Power, concession and agreement in freight distribution chains: subject to distance-based user charges

Freight transport is an important user of the road network, yet little is understood about the potential impacts of some travel demand management strategies on freight transport activity. This arises, in part, due to the interdependent nature of decision-making within supply chains. To contribute to this shortcoming, this paper offers empirical results from a method designed to estimate attribute-specific measures of relative influence within decision-making groups. A choice modelling framework is utilized to consider the relative concession decision makers are willing to make toward the preferences of other group members when attempting to reach group choice equilibrium. The estimated influence measures highlight the relative power each type of decision maker holds with respect to each attribute within the candidate alternatives from which to choose.