Evaluating the performance of freight transport: a service approach
From the perspective of service economics, two series of problems appear when evaluating the performance of services:
– Problems related to the specific user-producer interaction in services.
– Problems related to the measurement of production in service activities.
When applied to the case of freight transport, the conceptual framework of service economics allows us to specify the service relation between shippers and transport firms by describing the variety of freight transport demand, and to specify the “product” of transport in terms of short term output and long term lsquo;outcomersquo;.
The definition and delimitation of activities creates a first series of analytical problems. As a matter of fact, freight transport can be internalised in an industrial activity, or an externalised service activity. If we define freight transport as a service activity, we can turn to the service literature which has attempted to characterize the specificities of services in general.
According to the standard technical definition, which can be traced back to the classical view of “unproductive services” (Smith, Marx), a service is considered as immaterial, co-produced between user and producer, non-storable, and non-transportable.
Hill criticizes the distinction between material goods and “intangible” services. Defining services by their intangibility introduces confusion, and the category of intangibles should be recognized as a type of good. Hill thus suggests making a distinction between three categories: tangible goods, intangible goods, and services. The two essential characteristics of services are that they “hellip;cannot be produced without the agreement, co-operation and possibly active participation of the consuming unit” and that “the outputs produced are not separate entities that exist independently of the producers or consumers”.
Following Hill, the definition of services was further developed in a more socio-technical approach, focusing on the concept of “service relation”. A service relation is considered as a particular social relation between a producer and a user, leading to a change in the status of a reality owned by the user. Service activities can thus be defined as operations aimed at the transformation of the state of a reality C, performed by a service provider A for a user or client B, the result of which is not an independent product which can circulate separately from the reality C.
The concept of lsquo;service relationrsquo; thus makes it difficult to identify a lsquo;standard servicersquo; in freight transport. The physical transfer of goods in space (measured in terms of ton-km) is only one aspect of a service relation which is specific to a shipper and a carrier.
We can easily observe that freight transport operations have become more and more complex and differentiated over the past 30 years. Beyond shipping and handling goods, they more and more often include operations such as the treatment of information flows, the differentiation of goods for the final customer etc. The conceptual representation of freight transport exclusively in terms of flows of goods thus becomes less and less relevant to the realities of the freight transport sector and its performance issues. A more relevant conceptual representation of the lsquo;productrsquo; of freight transport must include these different operations .
Nevertheless, even in the service economics literature, freight transport is generally considered as a standard, simple and material service, that is to say having a material object. Following Gadreyrsquo;s definition of services, different objects of services can be distinguished: material objects, people, or information. According to this typology of services, freight transport clearly belongs to the first category, moving material objects in space.
Similarly, in Du Tertrersquo;s typology of production systems (“configurations productives”), freight transport would belong to logistic services, the productivity of which is mainly determined by direct intensity of labor, scale economies and material integration.
Djellal discusses the distinction between services dealing with information and “non-informational” services and demonstrates, in particular for road haulage services, the co-existence of material configurations with a growing integration of information, methodological and relational aspects. The introduction of information and communication technologies has transformed the nature of these services.
In a previous paper, we have discussed the co-existence of different types of operations in freight transport services. Following Gadrey and Gallouj, we distinguish four types of operations in freight transport: material operations (the basic object of transport), treatment of (codified) information, relational or contact operations, and methodological operations (Table 1).
