongoing debate over the digitalisation of service work are twofold. On the theoretical plane, the article provides an alternative framework to labour process theory for exploring and describing service work organised around digital technologies. Secondly, it uncovers the conditions that are changing salespeople’s practice of service encounters, along with attributes associated with service work and emotional labour skills. The research shows that the connected service encounter is characterised by postdigital dialogue that involves new roles and skills in frontline service work. Overall, the findings contribute to a better understanding of how digitalisation changes action and interaction in service encounters from an employee perspective.

The open-access telecommunication transmission network in the Canary Islands: an alternative proposal to the current management model?

Purpose This paper aims to study the competition problems and market failures in the Canary Islands and propose an alternative management model for the telecommunication transmission network. This model is based on a wholesale-only open-access transmission network, available to all the retail service providers of this region, and managed by a unique entity subject to regulation with cost-based prices. The proposal hopefully will help to debate about the implementation of certain regulatory models in the network industries, concerning telecommunication submarine cables connecting archipelagos. Design/methodology/approach An empirical approach has been used, based on the observation and analysis of the regulatory policies applied to the wholesale transmission networks in the Canary Islands, Azores and Madeira archipelagos. Findings Results show a persistent margin squeeze situation on the retail broadband market in the Canary Islands, due to the pricing strategy on the Spanish mainland-Canaries wholesale market, which is, in turn, delaying the entry of alternatives and the level of development and efficiency of competition. The risk of duopoly collusion is also present on this wholesale market. Additionally, public aids will be needed to replace the systems connecting with the non-capital islands and to provide redundancy to El Hierro. The alternative proposal might help preventing the above. Eventually, several insights are considered for further investigation. Originality/value Little attention has been paid to this topic in the literature, regarding the analysis of regulatory policies applied over fiber optic submarine cable infrastructures in fragmented territories like archipelagos. Consequently, an empirical analysis has been accomplished to emphasize this research work, based on the regulatory policies adopted.

The synergistic effects of LMX and procedural justice climate on employee motivation and customer loyalty in a retail service context

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to test how leader–member exchange (LMX) interacts with procedural justice climate to influence three types of employee motivation (i.e. achievement striving motivation, status striving motivation and communion striving motivation). Furthermore, this study empirically examines the indirect effects of LMX on customer loyalty through employee motivation and service orientation.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a matched sample of 188 retail service employees and 376 customers from a large shopping mall in South Korea to test the empirical model. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping method were employed to test a series of proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that LMX significantly enhances customer loyalty through two motivational dimensions and service orientation. In particular, this study shows that achievement and status striving motivation are directly related to service orientation, but communion striving motivation does not affect customer-focused service attitude. In addition, procedural justice climate serves as a critical moderator and synergistically interacts with LMX to influence achievement and status striving motivation.Research limitations/implicationsThis study offers new insight regarding how managers' roles in both individual (leader–member exchange) and organizational (procedural justice climate) level affect different forms of retail service employee motivation and service orientation, which in turn, result in customer loyalty.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that when retail service employees perceive procedural fairness at retail stores, they are more motivated to work hard to complete their assignments and achieve their sales goals in conjunction with leader support. Therefore, managers must provide a clear guideline and procedure regarding salary raises and performance evaluations or engage in thorough discourse on such matters with employees prior to announcements of such decisions. Moreover, as retail service employees interact with customers in the frontline, and how they serve customers plays a key role in creating customer loyalty. Managers should encourage retail service employees to engage in service-oriented behaviors.Originality/valueThe results suggest that LMX facilitates more formal task-related motivation to achieve either tasks or status while it is less related to relationship-building motivation, which is a unique contribution of this study. The results offer better understating of how LMX differentially leads to specific types of employee motivation in the existing literature.

How does salespeople’s personal interaction affect customers’ word-of-mouth in retailing?

Purpose Drawing on the philosophy of retail service quality, this study aims to empirically investigate how salespeople’s personal interaction affects customers’ positive word-of-mouth (WOM) intention through the lens of affective customer experience and consumers’ cross-cultural attitudes toward domestic or foreign products. Design/methodology/approach The hypothesis was tested with a two-step structural equation model using survey data obtained from 529 shopping center customers in China. Findings The positive impact of salespeople’s personal interaction on customers’ positive WOM intention is fully mediated by affective customer experience. In addition, consumer ethnocentrism strengthens the positive impact of salespeople’s personal interaction on affective customer experience, whereas this study fails to find the moderating effect of foreign product affinity. Practical implications To increase customers’ positive WOM intention, store managers need to encourage their frontline sales personnel to personally interact with customers to support customers’ problem-solving. Also, frontline salespeople should pay more attention to consumers’ cross-cultural attitudes such as consumer ethnocentrism when interacting with their customers. Originality/value By linking affective customer experience and consumers’ cross-cultural attitudes of ethnocentrism and affinity toward domestic or foreign products, this study further extends the knowledge of retail service quality on the relationship between salespeople’s personal interaction and customers’ positive WOM intention.