Benchmarking of Logistics Performances in G20 Countries Before and During COVID-19 Periods: A MEREC and CODAS Integrated Approach
Önder İnce, Betül Çetiner, Fatih EcerLogistics is a sector contributing substantially to the economic and social development of a country. Countries benefit from the logistics performance index (LPI) published periodically by the World Bank to evaluate their logistics performance, identify weaknesses, and develop accordingly. The following six essential criteria are used to assess the countries’ logistics performance: customs, infrastructure, international shipments, logistics quality and competence, monitoring and tracking, and timeliness. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the logistics performance of G20 countries before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) period. For this purpose, an integrated model based on the method based on the removal effects of criteria (MEREC) and the combinative distance-based assessment (CODAS), which are multi-criteria decision-making methods, was exploited. First, criterion weights were determined using the MEREC method. Second, the logistics performances of G20 countries were analyzed and compared using the CODAS method with respect to data from both before and during COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis results identified monitoring and tracing, customs clearance, international shipments, infrastructure, logistics quality, and adequacy and timing as the criteria weights during the pre-pandemic period and monitoring and tracing, international shipments, logistics quality and competence, customs, infrastructure, and timeliness during the pandemic period. Based on the CODAS method, the top five countries in the pre-pandemic period in the logistics performance ranking of the G20 countries were Germany, Japan, the UK, the United States of America, and France, respectively, and the top five countries in the ranking during the pandemic period were Germany, Canada, Japan, Spain, and France, respectively. In addition, to test the reliability and robustness of the model exploited, sensitivity and comparison analyses were performed. The results revealed that the pandemic affected the logistics performance of many countries.
G20 Ülkelerinin COVID-19 Öncesi ve COVID-19 Dönemi Lojistik Performanslarının Kıyaslanması: MEREC ve CODAS Entegre Yaklaşımı
Önder İnce, Betül Çetiner, Fatih EcerLojistik, ülkelerin ekonomik ve sosyal gelişiminde önemli paya sahip sektörlerden biridir. Ülkeler lojistik performanslarını değerlendirmek, zayıf yönleri tespit etmek ve bu doğrultuda gelişim göstermek adına Dünya Bankası’nın belirli periyodlarla yayınladığı lojistik performans indeksinden (LPI) faydalanmaktadırlar. Ülkelere ait lojistik performans düzeyinin değerlendirilmesinde gümrük, altyapı, uluslararası gönderiler, lojistik kalite ve yeterliliği, izleme ve takip ile zamanlama olarak altı temel kriter kullanılmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, COVID-19 dönemi öncesinde ve COVID-19 döneminde G20 ülkelerinin lojistik performanslarını değerlendirmektir. Bu amaçla çok kriterli karar verme (ÇKKV) yöntemlerinden MEREC (Method based on the Removal Effects of Criteria) ve CODAS (Combinative Distance-based Assessment) temelli entegre bir model kullanılmıştır. Çalışmada pandemi öncesi ve pandemi dönemi verileri ışığında öncelikle MEREC yöntemi ile kriter ağırlıkları tespit edilmiş ve sonrasında CODAS yöntemi ile G20 ülkelerinin lojistik performansları analiz edilerek kıyaslama yapılmıştır. Analiz sonucunda pandemi öncesi dönemde kriter ağırlıkları sırasıyla; izleme ve takip, gümrükleme, uluslararası gönderiler, altyapı, lojistik kalitesi ve yeterliliği ile zamanlama olarak tespit edilmiştir. Pandemi sürecinde ise kriter ağırlıkları sırasıyla; izleme ve takip, uluslararası gönderiler, lojistik kalitesi ve yeterliliği, gümrükleme, altyapı, zamanlama olarak bulunmuştur. CODAS yöntemine göre G20 ülkelerinin lojistik performans sıralamasında pandemi öncesi dönemde yer alan ilk beş ülke sırasıyla Almanya, Japonya, İngiltere, Amerika ve Fransa iken pandemi sürecinde sıralamadaki ilk beş ülke sırasıyla Almanya, Kanada, Japonya, İspanya ve Fransa olarak belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca, kullanılan modelin güvenilirliğini ve sağlamlığını test etmek için duyarlılık ve karşılaştırma analizleri gerçekleştirilmiştir. Sonuçlar, pandeminin birçok ülkenin lojistik performansını etkilediğini ortaya koymuştur.
In recent years, increased globalization and competition have increased the importance of logistics. The resulting increase in the logistics-based competition has created a need for a logistics performance assessment system. Many scales have been used for logistics performance assessment. While a company’s logistics performance at the micro level can be analyzed using various scales, the logistics performance of a country or region can be measured at the macro level. The logistics performance index (LPI) is an index widely used in macro-level assessments.
Countries need to monitor their development in the logistics sector, notice the obstacles, and make development plans in this context. The LPI published by the World Bank once in 2 years is effective in determining countries’ current situation and their progress steps and is frequently used in research. Existing literature shows that the LPI data have been analyzed several times using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods (Rezaei et al., 2018; Ulutaş and Karaköy, 2019; Altıntaş, 2021; Stojanović and Puška, 2021). In this study, the 2023 LPI dataset, which is the latest and hitherto unutilized dataset in any study, has been evaluated using the method based on the removal effects of criteria (MEREC) and the combinative distance-based assessment (CODAS) methods of G20 countries with strong economies. In 2018, an evaluation covering approximately 160 countries was conducted by logistics experts. The 2023 LPI data includes 4,090 assessments made by logistics experts from 139 countries between September 6 and November 5, 2022 (https://lpi.worldbank.org/). Accordingly, the index reports reflect the time elapsed from the previous report to the latest report.
Because the MEREC method is a fairly new and powerful objective-weighting method introduced in 2021 and the CODAS method emerged by combining two ranking methods, i.e., weighted product method and simple additive weighting, which are both advantageous and powerful, the CODAS method was preferred because it incorporates these aspects (Ghorabaee et al., 2016; Ghorabaee et al. 2021). In the study, six logistics performance criteria determined by the World Bank, namely, customs (K1), infrastructure (K2), international shipments (K3), logistics quality and competence (K4), monitoring and tracking (K5), and timeliness (K6), were determined by the MEREC method. The weights of the G20 countries were determined, and the performance evaluations and rankings of the G20 countries were conducted using the weights obtained in this direction. This study aimed to present a new methodological approach based on the MCDM to compare and evaluate the logistics performance of G20 countries before and during the COVID-19 pandemic using the World Bank data.
For this purpose, the MEREC–CODAS model was used. First, the weighting of these six criteria that form the basis of the LPI for two separate periods was made using the MEREC method, and the performance ranking of countries was carried out with the CODAS method. Consequently, the priority order of the criteria was monitoring and tracking, customs, international shipments, infrastructure, logistics quality and competence, and timeliness before the pandemic and monitoring and tracking, international shipments, logistics quality and adequacy, customs, infrastructure, and timeliness during the pandemic period. While monitoring and follow-up were in the first place in both periods, the quality and adequacy of logistics became crucial factors during the pandemic period. The top five countries in terms of performance before the pandemic were Germany, Japan, the UK, the United States of America, and France, respectively, while the top five countries during the pandemic were Germany, Canada, Japan, Spain, and France, respectively. The last five countries before the pandemic were Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Argentina, and Russia, whereas those during the pandemic were Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Argentina, and Russia, respectively. Thus, differences in the logistics performance rankings of some countries are determined over the years.
