{"title":"How digital transformation enhances supply chain transparency? Based on the perspective of information improvement and resource optimization","authors":"Limeng Chai , Kee-hung Lai , Longyu Zong","doi":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104256","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104256","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The enhancement of supply chain transparency has emerged as a central concern in modern supply chain management. In this context, the adoption of digital technologies is increasingly viewed as a crucial strategy for improving both visibility and accountability throughout supply chains. Drawing on data from the annual reports of A-share listed enterprises between 2012 and 2021, this paper explores the effect of digital transformation on supply chain transparency, and delves into mechanisms underlying this relationship. Results demonstrate that the enterprise digital transformation has significantly enhanced the supply chain transparency, and this conclusion remains valid following a series of robustness tests. In terms of the influence mechanism, digital transformation improves inter-enterprise information transparency and optimizes enterprise resource allocation efficiency, thereby enhancing supply chain transparency, which underscores the importance of information and resource optimization in driving supply chain improvements. Furthermore, the analysis uncovers a negative moderating effect of supply chain concentration on the link between digital transformation and supply chain transparency. Finally, the heterogeneity analysis highlights that the influence of digital transformation on transparency is more pronounced in high-tech industries, economically developed area, and weak supply chain resistance. This paper enhances the understanding of the role that digital transformation in improving the supply chain systems and offers important implications for management practices aimed at advancing supply chain transparency.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49418,"journal":{"name":"Transportation Research Part E-Logistics and Transportation Review","volume":"201 ","pages":"Article 104256"},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144291243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Blockchain adoption in cross-border cold supply chains: Cost, Efficiency and Trust","authors":"Abhinay Mishra , Tanmoy Kundu , Rohit Kapoor , Mark Goh","doi":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104236","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104236","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cross-border cold supply chains face critical challenges, including demand variability, quality degradation, and inefficiencies due to limited transparency. This study presents an analytical model comparing traditional and blockchain-enabled cold supply chains, emphasizing optimal order quantities, retail pricing, quality preservation, and profitability. A distinctive feature of this work is the integration of real-time data-sharing capabilities enabled by blockchain, which enhances demand estimation by incorporating additional data from random demand variations, an essential factor in improving forecasting accuracy and operational efficiency. A novel blockchain cost-sharing mechanism is introduced, redistributing implementation costs among stakeholders to lower financial barriers and encourage collaborative participation. Our findings reveal that blockchain adoption not only improves supply chain coordination and profitability but also fosters greater customer trust by enabling lower retail prices, in contrast to traditional models that rely on higher prices to offset transparency gaps. These insights offer a strategic framework for managers aiming to leverage blockchain technology for more resilient, efficient, and sustainable cross-border supply chain operations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49418,"journal":{"name":"Transportation Research Part E-Logistics and Transportation Review","volume":"201 ","pages":"Article 104236"},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144280216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xiaoliang Zhu , Zixue Guo , Yingchen Yan , Guoqing Yang
{"title":"Options of financing strategies: On the advantages of profit performance and signaling efficiency","authors":"Xiaoliang Zhu , Zixue Guo , Yingchen Yan , Guoqing Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104227","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104227","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In supply chains where downstream retailers, often small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), face capital limitations and information asymmetry, core enterprises (CEs) often aim to enhance overall performance by implementing financing assistance and conveying demand information They can choose to offer trade credit finance (TCF) or provide partial credit guarantee (PCG) financing as signaling mechanisms, but the effectiveness and profitability of these strategies remains unclear. To address this gap, this paper establishes an analytical model to compare and examine the signaling role and profitability of these financing strategies. Our findings indicate that CEs can credibly signal the demand state through both financing contracts, with signal distortions reduced through TCF for the CE and PCG for the retailer. Both supply chain members achieve a Pareto improvement by adopting PCG when production costs or interest rates are low, as the residual default loss exceeds the interest revenue or financing costs decline. Similarly, a Pareto improvement can be achieved through TCF when either production costs or interest rates are high, reducing the likelihood of bankruptcy or raising financing costs. Notably, PCG under information asymmetry achieves a larger win-win area compared to information symmetry. In addition, if the supply chain characteristics are interchanged, only TCF can achieve a Pareto improvement at a low financing rate. These insights shed light on the advantages of PCG and TCF for financing SMEs, offering valuable guidance for managers when selecting suitable financing strategies. This study contributes to understanding the signaling role of different financing strategies, specifically TCF and PCG, in supply chain contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49418,"journal":{"name":"Transportation Research Part E-Logistics and Transportation Review","volume":"201 ","pages":"Article 104227"},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144272625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Agency or reseller: The role of supply chain finance in deciding E-commerce channel under product return risk","authors":"Kirit Ghosh , Sumanta Basu , Balram Avittathur , Kannan Govindan","doi":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104182","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104182","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>E-commerce platforms connect the product manufacturers with the customers