By Brandon Lennox, Timothy Prichard, Roger Allen
Market Structure Demand Elasticity Economies of Scale and Scope News Vendor Problem Conclusion
Oligopoly United Postal Service Vs. FedEx Vertical Boundaries Suppliers
High demand Seasonality Recession
Transportation relies heavily on economies of scale and scope This comes from shipping many different products from many different customers This gives the ability to spread out overhead costs over a vast amount of items
How are shipping companies trying to use economies of scale and scope. Building massive ships to carry more and more containers. Mergers are also being used in shipping to support economies of scale.
International shipping company that uses trucks, planes, and distribution centers. They take individuals packages and ship them all over the world. This can not be done with just a few packages, but must be done with thousands of them.
Exists when inventory or capacity expires Freight Industry – Unsold Capacity ◦ Schedules ◦ Deadlines ◦ Newsvendor problem for transported goods
Different common types of contracts ◦ Customer pays flat rate for truck Buys all capacity for that truck Newsvendor problem passed on to customer ◦ Truck waits till either it is filled or must leave to meet schedule Newsvendor problem issue of trucking firm ◦ Selling Capacity by the pallet Risk of newsvendor problem on trucking firm
Strict schedule – very rigid Consequently suffers heavily from newsvendor problem Collective customer needs between hubs rarely exceeds locomotive capacity
Shipper must pay a docking fee to harbor operators Shipping overseas – no substitute ◦ Gives shipper negotiating power ◦ Allows shipper to better mitigate newsvendor risk to customers
Stricter the schedule = More risk of newsvendor problem Many times shipping company must make schedule without knowing exact customer demand Other times schedule is made based on contracts won
Depends who has negotiating power Negotiation power depends on availability of alternatives or substitutes ◦ Many available substitutes = Customer holds negotiating power ◦ Few available substitutes = Shipper holds negotiating power
Oligopoly Subject to seasonality and economic conditions Price and Income elastic Vertical boundaries The newsvendor problem