Urban consolidation center or peer-to-peer platform? The solution to urban last-mile delivery

The growing population in cities and booming e-commerce activities create huge demand for urban last-mile delivery, exerting intense pressure on the cities' well-being. To keep congestion and pollution under control, a consolidator can operate an urban consolidation center (UCC) to bundle shipm...

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Main Authors: DENG, Qiyuan, FANG, Xin, LIM, Yun Fong
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Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6695
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/7687/viewcontent/UCC_platform_POM_Final.pdf
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spelling sg-smu-ink.lkcsb_research-76872021-06-30T07:27:57Z Urban consolidation center or peer-to-peer platform? The solution to urban last-mile delivery DENG, Qiyuan FANG, Xin LIM, Yun Fong The growing population in cities and booming e-commerce activities create huge demand for urban last-mile delivery, exerting intense pressure on the cities' well-being. To keep congestion and pollution under control, a consolidator can operate an urban consolidation center (UCC) to bundle shipments from multiple carriers before the last-mile delivery. Alternatively, the consolidator can operate a peer-to-peer platform for the carriers to share delivery capacity. We provide guidance for the consolidator to choose between these two business models by comparative analysis. We capture the interactions between the consolidator and carriers using a game-theoretical framework. Under each business model, the consolidator first decides a price of delivery service to maximize her expected profit. Each carrier then observes his task volume, and decides whether to deliver on his own or use the consolidator's service to minimize his delivery cost. Under the UCC model, the carriers become more dependent on the UCC as their variable delivery cost increases. Under the platform model, the demand and the supply of delivery capacity on the platform are balanced in equilibrium. Between the two business models, the UCC is more profitable than the platform if and only if the carriers' variable delivery cost is sufficiently large. Moreover, the UCC becomes more dominant as there are more carriers. The UCC is also more efficient than the platform in mitigating the negative social-environmental impact of urban last-mile delivery if and only if there are sufficiently many carriers. Otherwise, the platform performs better. 2021-04-01T07:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6695 info:doi/10.1111/poms.13289 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/7687/viewcontent/UCC_platform_POM_Final.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University last-mile delivery urban consolidation center peer-to-peer platform game theory Operations and Supply Chain Management Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Transportation
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic last-mile delivery
urban consolidation center
peer-to-peer platform
game theory
Operations and Supply Chain Management
Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering
Transportation
spellingShingle last-mile delivery
urban consolidation center
peer-to-peer platform
game theory
Operations and Supply Chain Management
Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering
Transportation
DENG, Qiyuan
FANG, Xin
LIM, Yun Fong
Urban consolidation center or peer-to-peer platform? The solution to urban last-mile delivery
description The growing population in cities and booming e-commerce activities create huge demand for urban last-mile delivery, exerting intense pressure on the cities' well-being. To keep congestion and pollution under control, a consolidator can operate an urban consolidation center (UCC) to bundle shipments from multiple carriers before the last-mile delivery. Alternatively, the consolidator can operate a peer-to-peer platform for the carriers to share delivery capacity. We provide guidance for the consolidator to choose between these two business models by comparative analysis. We capture the interactions between the consolidator and carriers using a game-theoretical framework. Under each business model, the consolidator first decides a price of delivery service to maximize her expected profit. Each carrier then observes his task volume, and decides whether to deliver on his own or use the consolidator's service to minimize his delivery cost. Under the UCC model, the carriers become more dependent on the UCC as their variable delivery cost increases. Under the platform model, the demand and the supply of delivery capacity on the platform are balanced in equilibrium. Between the two business models, the UCC is more profitable than the platform if and only if the carriers' variable delivery cost is sufficiently large. Moreover, the UCC becomes more dominant as there are more carriers. The UCC is also more efficient than the platform in mitigating the negative social-environmental impact of urban last-mile delivery if and only if there are sufficiently many carriers. Otherwise, the platform performs better.
format text
author DENG, Qiyuan
FANG, Xin
LIM, Yun Fong
author_facet DENG, Qiyuan
FANG, Xin
LIM, Yun Fong
author_sort DENG, Qiyuan
title Urban consolidation center or peer-to-peer platform? The solution to urban last-mile delivery
title_short Urban consolidation center or peer-to-peer platform? The solution to urban last-mile delivery
title_full Urban consolidation center or peer-to-peer platform? The solution to urban last-mile delivery
title_fullStr Urban consolidation center or peer-to-peer platform? The solution to urban last-mile delivery
title_full_unstemmed Urban consolidation center or peer-to-peer platform? The solution to urban last-mile delivery
title_sort urban consolidation center or peer-to-peer platform? the solution to urban last-mile delivery
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2021
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6695
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/7687/viewcontent/UCC_platform_POM_Final.pdf
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