Table 3

Summary of logistics risk items identified in the literature

Risk itemDescriptionReference(s)
International transport costUncertainty about the quotation of transport cost related to the cross-border shipment of cargoesPrater et al. (2001) and Pezderka and Sinkovics (2011) 
International transport tineUncertainty about the time needed to accomplish cross-border shipment and related risks of delaysPrater et al. (2001), Ramanathan et al. (2014), Pezderka and Sinkovics (2011) and Durach and Wiengarten (2017) 
Local (e.g. in China) transport costUncertainty about the quotation of delivery cost to the single customers within the destination countryPrater et al. (2001) and Pezderka and Sinkovics (2011) 
Local (e.g. in China) transport timeUncertainty about the time needed to perform local delivery to customers and related risks of delaysPrater et al. (2001), Ramanathan et al. (2014), Pezderka and Sinkovics (2011) and Durach and Wiengarten (2017) 
Demand levelRisk of poor demand forecast ability and risk of being unable to manage unexpected changes in demand volumesSepulveda Rojas and Frein (2008) and Acar et al. (2010) 
Inventory carrying costUncertainty about the quotation of inventory carrying cost which ultimately depend also on the level of inventory and the value of the productAcar et al. (2010) 
Handling timeUncertainty about the time needed to perform handling activitiesWu (2011) 
Labor costChanges in labor cost which can affect labor intensive processes, e.g. pickingWu (2011) 
Return costUncertainty about the cost of managing returnsJiao (2015) 
Return timeUncertainty about the time needed to manage the return processJiao (2015) 
Return rateUncertainty about the percentage of products that will be returned by customersJiao (2015) 
Product damageRisk of product damage due to inadequate care during transport, handling or inventory management activitiesRamanathan et al. (2014) 
Order cycle timeUncertainty about the time in between customer order and order deliveryRamanathan et al. (2014), Durach and Wiengarten (2017) and Acar et al. (2010) 
Order trackingTechnology breakdowns or errors that might cause problems in order tracking activitiesGuo and Zhang (2015) 
Stock outRisk of running out of available product inventoryDadzie and Winston (2007) 
Customs tariff changeUncertainty about tariff issues, due to changing or unclear regulationsSawhnev and Sumukadas (2005), Jiao (2015) 
Customs clearance delayUncertainty about the timeliness of cu stone procedures (e.g. inspections might cause delays)Sawhnevand Sumukadas (2005), Jiao (2015) 
RegulationsAny normative regulations in the e-commerce field which could impact the sale of foreign products in an unpredictable wayJiao (2015) 
Exchange ratesUncertainty about the effects of currency (i.e. exchange rate) fluctuationsGessner and Snodgrass (2015) and Wu (2011) 

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