A Comprehensive View of Intelligent Transport Systems and Supply
Chain Management for CIS Countries
Onur Guvenc
a
School of Management, Almaty Management University, 227 Rozibakiyeva, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Keywords: Logistics, Transportation, Supply Chain Management, Intelligent Transport Systems.
Abstract: The application of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) has continued to revolutionize contemporary
Supply Chain Management (SCM). Operators leverage real-time information about vehicle conditions and
traffic to improve the overall transport systems through Global Positioning System data, among other avenues.
Such systems have been invaluable in commercial vehicle administrative processes, vehicle clearance,
automated roadside safety inspection, hazardous materials incident reporting, and commercial fleet
administration and management. Using a sample of 500 respondents, the study used a mixed method design
to understand the key challenges faced by the intelligent transport systems and supply chain management
processes in the Commonwealth of Independent States countries. The study realized that concerns about
security of goods, threats from external attacks, and transportation problems are key concerns among users.
The study finds a statistically significant association between cases of loss of goods and the SCM applications
rating, but no statistically significant association between the cases of loss of goods and the type of goods and
the type of goods delivered. Infrastructural development of countries provides comparative advantages in the
use of ITS systems. Future studies should attempt to use comprehensive data.
1 INTRODUCTION
Revamping contemporary supply chain management
has been one of the integral ways of improving
efficiency in multimodal transportation systems.
Marrota et al. (2018) understands global supply chain
management (SCM) through Dornier’s Four Forces
Model: global market forces, global cost forces,
political and macroeconomic factors, and
technological forces. The latter—technological
forces—has continued to redefine contemporary
logistics. Kelarestaghi et al. (2019) believe that
efficient management of multimodal logistics would
be inherently difficult to achieve without the use of
sophisticated information and communication
technology. The use of intelligent transportation
systems has been specifically highlighted for its role
in increasing operational efficiency of the SCM.
Veres, Bányai, and Illés (2017) designated intelligent
transportation systems (ITS) systems in the domain of
GIS technology and underscore its role in optimizing
the supply chain. For Veres et al. (2017) the
a
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1550-3810
application of advanced technologies such as the
Advanced Traveler information system (ATIS) and
Advanced Drive Assistance Systems (ADAS) have
optimized SCM systems, minimizing the overall
costs such as the consumption of fossil-based fuels.
Intelligent transportation systems can be applied
in all the modes of transportation—air, ship, rail, and
road, and to every element of the transport system.
The primary function of ITS is to support network
controllers and other users (citizens, companies and
even governments) in decision-making processes
(Mangiaracina et al., 2017), leveraging accurate real-
time information on traffic and vehicle conditions.
Consequently, ITS improves the overall
transportation systems. However, much of the
research on ITS has focused on developed countries
in the west (UNECE, 2017). Other countries,
including the CIS countries, have also continued to
leverage the benefits provided by smart SCM
systems. However, such systems are not without
challenges that can jeopardize operational efficiency
and consistency.
Guvenc, O.
A Comprehensive View of Intelligent Transport Systems and Supply Chain Management for CIS Countries.
DOI: 10.5220/0010472906110617
In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems (VEHITS 2021), pages 611-617
ISBN: 978-989-758-513-5
Copyright
c
 2021 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
611

In our study, our main objective is to understand the
key challenges faced by the intelligent transport system
and the supply chain management process in CIS
countries which may be helpful for further studies.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Overview of the CIS Countries
The Commonwealth of Independent States were
formed out of the USSR in 1991 and include
Armenia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kirghizstan,
Kazakhstan, Moldavia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan,
Russia, Ukraine and Turkmenistan. In international
supply chains (ISCs), the CIS region has been a
natural transportation and logistics intermediary
between the European Union and the Asia Pacific
region—two centers of international economics. For
a number of countries in the CIS region, especially
countries having access to seas, international
transportation systems can act as a crucial link to
sustainable economic development. However,
logistics in the CIS region currently lags behind (with
annual estimates at US$80-90 bn), of which US$50-
60bn is accounted by Russia, and US$20-30bn mostly
shared by Ukraine and Kazakhstan (United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe, 2017). These
countries have different strengths in terms of their
GDPs, but most have still managed to come up with
excellent transport systems that have improved their
supply chain management processes.
2.2 Intelligent Transport System
The applicability of Intelligent transportation system
(ITS) has attracted interest both from users and
academia as such systems improve traffic management
and general road safety (Tundrea et al., 2017). One
technology that has been developed with regards to ITS
is the vehicular ad hoc networks commonly referred to
as VANETs. The VANETs allows vehicles to share
information about traffic along various routes which
can enable other road users to avoid congested routes
and improve efficiency (Badalyan et al., 2014).
However, the virtue of this system being wireless
presents with it a number of challenges specially to do
with cyber-attacks as there have been security and
privacy concern of such communication systems.
