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 known. This paper reports on the first phase of a three-phase research study now under way to examine the assessment of carrier performance by users and suppliers of North American transportation services. It descriptively 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 the differences in those practices between small and larger firms and between shippers of high-value versus low-value goods. The study found few differences between Canadian and U.S. firms and, in particular, few differences between firms shipping high-value goods and those shipping low-value goods. As for transport supplier evaluation, formal performance monitoring is the purview of larger companies.