Your community gets a B-: analysis of the specific and curious realm of airport bond rating

Commercial airports are publicly-owned transportation infrastructure, usually funded with bonds. The bond rating decision for these entities thus has important ramifications for bond investors, issuers, airport managers, and even the communities the airports serve, but the rating decision process is not well understood. This paper discusses a simulation of the rating process in two decision environments, including a downgrade. The effect of information framing in an environment of incomplete data is examined using amateur evaluators. Amateur evaluators were utilized to understand how people with limited financial analysis skills would respond when presented with incomplete information and a primed scenario. The results indicate that amateur evaluators were more likely to downgrade a bond grade than a ratings agency, but this effect was moderated for amateur evaluators with more work experience. Implications for airport and supply chain infrastructure are discussed.

An experimental test of green management information system effects on carrier selection: weigh station and tollbooth bypass technology adoption

In a highly competitive price-driven industry, carriers are continuously searching for opportunities to differentiate their offerings, minimize operational costs, and appeal to shippers. At the same time, environmental sustainability has evolved from being trendy jargon into a requirement for competitive supply chain management. It is at the intersection of these two modern topics that the current study identifies a new carrier selection attribute based on a specialized type of green management information system. We apply social exchange theory to hypothesize carrier price and green technology adoption effects on shipper purchase intent. The hypothesized direct and interaction effects are tested by way of a vignette-based experiment, with a sample of full-time working professionals. The supported hypotheses collectively suggest that the adoption of weigh station and tollbooth bypass technology, as a type of environmentally sustainable information system, positively affects transportation carrier selection and attenuates the negative effect of a carrier’s price on shippers’ purchase intentions. These research findings offer unique theoretical, practical, and policy implications surrounding the trucking carrier selection decision.

The tumultuous world of global maritime transportation: a cautionary tale for supply chain managers

The past five years have seen unprecedented changes transform the way goods are moved around the world. The expanded Panama Canal now permits larger vessels as well as simultaneous transits in each direction. Coincidently, steamship lines began purchasing a new generation of bigger ships, forcing ports in the United States to make very large investments in new infrastructure. When examined within the context of other environmental events impacting global trade, the total effect has been to put the maritime industry into a state of flux. This paper will examine these and other important issues before offering conclusions intended to help managers develop successful supply chain strategies in today’s uncertain post-Panamax world.

Social media and supply chain risk management: improving risk detection and supply chain resilience

The introduction of social media has changed the methods by which many individuals, communities, and organizations communicate and interact. The increasing popularity of social media within a business context has forced executives to rethink how they operate their businesses. Chae (2015) observed that the field of supply chain management (SCM) has been lagging in identifying the potential role and use of social media in both research and practice. Recently, greater attention is being given to social media and its potential uses within the supply chain. This paper investigates the potential use for social media as a technology to help with supply chain risk detection and supply chain resilience.

Rail - the left-out service alternative

The trucking industry faces a number of issues as it tries to meet growing demand for services. Trucking services are stifled by three factors: (1) strict enforcement of hours of service requirements which preclude carriers from meeting scheduled appointments; (2) over-the-road driver shortages; and (3) the absence of tort reform or federal preemption to trump nuclear judgments which reach upstream to shippers and brokers. However, rail may be an alternative for a growing number of commodities. This article examines the viability of rail services for the wine industry.