Estimating the Intensity of Cargo Flows in Warehouses by Applying Guanxi Principles
, Darius Bazaras 1, Aldona Jarašūnienė 1 and Kristina Čižiūnienė 1,*
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authorsthe text addresses important issues related to supply chain management, logistics, and warehouse management in the context of globalization. However, it lacks specific details about the Guanxi principles and the research methodology used, making it challenging to fully understand the significance of the findings. Additionally, more concrete examples or case studies illustrating the application of Guanxi principles in warehouse management would enhance the text's clarity and practical relevance.
The text mentions the impact of Guanxi philosophy but does not elaborate on why this impact is significant or how it relates to the broader field of supply chain management. Providing context and discussing the practical implications of the findings can enhance the clarity of the results.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer, Thank you for your comments and time for evaluating our article. They were useful in adjusting the article (All changes were made by Truck Change). Our responses to your comments are in atached file.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis paper mainly discusses the estimation of the intensity of cargo flows in warehouses by applying Guanxi principles. The paper is written nicely but following suggestions could improve the paper.
1. Clearly state the research question and hypothesis in the introductory part.
2. The number of decimal places in the data in table 2 needs to be harmonized.
3. The words in Figure 4 are too faint to read.
4. It will be better if detail steps could be presented of the formulated model.
5. Conclusions need to be re-arranged. Several paragraphs could be moved to discussions.
6. References need to be added.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageMinor editing of English language required.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer, Thank you for your comments and time for evaluating our article. They were useful in adjusting the article (All changes were made by Truck Change). Our responses to your comments are in atached file.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThank you for the author's submission. This article calculates the warehouse logistics process using relational philosophy and emphasizes the importance of relational philosophy in logistics management through qualitative and quantitative methods. However, the content of this article lacks a certain degree of logical coherence, and its academic value is limited. I believe it does not meet the standards for major revisions. Below are some suggestions for the author to consider.
1. The introduction lacks logical structure. After reading the introduction, it is difficult for me to understand what question this article is attempting to investigate. The role of the introduction is to inform the reader about the research background, the research question, why this question is being studied, the research gap, and how this article addresses the research question. Finally, briefly summarize the conclusions of this study. Therefore, the current introduction is poor, especially in terms of logical coherence.
2. If the title of Section 2 is "Theoretical Analysis of Warehouse Operations, Storage System, and Technological Processes," then the author should conduct a literature review in the order of Warehouse Operations, Storage System, and Technological Processes. More importantly, the author needs to elucidate the current literature gap.
3. How are Guanxi philosophy and the management of cargo flows in warehouses connected? What is Guanxi philosophy? Such important terms need to be explained in the text.
Comments on the Quality of English Language
The English language expression of this article is readable.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer, Thank you for your comments and time for evaluating our article. They were useful in adjusting the article (All changes were made by Truck Change). Our responses to your comments are in atached file.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe article is dedicated to investigating the warehouse management system to analyze the intensity of cargo flows in this valuable part of the logistics supply chain. The paper has pluses and drawbacks. As for pluses, it is well-structured and includes the results of the expert research combining qualitative and quantitive methods. It could be a complex contribution to the theory of warehouse management. Reasonably, the paper covers some scientific and practical gaps in supply chain management, especially concerning discourse about the crucial role of information technologies in warehouse activities, ways for the intensity of cargo flows, and the establishment of closer relationships with load operations systems of warehouses. In my opinion, the manuscript is scientifically sound and gives appropriate and understandable results for its reader, but there are some minuses of the paper.
I think that the article in such a variant is not relevant to the topic of the journal. Sustainability journal covers mainly the issues of technical, economic, or social sustainability, providing scientific studies related to sustainable development. The title of the paper, its abstract, keywords, and conclusions now do not correspond to the area of the journal research. The authors mention some aspects of sustainable warehousing only in Section 2 with a literature review on the topic but it is not enough, to my mind, to directly recommend it for publishing in Sustainability. It is better suited for publishing in the Logistics journal of MDPI. However, if the authors refine the article according to the topic of Sustainability (abstract, keywords, conclusions, the purpose of the research, and main part, concentrating on the important role of sustainable principles in warehouse management, then with a high probability it could be included in the Sustainability journal).
Here are some other deficiencies that need to be further improved:
1) I recommend refining the abstract to avoid drawing attention to the urgency of the research (it is better to put it in the Introduction section), but to reveal the essence of the research question addressed in a broader context.
2) Table 1 – the table's title does not correspond to its content. I propose the title “Statements about cargo flows in warehouse frequently used by scientists in literature indexed in WoS database”. Why did the authors choose only the WoS database for analysis? The analysis will be more justified, including resources from the Scopus base too.
3) I propose to add the phrase ‘agricultural products” to the article's title because the research focuses on this sphere. There can be differences in the approach to warehouse management in other industries.
4) The authors note today's popularity of the research topic, but looking at the Reference list, the year of the included literature resources ends in 2020. I strongly advise to expand the literature review with the more recent research of 2021-2023.
