Modeling the impact of business-to-business electronic commerce on the organization of the logistics industry

In this article, we analyze patterns and recent trends of the logistics industry with specific emphasis on the impact of business-to-business (B-to-B) electronic commerce on its industrial organization. From this conceptualization, we develop an optimization-based logistics model comprising two interlinked networks representing commodity flow and information flow, respectively. The model is operationalized using Monte Carlo simulation to highlight possible scenarios of logistics industry changes in response to the use of B-to-B e-commerce. Through this endeavor, we examine how new technologies affect the cost of information and transportation transactions in the logistics industry. © 2005 The Ohio State University