Logistics, Business & Public Policy Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2788
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Item Antecedents and Effects of Retail Shelf Availability(2019) Celebi, Heidi; Evers, Philip T; Business and Management: Logistics, Business & Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Retail shelf availability research has been limited by the inability to measure stockouts. Not being able to fully capture stockout occurrences has led to studying either the effects of stockouts or their antecedents. It has also led to using various fundamentally different stockout attributes as measures across studies. The relationship between stockout attributes is not clear, making it difficult to have a consensus on either the drivers or the impact of stockouts. This thesis considers both antecedents and effects of stockouts by incorporating actual stockout events under two different risk pooling methods. The first set of models simulate stockout-based customer switching (the inventory effect) to study pooling by substitution for a retailer setting service level goals for two products. The second set of models study pooling by postponement, termed “instore logistics postponement,” using archival data from a new shelf sensor technology that captures actual stockout events. An extension to the second part of this study examines the nonlinear relationship between stockout attributes. Both parts of the dissertation contribute to the stockout literature in different ways. The simulation work contributes towards reconciling opposing views on the performance effect of risk pooling through substitution, also showing how different performance measures may accentuate or mask the impact of stockouts. The shelf technology work contributes to logistics postponement by studying how a two-tier inventory within the store may affect stockouts along more than one stockout attribute, and whether less frequent but longer stockouts are linked to better performance than shorter but more frequent stockouts.Item Buy Now, Think Later: Product Returns and Firm Performance(2018) Pritchard, Alan Matthew; Windle, Robert J.; Evers, Philip T.; Business and Management: Logistics, Business & Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation studies the short-term and long-term impacts of return policies and feedback text on firm performance. Archival data, text analytics, and econometric analysis are used to further develop signaling theory, transaction cost economics, and procedural justice theory in operations, logistics, and supply chain management. The first essay is motivated by the ambiguity of prior research on the relationship between return policies and demand in the online setting. The return policy components that impact landed prices are identified and the relationships between terms of sale and demand are studied. After controlling for price, a lenient return policy is found to signal the unobservable quality of the seller’s product and demonstrate their capability to properly handle sales, shipping, and returns. A lenient return policy also helps mitigate customers’ risk associated with a mismatch between the product and their expectations and is shown to be positively associated with landed price and demand. The second essay demonstrates that the impact of a customer’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a seller or their product extends to other customers when their satisfaction or dissatisfaction becomes public knowledge, impacting sellers’ future demand. The impact of negative, trust revoking feedback is shown to differ from the impact of non-trust revoking, negative feedback, such as nonspecific complaints and complaints about price. In other words, the text associated with numerical feedback ratings determines the strength of the negative rating’s impact. Moreover, it is shown that negative feedback can be altered and even counteracted with a satisfactory service recovery, while the variance of complaint types in sellers’ feedback histories is negatively associated with demand. Overall, this dissertation demonstrates the benefits of two signals of quality: a lenient return policy and positive feedback history. Methodological contributions include the use of two original datasets and the combination of text analytics and regression analysis to inform managerial decisions. Managerial implications suggest that firms should take the leniency of their return policies and the strength of their online reputations into consideration when pricing and estimating demand.Item RETAIL OPERATIONS, CONSUMER STOCKPILING, AND LOGISTICS IT RESOURCES(2018) Pan, Xiaodan; Dresner, Martin; Business and Management: Logistics, Business & Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines research questions within two streams: (1) consumer behavior and retail operations and (2) Information Technology (IT) and operational performance. Specifically, the first two essays study the impacts of consumer stockpiling behavior on retail operations management using natural experiment methodology. The third essay explores the interaction of logistics IT resources, organizational factors, and operational performance. The first essay examines how environmental stress affects consumer stockpiling behavior using the 2008–2009 financial crisis as a natural experiment. Although overall consumption falls due to budgetary constraints, the essay shows that environmental stress increases consumers’ propensity to stockpile during promotional periods. As consumers exhibit a higher stockpiling propensity, retailers are subject to an increased demand variation between regular and promotional periods, exposing themselves to a higher stockout risk. Moreover, the increase in demand variation is compounded if retailers adopt a randomly-priced promotion strategy. Consequently, a high-low promotion strategy coupled with greater stockpiling propensity requires more safety stock inventory during times of environmental stress due to economic downturns. The