The Development of a Performance Measurement system for Road Freight Transport

Description

Abstract:
Purpose of this paper:

This paper sets out to develop a road freight performance measurement framework that can be used as a tool to monitor the performance of road freight transport companies. Moreover, this paper aims to present the steps required to develop a performance measurement system through the lens of sustainability and critic its usability.

Research approach:

This paper will review previous studies conducted on the road freight transport field with the view to identify the main challenges faced by road freight transport companies and hence develop performance indicators that reflect overall road freight transport performance. The development of a conceptual framework will be presented which includes the different categories and measures used within this area. The literature review presents the previous studies conducted on road freight transport field, road freight transport performance measures in which various aspects are highlighted such as sustainability (economic, social, environmental) and technology, where narrative method is utilised. To this end, a road freight transport framework was developed through the lens of sustainability.

Findings/originality:

Road freight transport is considered as a complex operation that requires a number of different procedures and regulations for its management and needs public and private sector cooperation. A number of dimensions have been identified that are able to enhance the companies’ performance such as congestion and infrastructure management, driver’s needs assessment, and environmental aspects.

Using an appropriate road freight transport performance measurement system has the potential to enhance the road freight transport companies’ performance. In addition, there are no predefined performance measurement systems for road freight transport companies that can be used to measure their performance and identify problems area.

Accordingly, identifying key indicators for designing a performance measurement system for the road freight transport provides an opportunity to enhance the road freight transport performance. Hence, this paper presents a framework for measuring road freight transport performance through the lens of sustainability by identifying the main dimensions under each aspect (economic, environmental and social) of sustainability and the different measures used to identify the problems faced by road freight transport companies.

Research Impact:

The developed framework can help monitoring all areas of road freight transport companies including economic aspect (congestion and infrastructure maintenance), social aspect (driver’s training and qualifications) and environmental aspect (congestion and infrastructure maintenance) by identifying the main key performance indicators relative to each dimension of them, in order to help companies to track problems, measure and enhance their performance through the lens of sustainability.

Practical Impact:

The developed framework can assist decision makers who want to take actions to enhance their performance.

Period	5 Sep 2019
Event title	Logistics Research Network Annual Conference 2019
Event type	Conference
Location	Northampton, United Kingdom