PERFORMANCE EVALUATION IN THE NORTH-AMERICAN TRANSPORT INDUSTRY - USERS VIEWS

Performance evaluation in the U.S. transport system is well under way according to the trade press; its use by Canadian firms is less well k nown. This paper reports on the first phase of a three-phase research study now under way to examine the assessment of carrier performance b y users and suppliers of North American transportation services. It de scriptively examines the approaches of cargo suppliers (manufacturers) to the evaluation of their transport suppliers' performance, in order to understand the business practices taking place, with a focus on th e differences in those practices between small and larger firms and be tween shippers of high-value versus low-value goods. The study found f ew differences between Canadian and U.S. firms and, in particular, few differences between firms shipping high-value goods and those shippin g low-value goods. As for transport supplier evaluation, formal perfor mance monitoring is the purview of larger companies.