Regional economic integration represents one the most significant trends in the contemporary world economy. Research into companies’ approaches to creating global supply chains in the context of regional integration process is of interest both from academic and business points of view. The research goal is to reveal the regional integration impact on companies’ decisions about trade and investment operations during the process of establishing their supply chains. Strategies and supply chains of most transnational corporations in the world are of regional, not global nature. This can be primarily explained with countries’ proximity and moderate level of risks. Trade blocks and regional unions contribute to the development of regional supply chains as well, and in the process of supply chain creation companies tend to pay more attention to such instruments as reshoring and nearshoring. It is connected with the increase in wages in Asian markets, companies’ underestimation of total costs associated with offshoring, need of becoming closer to customers as well as need to protect intellectual property rights. Impact of information-technological revolution that creates opportunities to and optimize operations costs in developed countries should also be taken into consideration. Global and regional supply chains are established as a result of companies’ foreign trade and foreign direct investment decisions. Export and import operations correlate with trade creation and trade diversion effects. Local producers that do not possess competitive advantages will face treats from external and intraregional competitors, which get opportunities to expand sales and export volumes. Trade diversion effect creates opportunities for intraregional producers, stimulates development of regional chains and may lead to isolation from the rest of the world as well as decrease in international competitiveness. Investment decisions of intraregional producers will primarily depend on the market size and level of trade barriers. As a result regional supply chains may start to develop in isolation from global valuechains or organically integrate into them. Companies from participating in the agreement countries will get potential to optimize their investment activities. The research findings can be applied in business operations well as be used by governmental bodies for planning and elaborating on regional integration agreements.
In the context of globalization of the world economy, multinational corporations are attracting more and more attention, since their activities create a significant part of the global trade. However, the specifics of supply chain management (SCM) in such companies receive insufficient attention, and the rules and recommendations are largely based on the classical principles of the SCM theory. However, there is a specificity of working in a cross-cultural environment when counterparties you work with represent different countries. This article is devoted to an overview of the development of SCM in various regions of the world and methods of reengineering of multinational corporations’ business processes due to the regional differences. The article firstly provides a literature review on the regional specifics of the development of logistics and SCM; secondly, shows an example of the supply chain negotiation process differences, depending on the nationality of the counterparty; thirdly, describes a tool for taking regional factors into account when engineering key business processes in the supply chain. The article demonstrates the structure of the «Guidelines for Supply Chain Management in a Cross-Cultural Environment» – a decision support tool for a SCM manager of international level.
It is difficult to imagine operations of companies without understanding of how to manage services accomplishment, especially logistics services. Policy of customer service management is determined by the interaction of two key departments of the company, one of which (Marketing) is responsible for image-building of product and marketeer choice, the other of which (Logistics) is accountable for supply of goods to customer and provision of logistics services with logistics 7R ensuring optimal conditions for the functioning of supply chains.
The article presents a critical analysis of various points of view on different levels strategies, showing their interconnection within the company. Special focus is paid to the relation between the basic corporate strategies and functional strategies of the company (marketing strategies and logistics strategies). As well, the ways of their translation into the logistics activities in the field of customer service is analyzed.
The paper critically examines 21 different sources that meet purposes mentioned above. Critical analysis of marketing and logistics interference, various levels and types of strategies is intended to derive linkage between existing findings supporting the reflection of the strategic company directions in customer service policy in terms of logistics.
In the article it is revealed the benefits of evolving a strategic approach of logistics services management for clients and suppliers. It is proposed to begin approach elaboration from the planning of possible potential strategies of company’s development. That is why remarkable attention is paid to the consideration of basic corporate and functional strategies, defining the possibility of their joint implementation in the company. Detected logical link between corporate, marketing and logistics strategies allows us to specify prior steps and common activities for customer service policy development within the logistics department of the company.
The results of the information technologies intensive development and implementation processes, recently defined as digitalization, were the basis of the significant changes in the domestic economy. At the same time, it is important to understand that digitalization process require an appropriate response in order to create an environment, which promote to development of strategically valuable economic sectors, include the industrial manufacturing. These circumstances determined the motivation of implementing at the state level such programs as the Digital Economy and the National Technological Initiative, that are aimed at creating conditions for the development of industry in the context of the digitalization.
