V Preface In the course of globalization, the pressure on today’s logistics environment sug- gests a supply chain changes towards high-performance supported by innovations in process, organization and technology. Logistics is a key enabler of supply chain collaboration, thus improving perfor- mance in this field allows supply chains to increase their efficiency significantly. In this context, an important task of performance management is to find structures and approaches that enhance logistic structures and supply chains for a better and more efficient fulfillment of customer needs. The objective of performance management approaches is the methodical per- formance measurement, control and monitoring to enable continuous improvement of individual and company-wide performance. In recent years, research has made extensive progress in the analysis of perfor- mance management in logistics. This volume provides a valuable insight into novel concepts increase supply chain performance by taking into account transport logis- tics and terminal operations, tackling sustainability as well as compliance issues, economic crisis and globalization problems. Furthermore, this book deals with information technology, such as radio fre- quency identification, and approaches to simulate efficient supply chain networks. In practice, this provides the chance to optimize personal logistics decisions, not only based on individual performance requirements, but also meeting network- wide performance demands. In consequence, it becomes possible to adjust logistics designs and operations to the needs of the whole supply chain. We would like to thank the authors for their excellent contributions which ad- vance the logistics research progress. Without their support and hard work, the cre- ation of this volume would not have been possible. Additional thanks go to the publishing company, the Erich Schmidt Verlag, especially to Dr. Joachim Schmidt for the opportunity to publish this volume and his valuable cooperation. This book would not exist without good organization and preparation. Thus, we would like to thank Thomas Will, Johanna Henke and Thorsten Lammers for their efforts to pre- pare, structure, and finish this book. Hamburg, August 2009 Prof. Dr. Thorsten Blecker, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kersten and Prof. Dr. Matthias Meyer