A Managerial Analysis of Urban Parcel Delivery: A Lean Business Approach

Luce Brotcorne, Guido Perboli, Mariangela Rosano and Qu Wei
Additional contact information
Luce Brotcorne: INRIA Lille—Nord Europe, Parc scientifique de la Haute Borne 40, av. Halley-Bât A, 59650 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
Guido Perboli: ICT for City Logistics and Enterprises Center, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Turin, Italy
Mariangela Rosano: ICT for City Logistics and Enterprises Center, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Turin, Italy
Qu Wei: ICT for City Logistics and Enterprises Center, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Turin, Italy

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-23

Abstract: The improper integration of traditional transportation modes with low emissions vehicles can generate a price war that reduces the service quality, undermining the efficiency and the profitability of parcel delivery operators. This paper aims to provide managerial insights to design a win-win strategy for the co-existence of traditional and green business models. In doing so, we adopt a multi-disciplinary approach that integrates a qualitative analysis through a Lean Business methodology, named GUEST, with a quantitative analysis based on simulation-optimisation techniques. This kind of holistic vision has received little attention in the literature. The first analysis investigates the parcel delivery industry with an emphasis on the main business models involved, their costs and revenues structures, while the quantitative part aims to simulate the system and extract sustainable policies. In particular, results highlight that in deploying mixed-fleet policies, the decision-makers have to focus both on the environmental sustainability that benefits from the adoption of low-emission vehicles, and on the operational feasibility and economic sustainability of the two services. In this direction, the paper suggests some managerial insights concerning the split of the customer demand between traditional and green operators, according to the classes of parcels and geographical areas of the city.

Keywords: Last-Mile Logistics; GUEST methodology; urban delivery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:12:p:3439-:d:242183

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