Focusing on the logistics systems and industrial enterprise supply chains functioning processes, it is important to note, that new opportunities are opened due to development and implementation of information technologies in the economy digitalization context. These opportunities consist in the exchange of information between the individual production, logistics and auxiliary systems and their elements, as well as the products and the external environment, which in general will allow forming big data sets. Herewith, the result of processing the relevant data sets will form basis of the continuous improvement processes through self-organization and self-decision by the active system components.
At the initial stages of the study, a literature overview was done in the field of logistics system organizing within the contemporary concepts of industrial production development, including the Industry 4.0 concept. This has shown that on the one hand, there is a significant impact of digitalization processes on the organization and functioning of logistics system, but on the other hand, there is a lack of methodological developments in the area of these systems design.
For this reason, it is important to investigate the development of instruments for justification of logistics processes functioning characteristics within digitalization context. For this, a generalized structure of the digital logistics system was offered and the requirements for the functioning processes were determined. Taking into account a special aspects of this structure and functioning requirements, we offered to use simulation modeling tools in the organizational design problems. It is proposed to use traditional paradigms of simulation, which include discrete-event and agent-based modelling. On a separate note the possibility of applying the approach at the junction of these two paradigms, which implying the use of their main advantages: using the discrete-event modeling in the simulation of functioning process where the logistics system is describes as the multi-agent environment.
In the article the questions concerning reverse logistics in internet retail are discussed. The authors justify the actuality of this topic in scientific and practical environment. The justification is based on several parameters: the internet retail development, the returns level in this field, the customers’ attitude concerning the internet retail companies’ returns policies, the number of articles devoted to this topic and the reverse logistics impact on the logistics service.
The criteria for the returns classification in internet retail logistics are defined and the classification with the detailed description of all components is suggested. The authors investigate and systematize the reasons for return flows. Also, the identification of supply chain links that are responsible for the return flows is made. The investigation is meant to be some kind of basis for the complex approach to returns management in companies operating in the internet retail field.
The article is devoted to the one of the topical issues in internet retail – reverse product flows. The author reviews typical reasons for product returns made by the customers. Using garments and footwear as an example (due to the fact that they are characterized by the greatest number of returns), the author suggests measures aimed at the reduction of the product returns rate. Moreover, the article includes recommendations on the efficient and effective management of the reverse product flows in the e-tailers supply chains.
The paper proposes an approach to the improvement of the method of successive concessions, which is widely used in solving multicriteria optimization problems in logistics. For the first time, the special formats (hard and flexible) are formalized for the use of this method, making it possible to improve the quality of decision-making procedures by many criteria. These formats are illustrated by the example of the problem of the best choice of a location and the form of ownership of a warehouse. For the first time, the paper discusses the possibility of specifying analytically the ordering of particular criteria, needed for the method of successive concessions, if it is required by the decision-maker. For the first time, practical situations are analyzed, when for some groups of particular criteria such an analytical approach to setting the order of optimization procedures will determine the same importance between them. For such situations, an approach to the analysis of various variants of ordering of particular criteria is presented in order to expand the scope of available applications for the use of the method of successive concessions. For the first time, managers are given the opportunity to rank the given alternatives according to the method of successive concessions. The influence of various variants of ordering particular criteria on the ranking of alternatives is analyzed by such an optimization method.
In this paper a new format of the procedures for determining the best solution is presented to solve multicriteria optimization problems in the supply chain. This format includes: 1) modifying parameters of the particular criteria, taking into account the attitude of decision maker (DM) to such indicators and the importance of the attitude of DM to criteria themselves (which is implemented using a comparison procedures developed for the analytic hierarchy process); 2) implementation of procedures for the selection on the basis of the traditional theory of selection criteria (which corresponds to the synthesis procedures, analytical hierarchy process method with the traditional theory of optimization procedures). Illustrations of the proposed approach to the modification of the selection procedures are given for the problem related to optimizing the locations of the warehouse and its form of ownership. It is shown that the presented approach to optimization solutions will expand the available arsenal of methods for selecting managers that will give an opportunity to improve the quality of decisions due to better adapt them to the preferences of the decision maker.
Issues of interfunctional conflicts, connected with the management of material flows, are topical for many companies that operate in the Russian market. In order to finish the conflict, align the standpoints of its participants, it is required firstly to identify their goals and interests. The article is devoted to the ways of revelation of the choice criteria for the company’s functional departments – parties of the conflict, as well as to the means of their preferences formalization.