Wen-Kai Hsu

In e-commerce activities, cross-border logistic companies’ participation ensures goods are delivered to customers smoothly, reliably, and flexibly with cost-efficient freight transport. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the logistics operations of International Short-Sea Express (ISSE). Based on the relevant literature and the operating characteristics of ISSE, the logistic requirement attributes (LRAs) in ISSE are first investigated. A grey relational analysis approach is then developed to weight those LRAs. Based on these weights, a Revised Quality Function Deployment (RQFD) model is constructed to translate these LRAs weights into the weights of logistic operation attributes (LOAs) on the customer side of ISSE. Finally, based on both the weights of customer-side LOAs and operator-side LOAs, a House of Quality model for the logistics operations of ISSE is proposed. In addition, to validate the proposed models, the ISSE operators in the Port of Taipei were empirically investigated. Results illustrate that ocean freight forwarders (OFFs) pay the most attention to no cargo damage or loss (7.47%), the correctness of cargo delivery (7.04%), proactively providing shipping information (6.63%), punctuality of cargo delivery (6.59%), and convenient delivery procedures (6.57%). In addition, the proposed RQFD model illustrated the top 5 out of 15 LOAs as the most crucial for logistics operations for ISSE: work schedule (11.49%), file processing (11.35%), cargo consolidation (10.28%), public relations (9.49%), and contract management (7.87%). The results provide practical information for ISSE operators and related government authorities to make improvement policies in ISSE development. Furthermore, the proposed RQFD model may offer methodological references to relevant research in service quality models.

Purpose: A popular production model for high-tech manufacturers is that they move most production lines abroad to produce formal products for sale and just keep a few production lines in headquarters to manufacture sample products for new product development. Under such a production model, the paper aims to develop a selection model of International Air Express (IAE) for high-tech manufacturers in airfreight of sample products using the fuzzy best-worst method (BWM). Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, an assessment model based on the fuzzy BWM approach is proposed for high-tech manufacturers in selecting airfreight carriers for the shipping of sample products. Further, one high-tech electronic manufacturer in Taiwan was empirically investigated to validate the assessment model. Findings: The result indicates that electronics manufacturer pays more attention to Promptness, Mutual trust, Freight rate and Financial status of fixed assets when selecting IAEs. Besides, FedEx is argued to be the most preferred IAE for the transportation of sample products. Based on the findings, some practical management implications were discussed. Research limitations/implications: Some literature limitations should be addressed. Initially, the adoption of the fuzzy BWM assumes independence among criteria. Nonetheless, this assumption is not yet to confirm in this study. Accordingly, this limitation leaves room for improvement in future studies. Further, in this paper, five experienced experts from the Radiant Opto-Electronics Corporation (ROEC) case were empirically surveyed. To ensure the validity of the surveying, this paper adopted an interviewing survey instead of a traditional mailed survey. However, more representative samples are still necessary to confirm the empirical results in future research. Practical implications: Firstly, the proposed research model provides a systematic framework to the decision-making process, which assists high-tech manufacturers in identifying the most suitable IAEs based on multiple criteria. It has been illustrated that high-tech companies deliver their sample products requiring timely and secure means of transport. In practice, manufacturers can assess various IAEs considering some main factors, such as Operational Flexibility (OF), Partner Relationship (PR), Transportation Capability (TC) and Management, using fuzzy BWM. This process ensures the selection of IAEs aligning with their logistical needs and business priorities, ultimately enhancing operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Secondly, empirical results from the ROEC case indicate that electronics manufacturer pays more attention to Promptness, Mutual trust, Freight rate and Financial status of fixed assets when selecting IAEs. Besides, FedEx is argued to be the most preferred IAE for transportation of sample products. In other words, ROEC should consider establishing long-term contracts with preferred IAEs (i.e. FedEx) to secure favorable rates and service commitments. On top of that, results not only provide practical information for manufacturers in selecting IAEs but also for IAE partners to improve their service policies. Originality/value: The results not only provide practical information for high-tech manufacturers in selecting airfreight carriers but also for the airfreight carriers to improve their service quality.

Improving hazards in maritime transport is essential to maintain the reliability and sustainability of the industry, ensure safety and security, and support global trade and economic growth. This paper is aimed at analyzing the hazards of passenger-cargo ferries (PCFs). The novelty of this paper is fourfold: (1) developing a revised risk matrix (RRM) model with considering the adaptability-based resilience of organization to assess PCFs’ hazards, (2) identifying risk factors (RFs) in ferry navigation and developing adaptive strategies to mitigate hazards, (3) applying the fuzzy best–worst method (BWM) to determine the RFs’ weight, and (4) employing the leading Taiwanese passenger-cargo ferry operator (the Taiwan-ferries case) as an empirical study to verify the proposed model. The empirical result can provide pragmatic information for ferry operators to improve the safety of their ferry navigations. Additionally, the proposed RRM model can provide a methodological reference for related research in hazard management.