Methodology for Prioritizing Best Practices Applied to the Sustainable Last Mile—The Case of a Brazilian Parcel Delivery Service Company

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper operationalizes a very interesting methodology for prioritizing best practices applied to a sustainable last-mile scenario, applied to a Brazilian case. The sequence of stages and subsequent application is easy to follow and, especially, it can be replicated in the context of sustainable business models. Firstly, this last remark should be underlined in the introductory item. Secondly, the original contribution to the literature of quantitative strategic management needs to be underlined by the author(s). Thirdly, the theoretical background could integrate a mention to the lean management approach, for example considering the following study published in your target journal: DOI10.3390/su11082225.

In my view, this is an innovative contribution that deserves scientific dissemination, after incorporating these three minor amendments.

Author Response

REVIEWER 1 COMMENTS:

The paper operationalizes a very interesting methodology for prioritizing best practices applied to a sustainable last-mile scenario, applied to a Brazilian case. The sequence of stages and subsequent application is easy to follow and, especially, it can be replicated in the context of sustainable business models.

In my view, this is an innovative contribution that deserves scientific dissemination, after incorporating these three minor amendments.

Note: The changes made based on reviewer 1's comments and suggestions have been highlighted in green color throughout the text.

• Firstly, this last remark should be underlined in the introductory item.

Last remark: The sequence of stages and subsequent application is easy to follow and, especially, it can be replicated in the context of sustainable business models.

Answer: In the introduction section the following sentence was added: It is noteworthy, however, that although the proposed methodology has been applied in a last-mile parcel delivery company, the sequence of stages and subsequent application is easy to follow and, especially, it can be replicated in the context of sustainable business models.

• Secondly, the original contribution to the literature of quantitative strategic management needs to be underlined by the author(s).

Answer: In the methodology section the following sentence was added: It should be noted that this methodology developed can be understood as an original contribution to the literature on quantitative strategic management.

• Thirdly, the theoretical background could integrate a mention to the lean management approach, for example considering the following study published in your target journal: DOI10.3390/su11082225.

Answer: In the Best Practice section the following sentence was added: The best practices applied to logistics, can be represented by actions or techniques applied in different organizations, economic sectors, supply channel positioning and sizing adopted to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of operations in order to meet the objective of becoming sustainable [40]. 

As a result, when seeking to be more efficient and effective, some approaches, such as lean management, are incorporated as strategies for organizations in order to continuously reduce and eliminate waste and improve efficiency, promoting flexibility and responsiveness of organizations in the face of current scenarios [41].

In this case, waste represents everything that the customer is not willing to pay for, such as unnecessary transportation activity and moving products around [42] and efficiency improvement can be represented by using energy more efficiently [43].

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper presents a methodology to prioritize best practices applied to sustainable Last Mile logistics. The topic may be of interest for the journal but the paper lacks of clarity in many parts (and sentences are often too long) and the reading should be improved, as well as the English proofreading (e.g pag 2: "de literature").

 

The paper should be restructured in the following way:

• The contribution of the paper and how it fills the gap with respect to the literature should be clearly stated;
• The connection between all the steps of the methodology should be better clarified;
• In table 2 the KPIs are not provided in an explicit form, so it is not clear how they are calculated;
• The assumption and limit of the research should be better identified;
• in the multi-criteria analysis, how were the weights chosen? what are the KPIs that have been taken into consideration? it is not clear.
• It would be interesting to evaluate the actual impact of the selected best practices on the companies' business.

 

Minor revisions:

• the references are not visible.
• Figure 5: what do the authors mean with "perspectives"?
• Figures 5 and Table 4-7: the caption should be changed in "elaboration by the authors"

Author Response

REVIEWER 3 COMMENTS:

Note: The changes made based on reviewer 1's comments and suggestions have been highlighted in yellow color throughout the text.

The paper presents a methodology to prioritize best practices applied to sustainable Last Mile logistics. The topic may be of interest for the journal but the paper lacks clarity in many parts (and sentences are often too long) and the reading should be improved, as well as the English proofreading (e.g pag 2: "de literature").

• The paper should be restructured in the following way:
• The contribution of the paper and how it fills the gap with respect to the literature should be clearly stated;

Answer: The request has been met in the introduction, methodology section and theoretical background.

• The connection between all the steps of the methodology should be better clarified;

Answer: Request granted. From renumbering and renaming the sections more clearly

• In table 2 the KPIs are not provided in an explicit form, so it is not clear how they are calculated;

Answer: The KPIs are presented in figure 3 and described in the table: description of indicators. As in this article the performance of KPIs will not be evaluated, it was not deemed necessary to describe their measurements.

• The assumption and limit of the research should be better identified;

Answer: The limitation of the study is presented more clearly in the abstract and conclusion sections. It is noteworthy to mention a limitation to this study regarding the internal evaluation of the parcel delivery segment that considers only the Correios company's last mile and indicators selected from qualitative criteria.

• in the multi-criteria analysis, how were the weights chosen? what are the KPIs that have been taken into consideration? it is not clear.

