An Empirical Study on the Innovation Sharing Express Box: Collaborative Consumption and the Overlay Network Design

Aijun Liu, Xiaohui Ji, Sang-Bing Tsai, Hui Lu, Gang Du, Feng Li, Guodong Li and Jiangtao Wang
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Aijun Liu: Department of Management Engineering, School of Economics & Management, Xidian University, Xi’an 710071, China
Xiaohui Ji: Department of Management Engineering, School of Economics & Management, Xidian University, Xi’an 710071, China
Sang-Bing Tsai: Zhongshan Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology, Zhongshan 528400, China
Hui Lu: Tianhua College, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 201815, China
Gang Du: Faculty of Economics and Management, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
Feng Li: School of information, Beijing Wuzi University, Beijing 101149, China
Guodong Li: Economics and Management College, Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin 300300, China
Jiangtao Wang: Zhongshan Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology, Zhongshan 528400, China

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-19

Abstract: Sharing express boxes is an effective disposal method for obsolete express packages. Its appearance also represents an unstoppable trend in the development of green logistics. This paper takes the sharing express box as research object and conducts two-stage research. In the first stage, the collaborative consumption theory and calculus are used to analyze the economic benefits that sharing express boxes bring to operators, that is, to demonstrate the feasibility of this business model from an economic perspective. In the second stage, the design of the overlay network is studied from the management science perspective. Firstly, an optimal coverage model is established considering the characteristics of the sharing express box, and cleaning costs, relocation costs, etc. are all integrated into the model. Secondly, the genetic algorithm is used to solve the model. A numerical example is described to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed method. In addition, sensitivity analysis investigates the effect of hub coverage change on the results. Finally, the theoretical guidance gained from this paper can be beneficial to the sustainable development of sharing express boxes.

Keywords: sharing express box; collaborative consumption; overlay network design; green sharing; green innovation; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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