In recent years, many retail industries have come to be dominated by a few extremely large competitors. For example, Wal‐Mart, Kmart, and Target prevail in the discount competitive set. Such customers are referred to as key accounts and are “treated differently” by selling firms. The...

Communication between buyers and sellers is central to the supply chain philosophy. Further, the trend toward more detailed customer demands has made it even more important for firms to solicit input and feedback from their customers in order to better tailor their offerings to customer needs....

Presents the results of a recent survey of logistics executives concerning their perceptions regarding integrated logistics. Focuses discussion on an assessment of the current level of implementation of the integrated logistics concept among US firms and provides support for a relationship...

The impact of information exchange on suppliers' performance is investigated in the context of trade relationships formed between manufacturers and third party providers of international logistics services. A conceptual model that predicts the important linkages among information exchange,...

Functional areas within a firm must effectively interact and work together to plan, coordinate, and implement strategic initiatives. Interfunctional integration is believed to be directly related to a firm's competitiveness and profitability. The current research was undertaken to gain a greater...

In Today's increasingly complex business environment, many firms are working more closely and sharing greater information with trading partners. The utilization of automatic replenishment programs (ARPs) for inventory management represents an example of how firms are cooperating to improve...