Answer: The explanation about the definition of the weights is presented in sections 4.5 and 4.5.1

• It would be interesting to evaluate the actual impact of the selected best practices on the companies' business.

Answer: The proposal to future study is presented conclusion sections with the addition of the phrase “The limitation of the study is presented more clearly in introduction and conclusion sections”

• Minor revisions:
• the references are not visible.

Answer: Request granted

• Figure 5: what do the authors mean with "perspectives"?

Answer: Perspectives are words used by the BSC method and are shown in section 2.1. The strategy map is part of the method, so perspective refers to the views that are analyzed.

• Figures 5 and Table 4-7: the caption should be changed in "elaboration by the authors"

Answer: Request granted

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear author,

I have a few comments on the article:

• Line 37: remove space before “as”.
• Line 193 remove space before “minimizing”.
• Line 135 remove space before “to”.
• Line 193 remove space before “this” and “are”.
• Line 125: What does you mean with “385 years”? It is not very well described.
• There are a lot of errors regarding reference, line: 151, 174, 214, 226, 233, 243, 245, 247, 9, 29 (on page 15, numbering of the lines goes from 1).
• Line 172: Remove one dot.
• Figure 2: “Economic/Financial” the “and” is missing before last sentence. Also, in “customer” remove one dot and put “and” before last sentence.
• Figure 3. You can’t read all text. Try to shrink figure.
• In table 2 and 5 heading is not repeat when table brakes on 2 pages. It is hard to track table.
• Line 249 and 250: merge text together.
• Heading of the tables 4-7 doesn’t have same formatting “BP1”, BP2” etc.
• Page 16 is empty. Remove it.
• Numeration of the table is wrong. You have same number on some table.
• Fix equations. They are written twice. They should be numbered only once.
• The literature review is not detailed enough. Are there similar papers? Search the relevant databases and make a table with a brief overview of the papers. Also write down which companies you analyzed when reviewing the literature.
• When you found best practice, you found it in literature. Is it possible to make general model to see where the companies are regarding the sustainability? If the model is general, then make the model first. Then put the chapter case study to show how model can be used in some company.

Best regards, reviewer

Author Response

REVIEWER  COMMENTS:

Note: The changes made based on reviewer 1's comments and suggestions have been highlighted in blue color throughout the text.

• Line 37: remove space before “as”.

Answer: Request granted

• Line 193 remove space before “minimizing”.

Answer: Request granted

• Line 135 remove space before “to”.

Answer: Request granted

• Line 193 remove space before “this” and “are”.

Answer: Request granted

• Line 125: What does you mean with “385 years”? It is not very well described.

Answer: Request granted - The case study is represented by the parcel delivery service in the last mile of Correios, a Brazilian public company, with 358 years to complete in the year 2021, with a staff of approximately 100,000 employees and a fleet of approximately 23,400 company-owned vehicles.

• There are a lot of errors regarding reference, line: 151, 174, 214, 226, 233, 243, 245, 247, 9, 29 (on page 15, numbering of the lines goes from 1).

Answer: Page break was necessary

• Line 172: Remove one dot.

Answer: Request granted

• Figure 2: “Economic/Financial” the “and” is missing before last sentence. Also, in “customer” remove one dot and put “and” before last sentence.

Answer: Request granted

• Figure 3. You can’t read all text. Try to shrink figure.

Answer: Request granted

• In table 2 and 5 heading is not repeat when table brakes on 2 pages. It is hard to track table.

Answer: Request granted

 

• Line 249 and 250: merge text together.

Answer: Request granted

• Heading of the tables 4-7 doesn’t have same formatting “BP1”, BP2” etc.

Answer: Request granted

• Page 16 is empty. Remove it.

Answer: Request granted

• Numeration of the table is wrong. You have same number on some table.

Answer: Request granted

• Fix equations. They are written twice. They should be numbered only once.

Answer: Request granted

• The literature review is not detailed enough. Are there similar papers? Search the relevant databases and make a table with a brief overview of the papers. Also write down which companies you analyzed when reviewing the literature.

Answer: A Theorical background section was inserted with a brief and explanatory literature review of similar studies.

• When you found best practice, you found it in literature. Is it possible to make general model to see where the companies are regarding the sustainability? If the model is general, then make the model first. Then put the chapter case study to show how model can be used in some company.

Answer: Figure 1 - research development stages was changed from the presentation of the stages in a generic way. And stretch change: To improve the performance of indicators and meet the targets set to achieve the strategic objectives, as well as SDGs associated with the case study, described in Stage 2, best practices must be identified in agreement with the company's internal databases or literature review and then selected according to the inclusion criterion (s) defined (s) by the decision-maker in Stage 3. And - Subsequently, in Stage 4, the SWOT analysis can be also performed through company's internal databases or literature review, considering papers or reports, or other sources of knowledge, such as interviews with experts

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

the reviewer's comments have been properly addressed and the paper can now be accepted.

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear author,

You have change or answer on all my comments so I recommend acceptance of the paper.

Best regards, reviewer