Browsing by Author "Perotti, Sara"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Assessing the environmental impact of logistics sites through CO2eq footprint computation
    (Wiley, 2022-01-18) Perotti, Sara; Prataviera, Lorenzo Bruno
    The environmental sustainability of logistics facilities is widely acknowledged as an important issue, but a comprehensive standardised methodology for assessing their environmental impact is lacking. This study proposes a structured model for quantifying both consumptions and generated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, adopting a three-phase methodology that combines multiple methods. A literature-based conceptual framework was leveraged to design an analytical model, and in-depth interviews with 11 senior logistics managers were conducted. The study offers a replicable methodology that considers heterogeneous sources of consumption and related end-use types, further splitting consumptions and emissions by warehouses' functional areas. It offers a set of Environmental Performance Indicators (EPIs) that could bolster a clearer understanding of the warehouse environmental performance. A robust tool is offered to managers to support their decision-making processes, allowing for both internal assessments and benchmarking with competitors or other players along the supply chain, thus contributing to shape company's, or even supply chain, sustainability strategies.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    A call to action: a stakeholder analysis of green logistics practices
    (Emerald, 2023-07-06) Prataviera, Lorenzo Bruno; Creazza, Alessandro; Perotti, Sara
    Purpose – There is a growing body of literature discussing the green logistics practices (GLPs) that companies could introduce to reduce the logistics environmental impact. Current approaches also identify several influencing factors within firms that could serve as barriers to, or enablers of, GLPs. However, less is known about the role of extra-firm stakeholders, even though these are crucial to operationalizing green logistics effectively. This study merges current theoretical understanding with empirical evidence to provide a detailed stakeholder analysis of GLPs. Design/methodology/approach – Using stakeholder theory as a theoretical lens, we aimed at offering a mid-range contribution by conducting multiple embedded case studies examining Italian logistics service providers and shippers. GLPs and the related influencing factors were examined as sub-units of analysis within broader companies’ environmental sustainability strategies. Findings – We identified cascading effects among factors influencing the adoption of GLPs (e.g., key economic factors are affected by external factors which also influence organizational and collaboration factors). These effects are moderated by interdependencies between primary and secondary stakeholders, and the study highlights the prominent involvement of secondary stakeholders, such as final consumers. Originality/value – Our paper contributes to better understanding how and why companies adopt GLPs, emphasizing the wide set of stakeholders involved and illustrating how different stakeholders impact on GLPs adoption by affecting a set of influencing factors. By combining insights from the available literature with contemporary empirical data, we emphasize how Logistics Service Providers and shippers can no longer address the adoption of GLPs as “focal companies”, but only as part of a “focal network of interconnected stakeholders”, all of them influencing GLPs adoption.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    E-grocery challenges and a solution approach from multi-objective perspectives
    (Springer, 2022-02-06) Foresti, Laura; Perotti, Sara; Ekren, Banu Y.; Prataviera, Lorenzo Bruno
    This paper provides an overview of the complex structure of the e-grocery industry, highlighting recent trends and challenges including the increasing customers’ expectations. Customers’ satisfaction can be driven by multiple objectives, which can create significant trade-offs. We propose a new approach as a future work for e-grocery businesses to leverage multi-objective perspectives, maximizing product availability and sustainability and minimizing cost. Specifically, we propose an e-grocery store assignment policy while consumers are using apps, which is developed on a real-time data-driven approach from customer ordering behaviors. With the help of data availability and data analytic tools, data-based solutions can foster continuous improvement in businesses. In a simulation study, imitating different demand profiles and online ordering behaviors might help develop a good solution approach for a multi-objective perspective.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Enhancing e-grocery order fulfillment: improving product availability, cost, and emissions in last-mile delivery
    (Springer, 2024-01-30) Ekren, Banu Y.; Perotti, Sara; Foresti, Laura; Prataviera, Lorenzo Bruno