second essay explores how retail operations performance varies in the face of consumer stockpiling behavior utilizing hurricanes as a natural experiment. The essay shows that supply-side characteristics (retail network and product variety), demand-side characteristics (hurricane experience and household income), and disaster-side characteristics (hazard proximity and hazard intensity) significantly affect consumer stockpiling propensity as the hurricane approaches. Further, increased consumer stockpiling propensity has an immediate and persistent impact on retail operations, such as higher product availability before hurricanes and lower product availability after hurricanes. Note that this impact depends on store formats. This study suggests retailers need to carefully monitor factors affecting consumer stockpiling behavior during natural disasters. This would allow retailers to better manage their inventories and increase their ability to fulfill consumer demand. The third essay studies the interaction of logistics IT resources, organizational factors, and operating performance. The previous typology of logistics IT resources is extended into four mid-level constructs: operations-focused IT, decision-focused IT, service-focused IT, and IT development capability. The results show that operations-focused IT, decision-focused IT, and IT development capability is more related to superior operating performance than service-focused IT. Moreover, it is shown that organizational factors, such as firm size, firm age, and firm ownership, may enhance or suppress the effects of logistics IT resources on operational performance. In general, logistics firms should carefully manage IT resources according to their particular organizational environment in order to achieve competitive advantage. The findings for the first two essays contribute to retail operations theory by proposing and testing novel questions about the impact of the presence of consumer stockpiling behavior on retail operations management using natural experiment methodology. The findings for the third essay contribute to business logistics theory by proposing a typology for logistics IT resources and testing hypotheses regarding the impact of logistics IT resources on logistics firms’ operational performance.Item SUPPLY CHAIN RISKS, RESILIENCE AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY(2018) Martinez, Camil; Dresner, Martin; Business and Management: Logistics, Business & Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation’s main focus is the study of supply chain resilience. The two studies investigate the impact of supply chain geographical locations risks and supply chain resilience on performance and of supply chain risks and disruptive events in resilience strategies. Essay 1 seeks to understand the impact of supply chain resilience strategies on firm’s performance. We utilize a cross sectional data sample from 2014 containing detailed manufacturing location risk data and resilience planning at the location level for 313 publicly traded firms. We look at three supply chain resilience cultural traits, business continuity planning, inventory and financial stability. We find that resilience has a positive effect on firm performance. Essay 2 looks at the impact of two types of supply chain risks (internal and external) and two types of disruptive events (internal and external) in the development of supply chain resilience strategies. We find that external disruptive events have a positive impact on supply chain resilience but internal disruptive events have a negative impact in the development of resilience. However, once a business continuity plan is in place, previous internal disruptive events are associated with more agility. My findings for both essays contribute to the supply chain resilience literature by empirically testing the impact of resilience on performance and the impact of disruptive events on resilience strategies.Item The Impact of Executives with Supply Chain Management and Operations Management Experience on Recall Performance and Risk Management(2017) Paraskevas, John-Patrick; Grimm, Curtis; Corsi, Thomas; Business and Management: Logistics, Business & Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation investigates the impact of the growing presence of executives with supply chain management and operations management (SCOM) experience on the top management team. My dissertation focuses on two major strategic areas in which an executive with SCOM experience may influence firm strategy and firm performance. The first area I have chosen to study is a firm's propensity to engage in product recalls along with their responsiveness to the quality glitches that lead to recall. The second area of study is risk and resilience within a firm’s supply chain. Essay 1 explores the impact of an executive with SCOM experience on product recall propensity and firm responsiveness. We utilize a unique dataset collected from multiple sources on executives’ backgrounds and product recalls, and we find that firms having top management executives with SCOM backgrounds have fewer recalls and faster recall responsiveness. The findings also indicate that the shortened speed to recall is enhanced when a firm engages in a proactive recall strategy. The second essay studies the impact of top executives with SCOM experience as well as top executives with finance experience. We then propose original hypotheses regarding the impact of these two forms of experience on the firm’s supply chain risk profile. We utilize a dataset of manufacturing locations over a three-year period. Our findings indicate that firms with SCOM experience on their top management teams have lower levels of location risk and higher levels of resilience at their production locations. On the other hand our findings indicate that firms with top management teams with finance experience are more likely to take on location risk at their production locations but are similar to firms with SCOM on their top management team in