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Amidst the global advancement of sustainable production, the green supply chain initiative is becoming increasingly significant in harmonizing environmental and economic interests. This study delves into the financial implications of such initiatives, focusing on a particular government-led green supply chain demonstration project. Utilizing a difference-in-differences model and data from firms involved in the project between 2010 and 2021, findings indicate a notable reduction in firms' financial distress. This result, framed within the resource-based view perspective, shed lights on how green policy value permeates a company's internal capabilities, aligning environmental goals with financial performance. Additionally, we found that when companies enhance the quality of their environmental information disclosure and decrease the concentration of their supply chain, the inhibitory effect of this demonstration policy on financial distress is amplified. This underscores the pivotal value of enhancing information transparency and maintaining a flexible supply chain structure in green supply chain practices. In conclusion, this study emphasizes the empirical link between sustainable operations and financial resilience, laying a strong theoretical groundwork for businesses to proactively adopt green practices and aiding in the government's crafting of environmental policies. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Beijing Winter Olympic Games is an extremely important event, and the supply of electricity is the basis for it. In order to prevent the sudden loss of power to the event, it is necessary to carry out power repair and restore normal power supply in the shortest possible time. Contemporary research is less focused on the emergency repair of power systems. This thesis studies the dispatching of power emergency materials in two stages and in the first stage, the minimum gap rate and the shortest time for material dispatching and transportation are mainly considered, and the required types of power emergency materials are dispatched from the storage near the Olympic venues to various power failure points. In the second stage, aiming at the shortage of power emergency materials at each fault point, the power emergency materials will be dispatched from the rear national power grid regional material reserve to the power emergency materials reserve near the Olympic venues and then dispatched to each power fault point through the power emergency materials reserve. Finally, this paper verifies the effectiveness of the combination of the primary and secondary dispatching models in an example, providing a reference for further improving the emergency response capability of the Olympic venues and improving the safety system of the power system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After an earthquake, affected areas have insufficient medicinal supplies, thereby necessitating substantial distribution of first-aid medicine from other supply centers. To make a proper distribution schedule, we considered the timing of supply and demand. In the present study, a "sequential time window" is used to describe the time to generate of supply and demand and the time of supply delivery. Then, considering the sequential time window, we proposed two multiobjective scheduling models with the consideration of demand uncertainty; two multiobjective stochastic programming models were also proposed to solve the scheduling models. Moreover, this paper describes a simulation that was performed based on a first-aid medicine distribution problem during a Wenchuan earthquake response. The simulation results show that the methodologies proposed in this paper provide effective schedules for the distribution of first-aid medicine. The developed distribution schedule enables some supplies in the former time windows to be used in latter time windows. This schedule increases the utility of limited stocks and avoids the risk that all the supplies are used in the short-term, leaving no supplies for long-term use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution from physical distribution to logistics, and then to supply chain management has invoked many interesting studies in recent years. By applying the material flow theory that expands attributes of logistics to coordination of environment, economy, and society, this paper examines the evolution from a unique perspective: sustainable development. The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary review of the evolution of physical distribution, logistics, supply chain management, and their new stage-material flow theory. The paper aims at tracing how concepts and findings in physical distribution, logistics, supply chain management, and material flow have been developed and extended continually. The results show that the requirements for material flow services vary with the economic development level in different countries and that material flow service is required to be compatible with a country's development stage. The paper concludes that the MF theory is the option for dealing with the overwhelming complexity of material flow systems in the global economy of the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earthquakes have catastrophic effects on the affected population, especially in undeveloped countries or regions. Minimizing the impact and consequences of earthquakes involves many decisions and disaster relief operations that should be optimized. A critical disaster management problem is to construct shelters with reasonable capacity in the right locations, allocate evacuees, and provide relief materials to them within a reasonable period. This study proposes a bi-objective hierarchical model with two stages, namely, the temporary shelter stage and the short-term shelter stage. The proposed objectives at different stages are to minimize the evacuation time, maximize the suitability based on qualitative factors, and minimize the number of sites while considering the demand, capacity, utilization, and budget constraints. The performance evaluation of the emergency shelter was carried out by fuzzy-VIKOR, and the most ideal location of the shelter was determined through multiple standards. Emergency management organizations can benefit from the collective expertise of multiple decision-makers because the proposed method uses their knowledge to automate the location and allocation process of shelters. In the case of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, the results of using this hybrid approach provide the government with a range of options. This method can realize the trade-off between efficiency and cost in the emergency shelter location and material distribution, and realize reliable solutions in disaster emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Fast-growing online retail market provides convenience for customers. But it makes competition among online retailers fiercer as well. Online retailers need to improve online shoppers’ satisfaction level for the purpose of keeping their loyalty. As an important component in online retail market, logistics service affects online shoppers’ satisfaction level. By applying expectation confirmation theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore how customized logistics services (CLS) influences online shoppers’ satisfaction level and whether the relationship between them is moderated by product type. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from Tmall.com, the biggest online retail market in China. Exploratory factor analysis and two-way ANOVA were conducted to analyze the data. Findings – The results indicate that CLS positively impacts online shoppers’ satisfaction level. But product type does not have moderate effect on the relationship between CLS and online shoppers’ satisfaction level. Practical implications – Online retail market grows fast. As the number of retailers keeps increasing, competition in this market becomes fiercer. In order to attract new shoppers and increase shoppers’ loyalty, online retailers must make shopper satisfied with their purchase. CLS positively impacts online shoppers’ satisfaction level, online retailers should offer shoppers CLS. Originality/value – This study examines how customized logistics influences customer satisfaction, and extends literatures related to online customer satisfaction by integrating the factor CLS and opens the way for other studies related to logistics service customization. Furthermore, this study discusses how IoT will improve online retailers’ abilities in providing CLS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Monitoring the real-time temperature, humidity, and physical position status of goods is vital in the cold chain. Diverse logistics technologies and systems have been adopted in the cold chain for monitoring perishable goods. However, these technologies and systems are independent from each other. Data and information in them are not integrated so that information control is not effective. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – By integrating Internet of Things and tracking technologies, this paper proposes an intelligent tracking system, which is designed to achieve effective and fast live monitoring of goods in the cold chain at the lowest cost and with the largest network capacity and simplest protocols. Findings – Structure and information platform design mechanism are introduced. The key part of this system is a wireless sensor network built on Zigbee. Wireless sensors located in cold storages or refrigerated trucks are able to collect and transmit live data quickly and efficiently. Originality/value – Users of the proposed system can easily monitor goods transported in cold chains. In addition, the system assigns specific servers to save historical data for inquiries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]