Table 1 The variety of operations coexisting in freight transport services
|
Material operations (M) |
Treatment of information (I) |
Relational and contact operations (R) |
Methodological operations (C ) |
|||||||||||||||
|
Operations concerning : |
Physical transport, handling, loading, unloading |
Treatment of information flows inside the firm and with other firms, tracing/tracking |
Direct contacts between the driver and the shipperrsquo;s customers, feedback on quality of products and distribution |
Coordinate and organize the different operations ; find necessary competencies |
||||||||||||||
|
Improvement of performance through : |
Innovations in vehicles, automation of handling etc. |
Use of ICTs, creation and optimisation of information systems, optimization of management of freight flows and fleet |
Train 剩余内容已隐藏，支付完成后下载完整资料 附录A 译文 货物运输绩效评价：服务方法从服务经济学的角度来看，评价服务水平的时候会有两个系列的问题出现： ——第一个问题是与特定的用户——生产者在服务中的交互相关的。 ——第二个问题是与服务活动中的生产方法相关的。 当服务经济的概念应用于货物运输中时，它允许我们通过描述不同的货物运输需求，从而说明托运人和运输公司之间的服务关系，另外，这样的概念还允许我们指出短期输出和长期的结果的运输产品。 定义和界定产生了分析型问题的第一个系列。事实上，货物运输可以界定在工业活动中，也可以界定为外部化的服务活动。如果将货物运输定义为服务活动，我们可以转而研究那些试图描述服务特性的文献。 根据标准的技术定义可以追溯到经典的“非生产性服务”（史密斯，马克思）的观点，服务被认为是无形的，是用户和生产者、不可储存以及不可传输之间的合作性生产。 希尔批评物质和“无形”服务之间的区别。通过他们混淆的介绍和无形物质的类别来定义服务，它应该被定义为一种产品的类别。因此希尔建议区分以下三种类型：有形货物，无形货物和服务。服务有两个基本特征，一是“他们在没有协议，合作和积极的消费活动的情况下是不能生产的”，二是“生产出来的不是独立的实体，他们不存在独立的生产者或消费者”。 在希尔之后，服务的定义在以更加有社会技术的方法上进一步发展，这种定义的重点在“服务关系”的概念上。服务关系被认为是生产者和用户之间的特定社会关系，这种关系会导致用户的实体状态的改变。因此服务活动可以被定义为旨在改变实体C的操作行为，并且这种操作行为是由服务提供者A来为用户或者客户B进行的，这样做不能产生一个能够区别于实体C的独立产品。 “服务关系”的概念使得在货物运输中定义 “标准服务”变得困难。产品在空间上的物理运输（单位吨-公里）仅仅是服务关系的一个方面，这个方面是特定于托运人和承运人的。 我们可以很容易地观察到，货物运输操作在近30年来已经变得越来越复杂，区别也越来越明显。除了运输和搬运货物，他们越来越多地包括了一些操作，如信息流动的处理，最终客户产品的差异化等等。仅仅在货物流动中，货物运输的概念与货物运输业和它的操作议程相关的方面已经变得越来越少了。它的概念更多地代表货运输的产品必须包括这些不同的操作。 然而，即使在服务经济学文献中，货物运输业通常被认为是一个标准的，简单的和物质的服务，也就是说，它有一个物质对象。根据加德雷对服务的定义，不同的服务对象是可以区分的：物质对象，人，或者信息。根据这一类的服务，货物运输显然属于第一类别，它能够使得物体在空间上移动。 同样地，在杜泰尔特对生产系统（“配置生产”）的分类中，货物运输属于物流服务，这种服务的生产效率主要由直接的劳动强度、规模经济和材料集成来决定。 杰拉勒讨论了处理信息的服务和无信息服务的区别，并且特别支持道路运输服务、在更多信息集成中的材料配置的共存、以及方法论和相关性这些方面。对于信息和通信技术的介绍已经改变了这些服务的本质。 在之前的文章中，我们已经讨论了在货物运输中不同操作类型是共同存在的。根据加德雷和加卢的观点，我们区分了在货物运输中四种不同的操作类型：物质操作（运输的基本对象），信息的处理，相关联的操作以及方法论操作（表1）。 表1 货物运输服务中共存的操作类型
物质操作（M）的重点在于货物运输的传统目的：从一个地点向另一地点的运输对象以及对货物的搬运、装载和卸载。然而，最近的运输服务提供者有时候会提供其他的物质服务，比如仓储，包装和标签。 潜在组合的多样性说明了运输服务，以及所有服务类型是不同结构的产品。此外，组合的排列随时变化着，这使得通过标准服务测量方法来分析货物运输业的动态成为不可能。 尽管运输经济学中最正统的分析承认了吨-公里是一个过时的测量货物运输的输出的方法，但是很明显，运输活动不会生产出重量和距离。吨-公里仅仅只能测量运输货物在空间上的物理消耗，这可能是承运人在20世纪初的主要关注重点，那时90%的货物是通过铁路和水路来运输的。这些是根据弗里奇和普鲁德姆在《尽管运输方式和运输服务是多样的，使用吨-公里的习惯还是古老并且广泛的》中的观点得出的。 事实上，吨-公里依然是存在的，与此同时，被批评最多和被传播最广泛的货运业的输出指标导致了货物运输绩效的错误表示。一个对货物运输的输出的正确并且有力的表示应该将所有在货物转发上相关操作考虑进去。 如果服务产生“状态的改变”，那么区分产品和过程就变得困难了。另外，由服务产生的时间维度的变化是至关重要的。最近的服务经济学文献中，有较多的是区分“输出”和“结果”或者“直接”输出和“间接”输出的。比如在卫生领域中，输出指标可能是所执行医疗行为的数量，或者住院的天数等。然而，结果却可以用预期寿命的改变来衡量。同样地，教育服务可以用他们的输出（学生的数量，教师的教学时间）来评估，或者用他们的结果，如用给定人口的教育水平来评估。 输出和结果的区别可以应用于货物运输服务。货物运输的输出只是关注货物从一个地点向另一地点的运输。而货物运输服务的结果远远超过在空间上移动的范畴，它还涉及对整个高效供应链的贡献，如对生产系统不断的适应、及时交货、灵活性、可靠性以及对整个供应链的信息和管理系统的投入。 通常的生产力指标是建立在吨-公里的基础上的，因此只能评估货物运输服务的直接输出。另一方面，关系到货物运输系统和产品生产系统之间衔接效率的服务结果还有待发展，这些服务的结果不是用传统的指标来衡量的。