Certificate revocation, confidentiality, anonymity,
authentication, identity privacy, location privacy
among other privacy issues have been the main
concern of the intelligent transport systems. Owing to
the fact that sometimes the goods being transported
along roads and railways tend to be sensitive and
sometimes very valuable, the dangers of malicious
attacks and acess abound (Traganos et al., 2015). The
insurance companies are also not spared as they end
up spending a lot in terms of compensation. There are
however new developments in this area as solutions
to this problem are being discovered through aspects
like scalability and latency (Novikov et al., 2017).
2.3 Supply Chain Management in CIS
Countries
The concept of logistics has gone through a number
of evolution processes and currently it is used to mean
much more than just the action of physical transfer of
goods. There are a lot of players that are involved in
the whole logistics processes including commercial
banks, custom brokers, insurance companies,
suppliers and freight forwarders. All these players in
the logistics industry show a need of having not just a
well-organized logistic model but also a robust supply
chain management that keeps all these players into
consideration (Silvestre, 2015). This is because a
problem in one of these players may end up
paralyzing the whole SCM process. For instance,
failure of a financial institution to release money on
time to pay for the many expenses that are incurred
along the transportation chain would hinder the goods
from reaching their intended destination conveniently
and on time which may lead to unprecedented losses
(Sharipbekova & Raimbekov, 2018).
2.4 Gaps in the Supply Chain
The supply chain management is affected by multiple
factors, key being the uncertainty of product prices
and availability owing to the fluctuating demand and
supply trends in the market. This complexity creates
a gap in any SCM system that can be developed as
this unpredictability is hard to foretell. Equally, the
fact that producers and manufacturers are now
preferring to do manufacturing and production close
to where there are factors of production like raw
materials and labor has brought gaps in the SCM
systems since a problem in one region of the world
can bring about problems in the whole SCM system
(Swami & Shah, 2013). For example, when there is a
crisis in an area where raw materials are obtained, it
becomes problematic to get the products in any part
of the world and this creates a gap in the whole of
supply chain management process (Radosevic, 2011).
This problem has been so rampant especially at the
wake of Covid-19 where some countries have been
unable to do the testing of the virus owing to the raw
VEHITS 2021 - 7th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems
612

materials like the reagents that are used in the testing
which became problematic to come across due to
their high demand all over the world.
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Participants
The research which was a mix of both qualitative and
quantitative methods entailed a study of 500 people
who are engaged in various forms of supply chain
management and cargo transportation business,
including cargo transporters and clients. Respondents
are homogenous in terms of sex, between 15 – 64 years
old. Other segmentation variables were not taken in
consideration. The clients included people who have at
one point ordered goods that were supposed to be
transported from any of the CIS countries and sought
to establish the complexities that were found in the
whole of the supply chain model. The key research
question was “what are the key challenges faced by the
intelligent transport system and the supply chain
management process in CIS countries?”
Two questionnaires were used to obtain data, one
being for the users of SCM and another one for the
providers. An online link was went to respondents in
order to create the data set.
3.2 Hypotheses
Out of the research question, three hypotheses were
formulated as listed below:
1. SCM applications play a key role in ensuring there
is security and privacy of the transported products.
2. The transport infrastructural development of the
respective CIS countries plays a key role in
determining the success of SCM systems.
3. Cargo tracking systems and technology has a key
role in determining the confidence and success of
the SCM processes.
4 RESULTS
This section provides the results of the study. Survey
questions are shown in the appendix section. Both
descriptive and inferential analysis are provided;
4.1 Security and Privacy Concerns
Both the providers and users cited various cases of
security concerns and privacy challenges in the current
systems that are in use. There were various mentions
by users of instances where their goods were lost along
the way and the same challenge was recorded by the
providers. For instance, 24% recorded to have always
encountered cases of loss of goods on transit while
75.51% recorded that they rarely encounter such cases.
Privacy of essential goods that are mostly valuable was
also listed as a key challenge.
Figure 1: Cases of loss of goods.
4.2 Tracking Systems
The need of having robust and modernized transport
system was established to be a key requirement in a
bid to making the supply chain management systems
safer and effective. Users noted that the knowledge of
the freight company or the truck doing the
transportation having a tracking system gives them
confidence to use it and the assurance that their
products will arrive safely and that they would be able
to track the movement from the origin of their goods
to the destination. For instance, 71% of providers
recorded that they use cargo tracking services while
29% were not using.
Figure 2: Use of Cargo tracking services.
A cross-tabulation was further conducted to
understand any correlation between the use of
tracking services and the types of goods. The analysis
indicates that tracking services are mostly used with
solid goods than perishable goods.
24,49%
75,51%
0,00
0,50
1,00
Always Rare
Cases of loss of goods.
A Comprehensive View of Intelligent Transport Systems and Supply Chain Management for CIS Countries
613

Table 1: Use of Cargo tracking services * Types of goods
delivered Crosstabulation.
Count
Types of goods
delivere
d
Total
Perishable
g
oods
Solid
g
oods
Use of Cargo
tracking services
Yes 121 227 348
No 52 100 152
Total 173 327 500
4.3 Infrastructure Role in SCM
Systems
It was also established that infrastructure plays a key
role in determining the success of a particular SCM
system. Providers noted that they have had many
cases of transportation problems due to poor
infrastructure with 67% recording that they have at
one point or another encountered transportation
problem and 33% noting that they have never
encountered any problem. Countries that had records
of low or poor infrastructures also recorded having
key challenges in their supply chain management
systems and processes while countries that have
improved infrastructure recorded key successes in
SCM especially when it came to the score of loss of
goods and success of SCM applications.
