Towards a Business Model Framework to Increase Collaboration in the Freight Industry

Collaboration in the freight industry has not been widely adopted mainly due to the perceived barriers in competition resulting in a lack of trust among fleet operators. Collaboration in this sector has significant benefits, including the reduction of empty running, operating costs (OPEX) and greenh...

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Main Authors: Alix Vargas, Shushma Patel, Dilip Patel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-10-01
Series:Logistics
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/2/4/22
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author Alix Vargas
Shushma Patel
Dilip Patel
author_facet Alix Vargas
Shushma Patel
Dilip Patel
author_sort Alix Vargas
collection DOAJ
description Collaboration in the freight industry has not been widely adopted mainly due to the perceived barriers in competition resulting in a lack of trust among fleet operators. Collaboration in this sector has significant benefits, including the reduction of empty running, operating costs (OPEX) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) resulting in greater utilisation of existing logistics assets. A review of the literature to establish the critical aspects of freight collaboration was undertaken, as well as analyses of published case studies and European Union (EU)-funded projects. The critical aspects and barriers identified include: revenue sharing; compliance with competition law; process synchronization; organisational and systems interoperability; different forms of collaboration from a physical and coordination structure perspective; and strategies for collaboration. To facilitate collaboration a freight collaborative business model (FCBM) framework that highlights problematic areas in freight collaboration is proposed to support standardizing collaborative practices in the freight industry. Three published freight industry collaboration business cases were evaluated against the model. The business model framework is intended as a tool to be used to compare different business models and identify the best innovations to help facilitate collaborative practices. The freight collaboration business model was applied to the Freight Share Lab research project in order to demonstrate the concept and investigate whether efficiency can be unlocked through deployment of a dynamic data and asset sharing platform to enable route and load optimization across multiple fleets of freight vehicles, rail freight wagons and containers.
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spelling doaj-art-07d93c1fae264695a1e4b67b8293b2fa2025-08-20T03:33:02ZengMDPI AGLogistics2305-62902018-10-01242210.3390/logistics2040022logistics2040022Towards a Business Model Framework to Increase Collaboration in the Freight IndustryAlix Vargas0Shushma Patel1Dilip Patel2Transport Systems Catapult, Milton Keynes MK9 1BP, UKSchool of Engineering, London South Bank University, London SE1 0AA, UKSchool of Engineering, London South Bank University, London SE1 0AA, UKCollaboration in the freight industry has not been widely adopted mainly due to the perceived barriers in competition resulting in a lack of trust among fleet operators. Collaboration in this sector has significant benefits, including the reduction of empty running, operating costs (OPEX) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) resulting in greater utilisation of existing logistics assets. A review of the literature to establish the critical aspects of freight collaboration was undertaken, as well as analyses of published case studies and European Union (EU)-funded projects. The critical aspects and barriers identified include: revenue sharing; compliance with competition law; process synchronization; organisational and systems interoperability; different forms of collaboration from a physical and coordination structure perspective; and strategies for collaboration. To facilitate collaboration a freight collaborative business model (FCBM) framework that highlights problematic areas in freight collaboration is proposed to support standardizing collaborative practices in the freight industry. Three published freight industry collaboration business cases were evaluated against the model. The business model framework is intended as a tool to be used to compare different business models and identify the best innovations to help facilitate collaborative practices. The freight collaboration business model was applied to the Freight Share Lab research project in order to demonstrate the concept and investigate whether efficiency can be unlocked through deployment of a dynamic data and asset sharing platform to enable route and load optimization across multiple fleets of freight vehicles, rail freight wagons and containers.http://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/2/4/22freightcollaborationcompetitionlogisticsneutral trusteebusiness modelfleet operationsdecision support systems
spellingShingle Alix Vargas
Shushma Patel
Dilip Patel
Towards a Business Model Framework to Increase Collaboration in the Freight Industry
Logistics
freight
collaboration
competition
logistics
neutral trustee
business model
fleet operations
decision support systems
title Towards a Business Model Framework to Increase Collaboration in the Freight Industry
title_full Towards a Business Model Framework to Increase Collaboration in the Freight Industry
title_fullStr Towards a Business Model Framework to Increase Collaboration in the Freight Industry
title_full_unstemmed Towards a Business Model Framework to Increase Collaboration in the Freight Industry
title_short Towards a Business Model Framework to Increase Collaboration in the Freight Industry
title_sort towards a business model framework to increase collaboration in the freight industry
topic freight
collaboration
competition
logistics
neutral trustee
business model
fleet operations
decision support systems
url http://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/2/4/22
work_keys_str_mv AT alixvargas towardsabusinessmodelframeworktoincreasecollaborationinthefreightindustry
AT shushmapatel towardsabusinessmodelframeworktoincreasecollaborationinthefreightindustry
AT dilippatel towardsabusinessmodelframeworktoincreasecollaborationinthefreightindustry