为了评估长期的绩效，我们不能仅仅使用单一的量化指标，而是有必要将定性的方面考虑进去，从而开发多准则的框架体系。 图1 直接输出指标与货物运输服务结果的对比 弗里奇和普鲁多姆意识到将货物运输的“服务质量”考虑进去是比较困难的。相反，我们认为服务质量的大小是可以定义的，甚至可以被很好的认知——及时交货、可靠性、安全性、充足的生产能力（见图1）——然而，评估的问题涉及到评估框架在单一量化指标上的限制（如吨公里）。 货物运输绩效的分析应当涉及到工业生产系统，也就是运输服务进行的地方。在管理文献中，物流绩效越来越多的由客户满意度来衡量，而不是仅仅只是从托运人的观点来衡量，而是要涉及到整个供应链。货物运输绩效指标应当包含生产系统中货物和信息流动的整体效率。在这样的框架中，提高绩效的主要手段是对生产系统的定性和定量的适应，而不是单纯地靠减少成本或者对车辆技术和基础设施投入资金。 附录B 外文原文 From the perspective of service economics, two series of problems appear when evaluating the performance of services: – Problems related to the specific user-producer interaction in services. – Problems related to the measurement of production in service activities. When applied to the case of freight transport, the conceptual framework of service economics allows us to specify the service relation between shippers and transport firms by describing the variety of freight transport demand, and to specify the “product” of transport in terms of short term output and long term lsquo;outcomersquo;. The definition and delimitation of activities creates a first series of analytical problems. As a matter of fact, freight transport can be internalised in an industrial activity, or an externalised service activity. If we define freight transport as a service activity, we can turn to the service literature which has attempted to characterize the specificities of services in general. According to the standard technical definition, which can be traced back to the classical view of “unproductive services” (Smith, Marx), a service is considered as immaterial, co-produced between user and producer, non-storable, and non-transportable. Hill criticizes the distinction between material goods and “intangible” services. Defining services by their intangibility introduces confusion, and the category of intangibles should be recognized as a type of good. Hill thus suggests making a distinction between three categories: tangible goods, intangible goods, and services. The two essential characteristics of services are that they “hellip;cannot be produced without the agreement, co-operation and possibly active participation of the consuming unit” and that “the outputs produced are not separate entities that exist independently of the producers or consumers”. Following Hill, the definition of services was further developed in a more socio-technical approach, focusing on the concept of “service relation”. A service relation is considered as a particular social relation between a producer and a user, leading to a change in the status of a reality owned by the user. Service activities can thus be defined as operations aimed at the transformation of the state of a reality C, performed by a service provider A for a user or client B, the result of which is not an independent product which can circulate separately from the reality C. The concept of lsquo;service relationrsquo; thus makes it difficult to identify a lsquo;standard servicersquo; in freight transport. The physical transfer of goods in spa 剩余内容已隐藏，支付完成后下载完整资料 资料编号：[505206]，资料为PDF文档或Word文档，PDF文档可免费转换为Word |
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