Introduction
It must be noted that strategic partnerships and alliances have become very important, particularly at a time where shippers as well as carriers increase their cooperation level. During the 2008 world economic downturn, many analysts predicted some gloomy future as far as the long-term supply chain relationship is concerned (Ernst & Young, 2012). The foundation of this prediction was based on that fact that all decisions would be made on the basis of lowest prices and underestimation of the increase of mutually beneficial collaboration that existed between the partners of supply chain partners. However, these forecasts never accounted to the experts ...
