Conclusions

Abstract

The large scale adoption of advanced technical developments is creating new opportunities for improved performance of business units on today’s market. These developments enable the introduction of highly advanced planning-, decision support- and communication systems. As many market segments become more and more competitive, the application of new solutions is accelerated. Fierce competition on the global markets, the introduction of products with shorter life cycles, and the heightened expectations of customers (compare Chapter 1) have also forced freight forwarders to look for new ways for improving their operational efficiency. In this thesis two research topics with focus on an efficiency increase in freight forwarding companies have been discussed. The aim of this chapter is to summarize the outcome of the research and to make recommendations for future work. Section 11.1 outlines the issues connected with planning problems on a local (cellular) stage of a single business unit discussed in Part I of the thesis. Section 11.2 presents the concerns associated with a global stage involving several autonomous business units analyzed in Part II.