Title: Investigating the transport flexibility measures for freight transportation: a fuzzy best-worst method approach

Authors: Vipulesh Shardeo; Anchal Patil; Ashish Dwivedi; Jitender Madaan

Addresses: Department of Operations and Analytics, Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi, India; Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India ' School of Business and Management, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India; Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India ' Jindal Global Business School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India ' Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India

Abstract: Unpredicted disruptions force organisations to ensure flexibility for fulfilling customer demand. Enabling flexibility along the transportation system is the most suitable solution for unpredictable disruptions. Flexibility, being a potential element, requires more attention to gain competitive advantages. In this study, an effort has been made to investigate different transport flexibility measures (TFMs) related to freight transportation. Initially, an extensive literature survey is performed to identify different TFMs linked with the supply chain and logistics domain. Further, an integrated fuzzy best-worst method (FBWM) has been adopted to prioritise the identified TFMs and sensitivity analysis is performed to ensure robustness of the model. The findings of the study reflect mode, fleet, vehicle and speed flexibility as the significant flexibility measures for freight transportation. This study will help practitioners, managers and decision-makers associated with freight transportation to make better decisions to ensure flexibility in the freight transportation system.

Keywords: freight transportation; flexibility; multi-criteria decision making; MCDM; fuzzy best worst-method; FBWM; sensitivity analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2022.126013

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2022 Vol.43 No.2, pp.268 - 295

Received: 28 Jun 2020
Accepted: 09 Aug 2020
Published online: 07 Oct 2022 *

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