| The thesis contribute in general to existing research in e-SCM and e-commerce in developing countries through oversea warehousing.First,cross-border e-commerce and the development of overseas warehousing supply chain model is examined,using China and Africa as case study.Through the chapters,an analysis of the global e-commerce,China and African’s e-market is examined.Far from being saturated,in general,it is recognized that e-commerce market potential is expanding considerably and have revolutionized global trade and Supply Chain Management.It is estimated that the value of global electronic commerce retail sales volume will reach 1,506 billion USD by 2018,with Asia-Pacific region as largest market followed by North America.Middle East and Africa hold the smallest market rate but is expanding and promising(UNCTAD,2015).Secondly,an allocation-location model was developed to allocate oversea warehouses in Sub-Saharan Africa.The new model was obtained by introducing economic trade agreement as binary constraint variables and by relaxing the original pmedian model.Data were collected for cost analysis in order to compare which strategy is less expensive for Chinese e-retailers,to have a local based warehouse or to implement oversea warehouses.Then,we estimate the delivery time that it takes for merchandises and goods bought online from China to get to Sub-Saharan countries.Then,by the classical p-median,computed in with a mixed integer linear programming technique,we identify and compare the minimized distance weighted to potential online buyers where overseas warehouses could be located in Sub-Saharan regions.The p-median model is ameliorated by introducing two new binary variable constraints: regional and trade agreements between sub-Saharan countries.This approach is also known as lagrangian relaxation of the location-allocation problem.As outcome,after computation a significant edge is found in the heuristic result,where it is possible for Chinese crossborder e-commerce to reduce the time delivery for cross-border e-commerce,from 60 days to 24 hours if t overseas warehouse are implemented at the suggested locations.To go further,in Chapter 6 is discussed the last mile delivery or last mile logistics problem that is considered as the most expensive part of the supply chain.The last mile problem is important for any logistics or e Tailers company due to the fact that nowadays,online shoppers want faster delivery but want it cheaper in general.In another hand companies are facing environmental problem and last mile delivery is also considered as the most polluted part of the supply chain.Therefore,e Tailers are in obligation to find an efficient way to reduce their delivery cost in order to survive in such market conditions.Our research focuses on modeling a total delivery cost and cost per unit delivered in case when a company have to deliver in neighboring countries.This case is most likely to happen for overseas warehouse in Africa,where the nearest neighbor country is just half to one hour away by walk.From a base model,based on time,distance and cost,we introduce new models based on time,distance,costs and countries as dummy variables that affects the original model.The last chapter is focused on a particular phenomenon in finance called Triangular arbitrage,and how does it affects oversea warehouses’ replenishment.Although triangle arbitrage opportunity is rare practically,if all necessary conditions are met,it is demonstrated theoretically that the maximum ordered quantity for the firm can be augmented.A case through real life data from three different currencies,Mauritian rupee MUR,Chinese RMB and USD is examined to illustrate the theory.In the end,discussion and suggestions are made from the obtained results if it is preferable for a company to build his own oversea warehouses or rent or cooperate with other companies and implement sharing cost strategy.However,this might depend on the size and the type of the company in question and the type of product the he is providing. |
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