by operating either as a reseller or as an agency channel. A financially constrained manufacturer (FCM) selling through these platforms must depend on either (i) bank credit financing (BCF), (ii) platform credit financing (PCF), or (iii) equity financing (FCF) by a fin-tech firm for financial viability. The financial risk increases due to higher product returns through an E-commerce platform. This paper evaluates the selection of supply chain channels by the platform and financial offerings by the stakeholders while facing the risk of product return. We show that, in the reseller channel, PCF is a win-win for both the FCM and the platform. However, the platform’s strategy is to offer PCF in the agency channel, which may not be optimal for FCM. Interestingly, when the platform offers PCF in the agency channel, a higher platform fee motivates it to lower the interest rate, leading to the FCM increasing the order quantity. When the share-to-equity ratio is moderate, FCM opts for FCF over PCF. Depending on the platform fee and the product return risk, the platform might prefer FCF, resulting in a win-win-win for the FCM, fin-tech firm, and the platform. Like Amazon, under certain conditions, the platform can move away from a pure agency channel and charge a fixed closing fee, increasing the zone of Pareto optimality for the e-commerce supply chain. Lastly, we find that the selection of agency channel positively contributes to the consumer surplus and total social welfare.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49418,"journal":{"name":"Transportation Research Part E-Logistics and Transportation Review","volume":"201 ","pages":"Article 104182"},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144262713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xujin Pu , Mingzhuo Dai , Jianqiang Zhang , Wen Zhang
{"title":"Product selling, social utility and virtual tips in live streaming","authors":"Xujin Pu , Mingzhuo Dai , Jianqiang Zhang , Wen Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104207","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104207","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Live streaming has gained significant popularity due to its ability to foster social interaction and promote products. This paper develops a theoretical model to examine consumers’ purchasing and tipping behaviors, incorporating their social utilities during live streaming. Our findings show that product selling and virtual tipping in live streaming interact through the moderating effect of social utility. As the size of followers increases, manufacturers tend to lower product prices in live streaming to stimulate both purchasing and tipping behaviors. However, continuously reducing the price is not an optimal strategy. Additionally, we demonstrate that live stream selling represents a win-win option for both influencers and manufacturers compared to direct selling. Interestingly, influencers with relatively small follower bases are even willing to sell manufacturers’ products without charging a commission. These insights deepen the understanding of live stream selling and virtual tips, offering practical guidance for live streaming professionals to make informed strategic decisions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49418,"journal":{"name":"Transportation Research Part E-Logistics and Transportation Review","volume":"201 ","pages":"Article 104207"},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144272624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yuchen Du , Hai Yang , Joseph Y.J. Chow , Tho V. Le
{"title":"Two-stage stochastic fleet and battery sizing with routing optimization for sidewalk delivery robots","authors":"Yuchen Du , Hai Yang , Joseph Y.J. Chow , Tho V. Le","doi":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104220","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104220","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rapidly growing online food delivery (OFD) market presents substantial logistical challenges for last-mile delivery operations. Sidewalk delivery robots (SDRs) have emerged as a promising alternative to on-demand workers, as these compact, box-sized robots efficiently deliver food or groceries over short distances via sidewalks. We propose a two-stage stochastic optimization model for a single-depot SDR system with integrated battery-swapping operations. In the first stage, a continuous approximation (CA) method determines the optimal fleet size and the required number of additional swappable batteries. The second-stage solutions are critical to facilitate the first-stage method. These involve solving a routing problem that incorporates battery-swapping decisions and penalties for late arrivals. To address this, we develop a customized heuristic based on adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) to generate high-quality solutions for the second stage. The fitted CA model integrates key factors, including time windows, battery swapping, and pickup-delivery orders. Numerical examples highlight the proposed approach’s efficiency in reducing computational time while maintaining solution accuracy. A case study and sensitivity analysis conducted on Purdue University’s campus illustrate the practical impacts of fleet size and the number of swappable batteries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49418,"journal":{"name":"Transportation Research Part E-Logistics and Transportation Review","volume":"201 ","pages":"Article 104220"},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144262853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A multi-scenario charging pile reservation mechanism considering consumers’ personalized preferences","authors":"Shengnan Lv, Tong Wu, Yong Qin, Xinxin Wang, Zeshui Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104234","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104234","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Electric vehicle (EV) users experience “charging anxiety” due to the uncertainty and negative emotions around accessing or using charging piles (CPs). How to improve EV users’ charging experience with limited resources of charging infrastructure is a valuable research topic. This paper provides a multi-scenario CP advance reservation system (CPARS) considering user’s personalized preferences. Firstly, an online reviews-driven personalized preference matching method for pairing EVs with CPs is proposed to obtain the vehicle-pile matching degree (MD). Then, a charging scheduling mechanism is designed to coordinate the charging time of EV users with the potential available time of CPs. Finally, the recommendation problems are formulated as three binary linear programming models to maximize the user’s perceived utility for different scenarios considering total time, total fees, SOC levels, real-time traffic information, and individual preferences. To solve it, a discrete Flying Fox Optimization (FFO) is introduced. A case study using a real map and CP network is conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed strategies significantly improve the perceived utility of EV users in specific scenarios and offer advantages in increasing the serviceable quantity of CPs. The robustness of the proposed charging strategies is tested by varying the number of users. Furthermore, it reveals the significant effects of consumer’s risk aversion, regret aversion, and time value on users’ perceived utility.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49418,"journal":{"name":"Transportation Research Part E-Logistics and Transportation Review","volume":"201 ","pages":"Article 104234"},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144254161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mohammadjalal Mirbeygishahabad , Mehdi Najafi , Hossein Zolfagharinia