that they also have high levels of resilience. Lastly we explore the impact of an SCOM executive when the firm uses offshore production. My findings for both essays contribute to upper echelons theory (UET) by proposing and testing novel hypotheses regarding the impact of the presence of executives with SCOM experience and finance experience on recall performance and supply chain risk management.Item UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER CHOICES IN SERVICE OUTSOURCING AND REVENUE MANAGEMENT(2016) Wang, Zuozheng; Dresner, Martin; Business and Management: Logistics, Business & Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation investigates customer behavior modeling in service outsourcing and revenue management in the service sector (i.e., airline and hotel industries). In particular, it focuses on a common theme of improving firms’ strategic decisions through the understanding of customer preferences. Decisions concerning degrees of outsourcing, such as firms’ capacity choices, are important to performance outcomes. These choices are especially important in high-customer-contact services (e.g., airline industry) because of the characteristics of services: simultaneity of consumption and production, and intangibility and perishability of the offering. Essay 1 estimates how outsourcing affects customer choices and market share in the airline industry, and consequently the revenue implications from outsourcing. However, outsourcing decisions are typically endogenous. A firm may choose whether to outsource or not based on what a firm expects to be the best outcome. Essay 2 contributes to the literature by proposing a structural model which could capture a firm’s profit-maximizing decision-making behavior in a market. This makes possible the prediction of consequences (i.e., performance outcomes) of future strategic moves. Another emerging area in service operations management is revenue management. Choice-based revenue systems incorporate discrete choice models into traditional revenue management algorithms. To successfully implement a choice-based revenue system, it is necessary to estimate customer preferences as a valid input to optimization algorithms. The third essay investigates how to estimate customer preferences when part of the market is consistently unobserved. This issue is especially prominent in choice-based revenue management systems. Normally a firm only has its own observed purchases, while those customers who purchase from competitors or do not make purchases are unobserved. Most current estimation procedures depend on unrealistic assumptions about customer arriving. This study proposes a new estimation methodology, which does not require any prior knowledge about the customer arrival process and allows for arbitrary demand distributions. Compared with previous methods, this model performs superior when the true demand is highly variable.Item Interorganizational Innovation: The Role of Suppliers in Enhancing Buyer Innovation(2016) Elking, Isaac; Grimm, Curtis M; Business and Management: Logistics, Business & Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation explores the effect of innovative knowledge transfer across supply chain partners. My research seeks to understand the manner by which a firm is able to benefit from the innovative capabilities of its supply chain partners and utilize the external knowledge they hold to increase its own levels of innovation. Specifically, I make use of patent data as a proxy for firm-level innovation and develop both independent and dependent variables from the data contained within the patent filings. I further examine the means by which key dyadic and portfolio supply chain relationship characteristics moderate the relationship between supplier innovation and buyer innovation. I investigate factors such as the degree of transactional reciprocity between the buyer and supplier, the similarity of the firms’ knowledge bases, and specific chain characteristics (e.g., geographic propinquity) to provide greater understanding of the means by which the transfer of innovative knowledge across firms in a supply chain can be enhanced or inhibited. This dissertation spans three essays to provide insights into the role that supply chain relationships play in affecting a focal firm’s level of innovation. While innovation has been at the core of a wide body of research, very little empirical work exists that considers the role of vertical buyer-supplier relationships on a firm’s ability to develop new and novel innovations. I begin by considering the fundamental unit of analysis within a supply chain, the buyer-supplier dyad. After developing initial insights based on the interactions between singular buyers and suppliers, essay two extends the analysis to consider the full spectrum of a buyer’s supply base by aggregating the individual buyer-supplier dyad level data into firm-supply network level data. Through this broader level of analysis, I am able to examine how the relational characteristics between a buyer firm and its supply base affect its ability to leverage the full portfolio of its suppliers’ innovative knowledge. Finally, in essay three I further extend the analysis to explore the means by which a buyer firm can use its suppliers to enhance its ability to access distant knowledge held by other organizations that the buyer is only connected to indirectly through its suppliers.Item Foreign Direct Investment and Political Uncertainty(2015) Elwakil, Omar Sherif; Dresner, Martin E; Business and Management: Logistics, Business & Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Recent developments in the general equilibrium theory of multinationals emphasize the importance of multilateral considerations. Yet, existing explanations and corresponding estimations of FDI patterns have largely limited political and institutional investment impediments to a bilateral framework. Through the application of spatial econometric techniques, I demonstrate that the presence of both domestic and regional political uncertainty generate real options effects that lead to the delay or redirection of foreign direct investment. The magnitude and direction of these effects is conditional upon the host country regime type and the predominant multinational integration strategies in the region. Comparing these results with FDI of U.S. origin, I find evidence for divergent investment behavior by U.S. multinationals during regime changes in partner countries. Additionally, I find no evidence that multinationals from developing countries are more likely to complete cross-border deals in environments characterized by greater political risk or political uncertainty.Item THE IMPACT OF PRODUCT VARIETY ON RETAILER OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE AND SALES: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA.