Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the comparative strengths and weaknesses of leading third‐party logistics providers (3PLs) in the USA with respect to their financial efficiencies during the period of 2005‐2007. It also intends to identify various factors that significantly...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to benchmark and measure the comparative efficiency of emergency medical services (EMS) in major US cities (populations greater than 100,000). In so doing, this paper aims to develop a benchmark that can be emulated by cities lagging in EMS efficiency....

Purpose – Drawing on the concepts of benchmarking and of fit as profile deviation, the purpose of this paper is to identify the critical dimensions of usage of internet based interorganizational systems (IOISs) of the best performing firms. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical evidence is...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical review of the first ten years of the UK Government's “transport key performance indicator (KPI)” programme which benchmarks the efficiency of road freight operations. Design/methodology/approach – Documentation on nine...

Purpose – Supply chain partnering (SCP) in internationally operating companies is still not adequately addressed in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors towards effective SCP across two organizations of different origins (Company A and Company B)....

Purpose – To help fast‐food restaurants enhance their competitiveness and then increase their market share, the purpose of this paper is to measure the service performances of fast‐food restaurant franchises in the USA and identify salient factors influencing the service performances of...

Purpose – This paper aims to measure the comparative managerial efficiency of 24 leading third‐party logistics providers (3PLs) in North America and identify best‐practice firms among these 3PLs. Design/methodology/approach – This paper proposes data envelopment analysis to measure the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to help fast‐food restaurants successfully penetrate foreign markets and then strengthen their foothold in those markets by identifying cross‐cultural differences in the perceived service quality of fast‐food restaurants; and by examining how those...