Introduction

Those who have been in the transportation, logistics, and supply chain management disciplines for more than a few years have certainly witnessed the changes that have occurred. There is ongoing academic discussion regarding the roles of the different functional areas of supply chain management. The first article in this issue of the Transportation Journal by Iyengar, Rao, and Goldsby analyzes the position and role of transportation and logistics in the US economy. They use social network analysis (SNA) as their methodology and contrast the results from SNA with findings from traditional research approaches.

In the 50th anniversary issue of the Transportation Journal, Murphy, Poist, and Crum¹ conducted a review of the articles published in the journal over three selected decades. One topic that emerged in the 2001–10 decade that was not evident in previous decades was security. A broader term is risk management, but subject matter encompasses all forms of disruptions in the supply chain. This issue of TJ includes two articles on the topic of supply chain disruption. The first, by Porterfield, Macdonald, and Griffis, analyzes the impact of supply chain disruptions on business-to-business relationships. This study uses interview data from senior supply chain managers to explore how firms’ disruption recovery processes affect supply chain relationships. In the second article Griffis and Whipple develop a risk assessment and evaluation process that builds on the reliability engineering field and includes the probability of risk detection. Thus, managers can create a risk priority continuum, which can lead to better risk mitigation strategies.

Three industry notes also appear in this issue. The first by Wen analyzes the impact of collaborative transportation management on supply chain relationships and logistics competitive advantage. In the second note Davies proposes modifications to the cost benefit analysis decision criteria for road project evaluation. In the third note Wang, Chen, and Su apply supply chain analysis to the water distribution system in China. The issue concludes with a book review of Supply Chain Management: A Global Perspective, written by Nada R. Sanders and reviewed by Richard Monroe of East Carolina University.

With this issue of the Transportation Journal, we are pleased to announce some editorial changes. The Transportation Journal is implementing a co-editor arrangement. Dr. Thomas Goldsby of The Ohio State University has agreed to assume the position of co-editor of the Transportation Journal, effective September 1, 2012. I will continue in my service to the journal in the role of co-editor. I am also pleased to announce that Dr. Mary Holcomb of the University of Tennessee will be the Editor of the Industry Notes section of the Transportation Journal, also effective September 1, 2012.

On a sad note, we learned at the time of the printing of this issue of the Transportation Journal that Dr. L. L. Waters, one of the founders of the journal, passed away on September 8, 2012. An announcement can be found at the end of this issue and a memorial tribute will be published in the Winter 2013 issue of the journal.

Respectfully,