{"title":"From imperfection to advantage: Quantifying the benefits of imperfect advance load information for multi-truck carriers","authors":"Mohammadjalal Mirbeygishahabad , Mehdi Najafi , Hossein Zolfagharinia","doi":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104209","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104209","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Considering the dynamic and volatile conditions of spot markets, small trucking companies often struggle with load selection due to imperfect advance load information (iALI). This study develops a mathematical approach to better leverage iALI in the spot market. Using mathematical and statistical techniques, it examines two key aspects: (i) quantifying the benefit of iALI for multi-truck companies, and (ii) analyzing how market attributes affect its value. The proposed framework integrates iALI into truck activity planning via two decision-making policies: (i) Look-ahead (LOAH) and (ii) Value Function Approximation (VFA). LOAH assumes all loads materialize deterministically, while VFA uses a stochastic framework to dynamically incorporate imperfect information. To benchmark these policies, a Greedy policy is also considered as a baseline, where all advance load information is treated as completely unreliable, and decisions rely solely on currently available loads. To ensure practical relevance, the model includes real-world factors like domicile visits, truck coordination, and shipper classifications. Results show that VFA, by dynamically using iALI, improves profits by over 70% compared to LOAH, especially in classified markets, while also achieving faster solution times. A real-world case study confirms the model’s effectiveness for small trucking firms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49418,"journal":{"name":"Transportation Research Part E-Logistics and Transportation Review","volume":"201 ","pages":"Article 104209"},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144240104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Waiting or inferring information from competitive contract manufacturer: The role of brand relatedness under disclosure policy","authors":"Qiuyu Huang, Lei Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104188","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104188","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) delegate their production operations to competitive contract manufacturers (CMs) in several industries. However, due to low supply chain transparency, OEMs often lack knowledge of the production information of CMs. Therefore, a series of disclosure policies require that CMs have to disclose updated production information at a certain time spot. As a result of consumers’ perception on related brands, updated production information induces direct (indirect) impacts on the market demand of the CM (OEM), depending on brand relatedness. In this context, we develop a stylized model to investigate the optimal order timing decisions considering production-information-related demand fluctuation in a co-opetitive supply chain. If waiting for information disclosure, the OEM directly observes the updated production information. If not, the OEM can infer this information through the given wholesale price. We find that when brand relatedness is great (low), the OEM would like to order after (before) the disclosure, and the CM prefers to order before (after) the disclosure. Interestingly, our study shows that the OEM may not gain greater information value by waiting, which is contrary to traditional wisdom. Our findings shed light on how firms should manage brand relatedness and choose optimal order timing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49418,"journal":{"name":"Transportation Research Part E-Logistics and Transportation Review","volume":"201 ","pages":"Article 104188"},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144254160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The impact of operational leanness and resilience on managing geopolitical risks: The moderating role of demand uncertainty and betweenness centrality","authors":"Minhao Gu , Hui Wang , Yanming Zhang , Ziyue Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104214","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tre.2025.104214","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The U.S.-China trade war significantly impacts global supply chain security and stability. This study delves into a particular policy enacted by the U.S. amid the U.S.-China trade war context, targeting foreign investment in China. Our focus is on examining its repercussions on the stock market of relevant high-tech industries in China, and we explore how operational leanness and operational resilience hedge the impact, as well as environmental and network factors moderate these effects based on the complex adaptive systems (CASs) perspective. This study adopts the event study method to analyze the impact of the U.S. investment restriction event in China on the shareholder value of Chinese listed firms. To test our model, we collected data from 812 Chinese listed firms. The U.S. investment restriction event adversely affects the shareholder value of targeted industries in China. Furthermore, we observe a negative correlation between operational leanness and cumulative abnormal returns, while operational resilience exhibits a positive association with cumulative abnormal returns. We also delve into the impact of demand uncertainty and betweenness centrality on these two moderating effects. Our findings reveal that demand uncertainty weakens the positive influence of operational resilience, whereas betweenness centrality strengthens it. However, neither demand uncertainty nor betweenness centrality influences the efficacy of operational leanness. This research enriches the geopolitical risk literature by focusing on a significant investment restriction act. Our study contributes to the different roles of operational leanness and resilience in mitigating geopolitical risks as well as their boundary conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49418,"journal":{"name":"Transportation Research Part E-Logistics and Transportation Review","volume":"201 ","pages":"Article 104214"},"PeriodicalIF":8.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144239910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}