    This paper studies e-grocery order fulfillment policies by leveraging both customer and e-grocery-based data. Through the utilization of historical purchase data, product popularity trends, and delivery patterns, allocation strategies are informed to optimize performance metrics such as fill rate, carbon emissions, and cost per order. The study aims to conduct a sensitivity analysis to identify key drivers influencing these performance metrics. The results highlight that fulfillment policies optimized with the utilization of the mentioned data metrics demonstrate superior performance compared to policies not informed by data. These findings underscore the critical role of integrating data-driven models in e-grocery order fulfillment. Based on the outcomes, a grocery allocation policy, considering both proximity and product availability, emerges as promising for simultaneous improvements in several performance metrics. The study recommends that e-grocery companies leverage customer data to design and optimize delivery-oriented policies and strategies. To ensure adaptability to new trends or changes in delivery patterns, continual evaluation and improvement of e-grocery fulfillment policies are emphasized.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    How to align logistics environmental sustainability with corporate strategy? An Italian perspective
    (Taylor and Francis, 2023-07-02) Prataviera, Lorenzo Bruno; Creazza, Alessandro; Perotti, Sara; Rodrigues, Vasco Sanchez
    Logistics environmental sustainability is a priority for practitioners and policymakers, but companies lack clarity about how to align it with strategic purposes. As this prevents them from coherently turning sustainability into action, this paper focuses on how companies can align logistics environmental sustainability with corporate strategies. We conducted multiple embedded case research involving logistics service providers (LSPs) and shippers operating in the Italian context. We selected 13 companies (6 LSPs and 7 shippers) and conducted semi-structured interviews to contextualise and elaborate the extant theory. Results highlight that companies seem more motivated by the need to comply with regulations or to protect their environmental reputation than by a genuine understanding of the actual need for sustainability. A framework is proposed to foster the alignment of logistics environmental sustainability with corporate strategy, underpinned by five main dimensions: degree of awareness, degree of formalisation, measurement systems, governance and accountability, and budget allocation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Micro-fulfilment centres in E-grocery deliveries
    (Springer, 2023-02-06) Ventola, Alessandro; Tinor, Mirko; Perotti, Sara; Ekren, Banu Y.; Reefke, Hendrik
    This paper studies micro-fulfilment centres (MFCs) as a response to rising e-grocery sales and customer expectations from decreased delivery time and cost requests. MFC is a business solution that allows orders to be picked and packed in a hyper-local facility. The study’s aim is to provide an overview of this subject from two research questions: i) how MFCs affect the last-mile delivery challenges? and ii) what design decisions are critical in building MFCs? While we evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of centralised versus decentralised warehousing strategies in the first question, we discuss the critical decisions in designing MFCs in the second question. In that, we discuss location and technology selection decisions as well as other warehousing design criteria. Further, this study provides future research directions at the end of this study.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Sustainable e-grocery home delivery: an optimization model considering on-demand vehicles
    (Elsevier, 2025-03) Tudisco, Vittoria; Perotti, Sara; Ekren, Banu Yetkin; Aktas, Emel
    The e-grocery sector has experienced a significant boost since the COVID-19 pandemic, dramatically changing consumer buying behaviours. As demand for faster and more efficient delivery options grows, e-grocery retailers face increasing pressure to optimize home delivery operations. Collaborations with third-party logistics providers (3PLs), although still overlooked, have emerged as promising, offering operational flexibility and environmental benefits. This work introduces an optimization model that supports the design of an on-demand delivery fleet conjunctly with delivery routings and schedules, while considering both cost and environmental impact. To this aim, a vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) is extended to incorporate on-demand fleet design and three different objective functions embodying a cost-efficient, an environmentally-effective and a cost-environmental balanced perspective respectively. Numerical experiments based on an Italian case study show that prioritizing environmental objectives reduces emissions by over 90%, with marginal increases in annual costs. Besides, on-demand vehicles enable flexibility that facilitates the adoption of sustainable delivery options without requiring challenging investments such as delivery fleet. Several contributions are provided: insights into using on-demand vehicles are proposed; a mathematical model jointly optimizing fleet design and delivery routing and scheduling, while considering both costs and environmental objectives, is developed and its practical application is demonstrated using real-world data. The findings highlight the significant impact of environmental considerations on fleet composition and operational efficiency, offering actionable strategies for e-retailers to reduce emissions while maintaining service quality.