Last-mile delivery networks: Understanding persistent coordination failures through a multi-dimensional lens
Short description
Despite technological capabilities and a shared interest in collaboration, last-mile delivery networks face persistent coordination failures due to fragmented stakeholders, competing incentives, and information asymmetries. This project uses a mixed-methods approach to examine these challenges and offers theoretical and practical insights to improve urban delivery efficiency, sustainability, and service quality.
Why do last-mile delivery networks experience persistent coordination failures despite technological capabilities and stakeholder desires for improved collaboration? The continued growth of e-commerce intensifies the challenges of last-mile delivery. This final segment of the supply chain involves fragmented stakeholders with competing economic objectives, each striving for efficient delivery while operating within distinct constraints and incentives. Using a mixed-methods approach, this project examines information asymmetries and coordination challenges across vertical, horizontal, and institutional relationships in urban delivery networks.
The research connects micro-level stakeholder behaviors, consumer experiences, and macro-level system dynamics to understand both why coordination failures persist and how they might be addressed. The project contributes to supply chain management theory, particularly complex adaptive systems theory, while offering practical insights for retailers, logistics providers, and policymakers seeking to improve urban delivery efficiency, sustainability, and service quality.