Evaluating Key Resources and Capabilities for Liner Shipping Services

Abstract

This paper empirically evaluates key resources and capabilities in the liner shipping context. Based on a factor analysis, three resource dimensions are identified: marine equipment, information equipment, and corporate image; whereas seven capability dimensions are identified: purchasing, operation, human resource management, customer service, information integration, pricing, and financial management. The findings suggest that operation capability is perceived as the most important dimension, followed by customer service, human resource management, information integration, pricing purchasing, and financial management. Results indicate that four dimensions are found that significantly differ between shipping companies and agencies: marine equipment, information equipment, operation, and information integration. The theoretical and managerial implications of the research findings are discussed.     

External Costs of Domestic Container Transportation: Short‐Sea Shipping versus Trucking in Taiwan

Abstract

This paper explores the external costs of domestic container transportation in Taiwan by analysing the origin and destination of current container cargoes. After reviewing an extensive literature survey of methods of external cost, a comparison of external costs between trucking and short sea shipping (SSS) by corridor is made by using a model developed in this paper. Based on the findings that external costs of SSS are considerably lower than truck transport and can be a viable alternative to current domestic container cargo transportation, we discuss the significance and managerial implications of SSS from the perspective of green logistics. In so doing, a top‐down approach is employed for developing government policies, which aim to not only reduce the external costs of domestic container transportation but also promote SSS in Taiwan.     

Book Review: Airline Marketing and Management

Abstract

Public transport policy in the Madrid Metropolitan Area is often deemed as a success. In 1985, an important reform was carried out in order to create a new administrative authority to coordinate all public transport modes and establish a single fare for all of them. This reform prompted a huge growth in public transport usage, even though it reduced the funding coverage ratio of the transport system. Since then, Madrid’s public transport system has been undergoing an increasing level of subsidization, which might jeopardize the financial viability of the city public transport system in the future. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of the evolution of the public transport funding policy in Madrid in recent years. We found that the increasing level of subsidy can hardly be explained on the basis of equity issues. Moreover, we claim that there is still room for a funding policy that makes the efficiency of the system compatible with its financial sustainability.     

Quantifying the Difference Between Self-Reported and Global Positioning Systems-Measured Journey Durations: A Systematic Review

Accurate measurement of travel behaviour is vital for transport planning, modelling, public health epidemiology, and assessing the impact of travel interventions. Self-reported diaries and questionnaires are traditionally used as measurement tools; advances in Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology allow for comparison. This review aimed to identify and report about studies comparing self-reported and GPS-measured journey durations. We systematically searched, appraised, and analysed published and unpublished articles from electronic databases, reference lists, bibliographies, and websites up to December 2012. Included studies used GPS and self-report to investigate trip duration. The average trip duration from each measure was compared and an aggregated, pooled estimate of the difference, weighted by number of trips, was calculated. We found 12 results from eight eligible studies. All studies showed self-reported journey times were greater than GPS-measured times. The difference between self-report and GPS times ranged from over-reporting of +2.2 to +13.5 minutes per journey. The aggregated, pooled estimate of the difference, weighted by number of trips, was over-report of +4.4 minutes (+28.6%). Studies comparing self-reported and GPS-measured journey duration have shown self-reported to be consistently over-reported across the study sample. Our findings suggest that when using self-reported journey behaviour, the journey durations should be treated as an over-estimation.     

Relationships among service quality,corporate image,customer satisfaction,and behavioral intention for the elderly in high speed rail services

Since the Taiwan High Speed Rail operations, Taiwan's transportation market entered into a new era. Because of its competitive service of speed, convenience, environmental concerns and comfort, the High Speed Rail has not only made significant changes but has played a significant role in Taiwan's transportation. However, Taiwan now is an aging society. Due to the physical constraints among the elderly, demands to redesign the traffic system and maintain transportation safety are essential considerations. In the current market, Taiwan's transportation construction is facing fewer barriers; however, it must still improve, especially considering the health of the elderly. Thus, this study investigates elderly passengers' demands and further examined the relationships among service quality, corporate image, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intention. According to empirical analytical results based on structural equation modeling (N = 341), satisfaction directly affected travel behaviors, while service quality and corporate image played indirect roles. In addition, service quality plays a significant role on the effect of satisfaction. This study provides empirical evidence to indicate the quality of the accessible environment affects not only the effectiveness and efficiency of service quality, but also, the corporate image. The results provide valuable references for critically managing the elderly's usage of the high speed rail transportation service. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigating the joint choice behavior of intercity transport mode and high‐speed rail cabin with a strategy map