(2015) Sweeney, Kevin Donald; Windle, Robert J; Business and Management: Logistics, Business & Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Providing higher levels of product variety has long been shown to generate increased revenues for both retail and manufacturing firms. However, recent research has also shown that higher levels of product variety can have a negative impact on firm operational performance. This dissertation is a two essay study using archival data provided by a single retail firm based in Shanghai, China, on the effects of product variety on retailer inventory levels, stock out rates, and sales. The first essay examines how product variety, as measured by the number of SKUs carried in the retailer’s product category assortment, affects inventory levels, stock out rates, and sales. The second essay investigates whether different types of product variety (namely brands, sizes, and product lines) impacts store inventory levels, stock out rates, and sales differently. The first essay investigates how the size of the product assortment impacts inventory levels, stock out rates, and sales. Greater product variety has the potential to generate higher revenue for the retailer, but also brings the potential for more complications in inventory and supply chain management processes. While previous research has examined this relationship within a manufacturing context, no research has investigated the tradeoff in a retail context. Also, this research is the first to consider the impact of product variety on a firm’s inventory levels. This is an important inclusion as inventory levels directly impact the stock out rate of a retailer. Furthermore, this paper investigates whether characteristics of a product category, such as the hedonic or utilitarian nature of the product category, moderate the relationship between product variety, operational performance, and sales. Using simultaneous equations and a three stage least squares regression methodology, results suggest that product variety has a positive relationship with inventory levels, stock out rates, and sales. Finally, the relationship between a product categories’ stock out rate and sales is stronger for hedonic product categories than utilitarian product categories. In the second essay, this dissertation examines whether the relationship between product variety, inventory levels, stock out rates and sales differs between different types of product variety. In particular, this essay investigates whether brand variety has a larger impact on retailer inventory levels, stock out rates, and sales than do size variety or product line variety. Again, using a simultaneous equation model and a three stage least squares methodology, the results suggest that brand variety is associated with higher inventory levels, lower stock out rates and higher sales than size or product line variety in the retail context.Item Green Rivalry and Performance(2014) Kumar, Anupam; Grimm, Curtis M; Business and Management: Logistics, Business & Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study analyzes the competitive interactions between focal and rival firms in the domain of environmental management (EM) practices and the associated impacts on environmental performance and financial performance. Using competitive dynamics and institutional theory as a basis, the study contends that firm performance is impacted by behavior of both focal and rival firms, and perceptions of legitimacy. Our findings indicate that firms competing aggressively do benefit from their proactive approach, but significant dissimilarity of behavior from their rivals tends to negatively impact firm performance bringing issues of legitimacy to the forefront. Subsequently, the study expands the work outlined above with a larger set of performance measures to look at the impact of rivalry on growth and long term shareholder value. Furthermore, this section also looks into the joint impact of environmental behavior and environmental performance on financial performance via a mediating model using various environmental performance measures. The findings indicate a partial mediation between EM behavior and financial performance from EM reputation and EM policy. In the final part of the dissertation, the study presents exploratory work on two future research topics. The first topic expands the work from focal-rival dyads to include supplier networks as well. The second topic lays out a roadmap for future work in the area of credible EM signaling. This topic takes on issues surrounding greenwashing that has been reported in the popular media. Given the visibility on sustainable activities across the entire spectrum, and the burden of green on firms, it is important to understand how firms are responding and if the returns justify their investments. This study contributes to this discourse by tying theory with behavior and adds additional clarity to firm behavior vis-à-vis green. From a methodological perspective, this study uses an original panel dataset using secondary data sources, which adds to the credibility of the results. The study has important managerial relevance at both the firm level and for policy making.