Research Title:

The Effect of the Internet on Transportation Logistics

Statement of Problem:
For years, companies only paid attention to the supply or logistics activities that happened within their facility. Transportation logistics is an important part of a company's supply chain today. The Internet is a basic part of the information system needed to coordinate transportation logistic activities. This research is carried out to identify the effects of the internet on transportation logistics.

Research Question:
How internet affects to reduce administrative overhead cost? How internet helps to decrease the number of processes or steps required to move inventory through the system? What sort of ways would reduce unnecessary inventory in transportation logistics? What are the types used to eliminate outdated business processes and speed up transportation lead time?

Research Title:
THE ROLE OF AUTOMATION ON PRODUCTION IN MULTINATIONALS

Problem Statement:
The goal of multinationals is to produce on a large scale so as to gain a big market share and meet customer demand adequately. A number of firms employ labour intensive techniques of production which result in producing small volumes of output, production of poor quality products and it is also expensive in terms of wages and workers fringe benefits. However the use of capital intensive techniques of production in multinationals which are initially costly in terms of the cost of the machines, the amount of money that will be used to employ skilled personnel or to train workers, will in the long run prove to be beneficial in terms of increase in output and improvement in the quality of output compared to the manual system of production. So it is from the above that the researcher has found it necessary to examine the role of automation on production in multinationals.

Research Questions:
What is the process of automation in multinationals? Has automation been effectively implemented? What are the challenges faced by multinationals while implementing automation? What is the relationship between automation and production?

Research Title:
THE IMPORTANCE OF REVERSE LOGISTICS AND ITS VALUE CREATION OPPORTUNITIES IN SRI LANKA

Problem Statement:
Reverse Logistics does not carry a strategic importance in domestic firms in Sri Lanka; though Reverse Logistics strategies are used widely, they do not believe it creates value. This study aims to understand the importance of Reverse Logistics in manufacturing and retailing organizations in Sri Lanka, find out how it can be exploited to create value for organizations and identify whether the primary value adding activities of the Value Chain adequately capture its contribution.

Research Questions:
What is the importance of Reverse Logistics? How domestic organizations assess Reverse Logistics? What are the Reverse Logistics Strategies organizations uses? What is the contribution of Reverse Logistics to value chain? What is the impact of Reverse Logistics in the future?