This paper investigates the joint choice behavior of intercity transport modes and high‐speed rail cabin class within a two‐dimensional choice structure. Although numerous studies have been conducted on the mode choice behavior, little is known about the influence of cabin class on their intercity traveling choice. Hence, this study is conducted with a revealed preference survey to investigate the intercity traveling behavior for the western corridor of Taiwan. The results of nested logit model reveal that a cabin strategy has a more significant influence on cabin choice than on mode choice. Furthermore, this study proposes a new strategy map concept to assist transport operators in defining and implementing their pricing strategies. The results suggest that to capture a higher market share, high‐speed rail operators should choose an active price reduction strategy, while bus and rail operators are advised to implement a passive price increase strategy to raise unit revenue. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Disaggregate safety evaluation for signalized intersections and evaluation tool

This study was to evaluate traffic safety of four‐legged signalized intersections and to develop a spreadsheet tool for identifying high‐risk intersections taking into consideration vehicle movements, left‐turn signal phase types, and times of day. The study used data from Virginia and employed count data models and the empirical Bayes (EB) method for safety evaluation of such intersections. It was found that crash pattern defined by vehicle movements involved in a crash and time of day are important factors for intersection crash analysis. Especially for a safety performance function (SPF), a model specification (Poisson or NB), inclusion of left‐turn signal types, type of traffic flow variables, variable functional forms, and/or magnitudes of coefficients turned out to be different across times of day and crash patterns. The spreadsheet application tool was developed incorporating the developed SPFs and the EB method. As long as Synchro files for signal plans and crash database are maintained, no additional field data collection efforts are required. Adjusting the developed SPFs and the spreadsheet for recent traffic and safety conditions can be done by applying the calibration methods employed in the SafetyAnalyst software and the Highway Safety Manual. Implementing the developed tool equipped with streamlining data entry would greatly improve accuracy and efficiency of safety evaluation of four‐legged signalized intersections in localities and highway agencies that cannot operate the SafetyAnalyst. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Economic impact of a supply change in mass transit in urban areas: A Canadian example

This paper aims at estimating the economic impact of a supply change in the bus transit service in a Canadian city of medium size. By using a quasi-experiment approach and a difference-in-differences (DID) estimator, it evaluates the impact of the introduction of a rapid bus transit (RBT) in Quebec City (Canada) through a spatio-temporal analysis of house price variations. The hedonic price model shows that the new service generates an increase in house price ranging from 6.9% to 2.9%, for those properties located close to the service corridor where the population is quite dense and where the service was offered initially. Using sales transaction data and municipal assessment records from 1997, the effect on price is translated into an economic impact for the whole region. The paper shows that the improvement in public transit supply generates, for Quebec City, a significant fiscal impact estimated to $6 M and a plus-value for properties owners close to $35 M over 12 years. Finally, the implications of this kind of analysis for urban planning and development are discussed.     

Counting the different efficient paths for transportation networks and its applications

This paper deals with an interesting problem about how to efficiently compute the number of different efficient paths between an origin‐destination pair for a transportation network because these efficient paths are the possible paths used by drivers to some extent. Based on a novel triangle operation derived, it first presents a polynomial‐time combinatorial algorithm that can obtain the number of different simple paths between any two nodes for an acyclic network as well as the total travel cost of these paths. This paper proceeds to develop a combinatorial algorithm with polynomial‐time complexity for both counting the different efficient paths between an origin‐destination pair and calculating the total travel cost of these paths. As for applications, this paper shows that the preceding two algorithms can yield the lower and upper bounds for the number of different simple paths between an origin‐destination pair, while it has already be recognized that a polynomial‐time algorithm getting such a number does not exist for a general network. Furthermore, the latter algorithm can be applied for developing a heuristic method for the traffic counting location problem arising from the origin‐destination matrix estimation problems.