5) The Guanxi principle, as the research's central concept, is explained very narrowly. The authors should add a more in-depth description of this concept.
6) The authors analyze the initial data of five warehouses. But they have to give information on some characteristics of these warehouses (at least country, region).
7) To my mind, all formulas (1-20) should be presented in the table with several columns for better assimilation of information by the reader.
8) During the expert survey, according to what criteria were the answers of only six experts selected for analysis? Why are the opinions of other experts (which can also be valuable for the researcher) rejected?
9) It is better to add more clarification on the approach to performance evaluation in Figures 1 and 2. Has the consensus of expert opinion been taken into account?
10) Specify the software product in which Figures 3-6 were constructed.
11) Line 438 – “in summary, it can be stated that direct dependencies and correlations in most cases…”. It is better to leave one of the words – dependencies or correlations.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageLine 455 “The scientific problem of the article is revealed by mathematical calculations, revealing that general… – rephrase the sentence not using the word “reveal” twice.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer, Thank you for your comments and time for evaluating our article. They were useful in adjusting the article (All changes were made by Truck Change). Our responses to your comments are in atached file.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 5 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsFor this manuscript, I have the following concerns:
1. The paper aims to apply Guanxi principles to estimate the intensity of cargo flows in warehouses. However, it seems that in Section 3 and Section 4, Guanxi and estimation of cargo flows are two separate parts, i.e., there is no connection between them. The authors should elaborate how these two parts correlates. I suggest the authors check and revise the model carfully.
2. From line 215 to line 290, there are many deficiencies in the model establishment, which makes it difficult to fully understand this model. For instance, in Equations (7) and (10), what are the meaning of QUOTE and nsp?
3. Lines 307 to 340 obtains conclusions on logistics industrialization, informatization, artificial intelligence, commercial warehouse models, and personnel enthusiasm, but it lacks evidence such as survey questionnaires and statistical analysis to support these results.
4. The article cannot convince me of the conclusions described in lines 476 to 478.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer, Thank you for your comments and time for evaluating our article. They were useful in adjusting the article (All changes were made by Truck Change). Our responses to your comments are in atached file.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsGuanxi, a concept stemming from Chinese culture, emphasizes building and maintaining strong personal relationships based on trust, reciprocity, and mutual benefit. This philosophy can be beneficial in the logistics industry, which relies heavily on effective communication, coordination, and collaboration between different parties. Guanxi philosophy places a strong emphasis on building networks of personal relationships. However, I think this article does not do a good job of linking the guanxi with the strength of the flow of goods. The two main problems are:
1. The paper does not emphasize the reasons why the guanxi philosophy can be applied to the strength of the flow of goods. What is the inner connection between them? Why does relational philosophy affect the flow intensity of goods? What effects will it have? This needs the support of previous theoretical research. Only with these preconditions can we guarantee the scientific nature of this paper.
2. Articles discussing the strength of the flow of goods are common. In view of the innovativeness, this article should perhaps provide some specific indicators of the guanxi principles related to the goods flow. Although the article has repeatedly emphasized the principle of "guanxi", it is only a broad concept, which requires some concrete indicators. So I think this article lacks deep thinking about the relationship and the strength of the flow of goods.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageMinor editing of English language required
Author Response
Thank you for your comments. See our answer in the attached file.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsMy comments are taken into account.
Where the authors did not agree with the comments, explanations were provided with which I agree.
Author Response
Thank you for taking the time to review our article and provide your comments.
Reviewer 5 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe quality of the paper has been improved through revisions. However, it seems that the key research issue remains unsolved, i.e., the relationship between Subsections 4.1 and 4.2 is still unclear. More specifically, Subsection 4.1 discusses the results of Chinese experts survey, but the subsequent analysis is poor. Simple statistical analysis cannot clarify the impacts of Guanxi principle on the intensity of cargo flows in warehouses. Subsection 4.2 discusses the results of Lithuania’s case via a completely different method, and I cannot find any Guanxi principle in this subsection. Thus, how these two subsections are correlated deserves more investigation. I suggest the authors at least point out which results in the cargo transportation scheme from China to/through Lithuania are affected by Guanxi principle from Table 2 to Table 5, and from Figure 3 to Figure 6. And how Guanxi principle influences the cargo flows?
Moreover, the revision instructions replied by the authors are too simple.
Author Response
Thank you for your comments. See our answer in the attached file.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 3
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThrough two rounds of revision, the author has made a lot of modifications to the article. After consideration, I believe that it has met the acceptance criteria for this journal.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageMinor editing of English language required
Reviewer 5 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsIn this revised edition, the authors have addressed the key research issue that concerned me. The quality of the manuscript has been improved significantly and meets the publication standard in Sustainabiliy. Some garmmar and spelling mistakes should further be revised, e.g. in Line 171, "excist" should be replaced by "exist"? Please check the full text again.
