The last few decades have witnessed an explosion in the adoption of information technology and automation worldwide. This phenomenon has served as a catalyst to profound changes in the planning, design, and execution of last mile delivery operations necessary to fulfill demand in a wide variety of settings. In a special issue of the Journal of Operations Management, we solicit
empirical papers that advance our theoretical understanding of the role of technology in last mile operations.
Potential topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
- The use of incentives to reduce last-mile labor attrition and increase learning rates and performance
- The role of prices for last-mile product delivery services in shaping product sales and service operations
- The use of real-time data to design adaptive operational policies to dynamically redeploy last-mile resources in order to serve end recipients (consumers, patients, beneficiaries, etc.) in a more personalized and cost-effective manner
- The role of automation and process design to remove scalability constraints in last-mile delivery operations
- Design thinking applications to the development of operations in last-mile delivery services that are focused on addressing end recipients' needs
- Increasing resiliency to supply chain disruptions through improvements in forecasting, flexibility, and preemption in last-mile delivery operations
Guest Editors: Niels Agatz (RSM Erasmus University), Jan Fransoo (Tilburg University), Stanley Lim (Michigan State University), Elliot Rabinovich (Arizona State University), Rui Sousa (Catholic University of Portugal).
Paper submission deadline: May 31, 2023
Proposal enquiry deadline: November 30, 2022.
If you would like to informally discuss a proposal and are attending the INFORMS Annual Meeting 2022, please reach out to Jan Fransoo who will be attending the Meeting.
Call for Papers full details attached------------------------------
Jan Fransoo
Professor
Tilburg University
Tilburg
Netherlands
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