Working relationships between functional areas are critical to firm performance. Most business initiatives require the active participation of an array of functional areas; consider the team effort involved in successful product launches or the complex organizational coordination needed to open a new retail store. Priorities must be aligned across various functional areas and operations coordinated to gain the greatest benefit and exploit opportunities. While the interdependence involved would seem to mandate working together (Hutt 1995), functional silos and isolationism often create significant barriers. Thus, many firms face a substantial challenge as they struggle with internal misalignment (van Hoek and Mitchell 2006). Ideally, internal relationships should help focus individual and organizational efforts to encourage cooperation and achieve objectives.The current research was undertaken to examine the influence of internal relationships on firms' logistics performance. More specifically, the research centers on relationship effectiveness between marketing and logistics and how it influences the development of capabilities (information capabilities and firm-wide integration) and ultimately-logistics performance. It is our contention that effective marketing/logistics relationships can help to create, develop, and maintain critical capabilities to support long-term firm success. Coordination within a firm is generally considered a prerequisite to supply chain coordination extending across companies (Mentzer 2004). Effective relationships can serve as a coordination mechanism.The following sections briefly review the theory base for the research and introduce a conceptual model. Relevant literature is presented and synthesized to support research hypotheses. Then research methodology and analysis/results are detailed. Finally, managerial implications along with limitations and suggestions for future research are detailed.

The forward positioning of strategic inventory in the supply chain has an impact on transportation times and is important for sensitive demand profiles. Consolidation of stocks creates pooling effects and minimizes costs. This study analyzes a current military case where forward consolidation of equipment is considered using optimization, and payback periods are calculated for the cost of consolidating inventory at one of six locations. Results indicate that forward positioning and consolidation reduces time and cost, and also creates savings in reverse logistics flows. The study has implications for geographically diverse supply chains such as humanitarian aid and emergency response operations.

The United States Air Force (USAF) is investigating the use of three levels of repair with its aircraft maintenance managerial structure. This study provides an initial look at the effect of maintenance resource collaboration among maintenance locations and the use of a centralized repair facility focusing on a critical line replacement unit for a major USAF weapon system. Maintenance data for prior year maintenance experiences are collected, fit into appropriate probability distributions and implemented in a discrete event simulation model. This model is then used within an experimental design framework to examine the potential impact of organizational changes to the USAF hierarchical maintenance structure.

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