During the last decade, logistics outsourcing is growing in importance worldwide. Meanwhile, many different kinds of logistics services are also introduced in the outsourcing market. However, up to now, there are no guidelines for the food processing industry to identify which logistics activities should be outsourced to which type of logistic service provider (LSP). By combining managerial and economic theory, this book builds an integrated research framework to demonstrate decisive factors for outsourcing different kinds of logistics activities and their effect on logistics performance. Using empirical evidences from the food processing industry in Taiwan and the Netherlands, this study shows that: - outsourcing decisions of different levels of logistics activities have different determining factors. - total outsourcing (i.e. having the LSP orchestrate the whole logistics process) results in higher logistics service performances in terms of lead-time, reliability, and flexibility. - currently the Netherlands have higher percentages of outsourcing of transportation and transportation management than Taiwan. In the future, Taiwan will probably outsource value added activities and logistics orchestration activities more than the Netherlands. This book is recommended for a broad audience of professionals and practitioners who concern themselves with the design, planning and management of logistics in international food supply chains.

Logistics and Supply Chain Management has been a vital part of every economy and every business entity. Both sciences have become prestigious research fields focusing on best practices, concepts, and methods. Outsourcing Management for Supply Chain Operations and Logistics Services is concentrated on the key players of the outsourcing paradigm; the organizations that provide logistics services, the Third Party Logistics (3PL’s), as well as their clients, presenting and promoting the lessons learned by their cooperation. Specifically, this publication presents studies which are relevant to practitioners, researchers, students, and clients of the application of the Outsourcing practice on the Logistics and Supply Chain Management services giving emphasis to 3PL’s.

This book adopts a case study based research approach to examine the contemporary issues in the fashion industry. It documents real-world practices in fashion business from production, marketing to operations. Founded on an extensive review of literature, these case studies discuss the challenges that are pertinent to the current business environment in this important industry, provide benchmarks and generate insights to practitioners as well as suggest future directions to researchers. The book serves as a nexus of the theories and the industrial practices that advances knowledge for both the academia and the private sector in fashion business.

In real management situations, uncertainty is inherently present in decision making. As such, it is increasingly imperative to research and develop new theories and methods of fuzzy sets. Theoretical and Practical Advancements for Fuzzy System Integration is a pivotal reference source for the latest scholarly research on the importance of expressing and measuring fuzziness in order to develop effective and practical decision making models and methods. Featuring coverage on an expansive range of perspectives and topics, such as fuzzy logic control, intuitionistic fuzzy set theory, and defuzzification, this book is ideally designed for academics, professionals, and researchers seeking current research on theoretical frameworks and real-world applications in the area of fuzzy sets and systems.

In order to keep up with the constant changes in technology, business have adopted supply chain management to improve competitive strategies on a strategic and operational level. Supply Chain Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a reference collection which highlights the major concepts and issues in the application and advancement of supply chain management. Including research from leading scholars, this resource will be useful for academics, students, and practitioners interested in the continuous study of supply chain management and its influences.

Food chain management research can help in the analysis and redesign of value creation and the product flow throughout the chain from primary producer down to the consumer. The aim is to meet consumer and societal requirements effectively at minimal cost. In the Wageningen UR strategic research program, Agrologistics and Supply Chains (2005-2009), a large number of Wageningen UR research institutes were involved in multi-disciplinary and applied research projects in order to shed light on diverse food supply chain management challenges such as, design of chain strategies, collaboration efficiencies between chain partners, management of risks in chains, innovative modeling concepts and application of information technologies. This book presents the results of this program. It offers a diverse disciplinary spectrum on food supply chains and it’s challenges in 15 chapters. It contributes considerably to the advancement of our knowledge on management and control of food supply chains.

In real-life scenarios, service management involves complex decision-making processes usually affected by random or stochastic variables. Under such uncertain conditions, the development and use of robust and flexible strategies, algorithms, and methods can provide the quantitative information necessary to make better business decisions. Decision Making in Service Industries: A Practical Approach explores the challenges that must be faced to provide intelligent strategies for efficient management and decision making that will increase your organization’s competitiveness and profitability. The book provides insight and understanding into practical and methodological issues related to decision-making processes under uncertainty in service industries. It examines current and future trends regarding how these decision-making processes can be efficiently performed for better design of service systems by using probabilistic algorithms as well as hybrid and simulation-based approaches. Traditionally, many quantitative tools have been developed to make decisions in production companies. This book explores how to use these tools for making decisions inside service industries. Thus, the authors tackle strategic, tactical, and operational problems in service companies with the help of suitable quantitative models such as heuristic and metaheuristic algorithms, simulation, or queuing theory. Generally speaking, decision making is a hard task in business fields. Making the issue more complex, most service companies’ problems are related to the uncertainty of the service demand. This book sheds light on these types of decision problems. It provides studies that demonstrate the suitability of quantitative methods to make the right decisions. Consequently, this book presents the business analytics needed to make strategic decisions in service industries.