Suchergebnisse

Bis zur Einfügung von Artikel 23 in das Grundgesetz im Jahr 1992 bildete die kommunale Selbstverwaltungsgarantie (Art. 28 II GG) keine rechtsverbindliche Schranke für Hoheitsrechtsübertragungen auf die EG. Durch das in Art. 23 GG verankerte Staatsziel deutscher Mitwirkung an der auf den Subsidiaritätsgrundsatz verpflichteten EU sind wesentliche Schutzgehalte der Selbstverwaltungsgarantie zu absoluten Schranken dieser Mitwirkung aufgewertet worden. Mit einer sorgfältigen, sämtliche methodischen Aspekte umfassenden Auslegungsleistung widerlegt der Autor die herrschende Meinung der Identität des grundgesetzlichen Subsidiaritätsgrundsatzes mit dem gemeinschaftsrechtlichen Subsidiaritätsprinzip in Art. 5 (ex-Artikel 3 b) Abs. 2 EGV und entwickelt das Normbild des auch die deutschen Kommunen schützenden Subsidiaritätsgrundsatzes. Umfassend berücksichtigt ist der seit Mai 1999 verbindliche Amsterdamer Vertrag. Der Autor setzt sich mit der allfälligen Frage nach dem Anwendungsvorrang zwischen den divergierenden Subsidiaritätsregelungen auseinander und wird durch einen für die kommunale Praxis wichtigen Ausblick auf die prozessuale Durchsetzung der ermittelten Verfassungsposition der kommunalen Selbstverwaltung in Europa abgerundet.

AbstractIn 2020, the first quick commerce businesses in grocery retail emerged in the European market. Customers can order online and receive their groceries within 15 min in the best case. The ability to provide short lead times is, therefore, essential. However, the ambitious service promises of quick deliveries further complicate order fulfillment, and many retailers are struggling to achieve profitability. Quick commerce retailers need to establish an efficient network of micro-fulfillment centers (MFCs) in customer proximity, i.e., urban areas, to master these challenges. We address this strategic network problem and formulate it as a location routing problem. This enables us to define the number, location, type, and size of MFCs based on setup, replenishment, order processing, and transportation costs. We solve the problem using a cluster-first-route-second heuristic based on agglomerative clustering to approximate transportation costs. Our numerical experiments show that our heuristic solves the problem effectively and provides efficient decision support for quick commerce retailing. We generate managerial insights by analyzing key aspects of a quick commerce business, such as lead times and problem-specific cost factors. We show, for example, that allowing slightly higher delivery flexibility (e.g., offering extended lead times) enables bundling effects and results in cost savings of 50% or more of fulfillment costs. Furthermore, using multiple small MFCs is more efficient than larger, automated MFCs from a lead time and cost perspective.

This article develops a decision model which enables service firms to optimize their productivity. Companies must efficiently determine the necessary resource input to increase service productivity to meet customer demand. In so doing, managers face service-specific challenges: They must select the appropriate type and quantity of limited resources to deliver services efficiently, consider the volatility of demand to provide services effectively, and integrate the interaction effects of resources in terms of substitution to utilize constraint resources optimally. In addressing these challenges, we develop an interdisciplinary approach by combining insights from service research and operations research to create a decision model that helps managers select the optimal type and quantity of resources available to overcome the abovementioned challenges. We validate our model in several case studies and further generalize our findings by applying it to different data settings. Ultimately, we prove that productivity can be increased significantly if firms optimize resource selection by considering stochastic demand, the effects of substitution among resources, and resource constraints.

PurposeRegarding the retail internal supply chain (SC), both retailers and research are currently focused on reactive food waste reduction options in stores (e.g. discounting or donations). These options reduce waste after a surplus has emerged but do not prevent an emerging surplus in the first place. This paper aims to reveal how retailers can proactively prevent waste along the SC and why the options identified are impactful but, at the same time, often complex to implement.Design/methodology/approachThe authors follow an exploratory approach for a nascent topic to obtain insights into measures taken in practice. Interviews with experts from retail build the main data source.FindingsThe authors identify and analyze 21 inbound, warehousing, distribution and store-related options applied in grocery retail. Despite the expected high overall impact on waste, prevention measures in inbound logistics and distribution and warehousing have not been intensively applied to date.Practical implicationsThe authors provide a structured approach to mitigate waste within retailers' operations and categorize the types of barriers that need to be addressed.Originality/valueThis research provides a better understanding of prevention options in retail operations, which has not yet been empirically explored. Furthermore, this study conceptualizes prevention and reduction options and reveals implementation patterns.

PurposeThe advent of grocery sales through online channels necessitates that bricks-and-mortar retailers redefine their logistics networks if they want to compete online. Because the general understanding of such bricks-and-clicks logistics systems for grocery is still limited, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the internal logistics networks used to serve customers across channels by means of an exploratory study with retailers from different contexts.Design/methodology/approachA total of 12 case companies from six European countries participated in this exploratory study. Face-to-face interviews with managers were the primary source for data collection. The heterogeneity of the sample enabled the authors to build a typology of logistics networks in grocery retailing on multiple channels and to understand the advantages of different warehousing, picking, internal transportation and last-mile delivery systems.FindingsBricks-and-mortar grocery retailers are leveraging their existing logistics structures to fulfill online orders. Logistics networks are mostly determined by the question of where to split case packs into customer units. In non-food logistics, channel integration is mostly seen as beneficial, but in grocery retailing, this depends heavily on product, market and retailer specifics. The data from the heterogeneous sample reveal six distinct types for cross-channel order fulfillment.Practical implicationsThe qualitative analysis of different design options can serve as a decision support for retailers developing logistics networks to serve customers across channels.Originality/valueThe paper shows the internal and external factors that drive the decision-making for omni-channel (OC) logistics networks for previously store-based grocery retailers. Thereby, it makes a step toward building a contingency and configuration theory of retail networks design. It discusses in particular the differences between grocery and non-food OC retailing, last-mile delivery systems and market characteristics in the decision-making of retail networks design.

Purpose
– Online retailing changes all retail systems significantly. The growing importance of online sales requires the creation of new fulfillment models. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how retailers develop from separate multi-channel (MC) to integrated omni-channel (OC) fulfillment. OC retailing has an integrated perspective, with seamless interactions between online and bricks-and-mortar channels.


Design/methodology/approach
– More than 60 internationally active retailers and experts from Germany participated in an exploratory survey. With a response rate of 40 percent the authors achieved the goal to adequately depict the German MC and OC retail market. It is currently the largest empirical study of MC and OC fulfillment.


Findings
– It is the first study to comprehensively analyze the logistical development options open to retailers for integrated fulfillment. The authors discuss the conceptual development options and formulate propositions for an advanced OC fulfillment approach. OC retailers aim to pool their organizational units for fulfillment via different channels. Retailers with multiple channels develop their warehouse systems toward channel-integrated inventory enabling flexible and demand-driven inventory allocation. Retailers with channel-integrated inventory also organize their picking procedures in one common zone. The higher the outlet density, the more it becomes beneficial for retailers to introduce pick-up services.


Research limitations/implications
– The research is based on insights from retailers and experts from companies based in Germany.


Practical implications
– The findings provide an insight into designing OC fulfillment and distribution structures. The concepts themselves, archetypes, challenges and development paths are analyzed. Identified logistics levers can be adjusted to pinpoint the steps required to advance integration.


Originality/value
– The authors contribute by deriving propositions and a framework for transitioning from basic MC to integrated, extended OC logistics. Because this research area is still comparatively young, the authors take a more comprehensive, exploratory view of OC fulfillment.