Figure 3: Transportation Problems.
In cases where transportation problems were
reported, there were higher instances of reported
losses of goods as shown I the cross-tabulation
provided below;
Table 2: Cases of Loss of goods * Transportation problems
Crosstabulation.
Count
Transportation
p
roblems
Total
Yes No
Cases of Loss of
goods
Alwa
y
s 107 61 168
Rare 224 108 332
Total 331 169 500
Inferential analysis.
An inferential analysis was conducted to
understand the association between the attributes.
Ho: There is no significant association between
loss of goods and types of goods.
As shown below, p=0.243, thus the study realized
that there is no significant association between the
cases of loss of goods and the type of goods delivered.
Table 3: ANOVA
a
.
Model Sum of
S
q
uares
Df Mean
S
q
uare
F Sig.
1
Regression .305 1 .305 1.364 .243
b
Residual 111.247 498 .223
Total 111.552 499
a. De
p
endent Variable: Cases of Loss of
g
oods.
b
. Predictors: (Constant), Types of goods delivere
d
.
Ho: there is no statistically significant association
between cases of loss of goods and the SCM
applications rating
In the analysis, p=0.001; p<0.05, thus the study
finds a statistically significant association between
cases of loss of goods and the SCM applications rating.
Table 4: ANOVA
a
.
Model Sum of
S
q
uares
Df Mean
S
q
uare
F Sig.
1
Re
g
ression 4.861 1 4.861 22.691 .001
b
Residual 106.691 498 .214
Total 111.552 499
a. Dependent Variable: Cases of Loss of goods.
b
. Predictors:
(
Constant
)
,SCM A
pp
lications ratin
g
.
5 DISCUSSION
The results section provides critical perspectives on
customer evaluation of ITS systems. For instance,
there is generally a marked improvement in the line
of cargo tracking and most freight companies have
now embraced ITS technologies. There is, however,
a need of having SCM applications that guarantee
users of safety and privacy of their goods. While users
would most likely want information about the
location of their goods and services, safety is
indicated as a core concern for many of the users of
such systems. For instance, further inferential
analysis indicates a statistically significant
association between cases of loss of goods and SCM
applications rating (p=0.001; p<0.05). This is an
VEHITS 2021 - 7th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems
614

indication that while many systems have been
implemented in ITS systems, the security levels of
such SCM applications are an issue among users.
Table 5: ANOVA
a
.
Model Sum of
Squares
Df Mean
Square
F Sig.
1
Regression 4.861 1 4.861
22.6
91
.001
b
Residual 106.691
49
8
.214
Total 111.552
49
9
a. Dependent Variable: Cases of Loss of goods.
b
. Predictors:
(
Constant
)
, SCM A
pp
lications ratin
g
.
Our findings about security concerns about ITS
systems have further been explored in other studies
and similar findings indicated. For instance,
Kelarestaghi et al. (2019) indicated that users often
have concerns about the susceptibility of the systems
to malicious attacks and cybersecurity threats.
Unknown security vulnerabilities have trigged a race
among adversaries to find weakness of such systems.
Harvey et al. (2020) affirm that security is an issue
among users of ITS system. as such, there is a need to
introduce solutions aimed at addressing the
vulnerabilities of such systems to overcome external
threats and reduce risks of attacks.
Additionally, the study finds no association
between the cause of loss of goods and the types of
goods delivered. In the statistical analysis below, there
is no statistically significant association between the
cases of loss of goods and the types of goods delivered
(p=0.243; p>0.05). Anholcer, Hinc, and Kawa (2018)
believe that smart supply chains need to be immune
against loss of goods on transit. For the authors
(Anholcer et al., 2018) designing smart supply network
systems with decision support systems (DSS) can
reduce losses and multiple deliveries.
Table 6: ANOVA
a
.
Model Sum of
S
q
uares
Df Mean
S
q
uare
F Sig.
1
Re
g
ression .305 1 .305 1.364 .243
b
Residual 111.247 498 .223
Total 111.552 499
a. De
p
endent Variable: Cases of Loss of
g
oods.
b
. Predictors: (Constant), Types of goods delivere
d
.
The analysis further indicated that the economic
development of a country highly defines its application
of intelligent transport systems. For instance, Russia is
known to be having the highest GDP compared to all
the other 10 countries, and from the analysis, it has the
highest application of ITS systems. Kyrgyzstan on the
other hand has the lowest productivity. It has been
postulated that the SCM systems of a country like
Kyrgyzstan tend to be very low in terms of efficiency
compared to the ones in countries like Russia that enjoy
high GDP. Countries like Kyrgyzstan have however
continued improving their transport infrastructures and
quality of trade in a bid to seal the gaps in supply chain
management systems that exist between them and
other high-income countries like Russia (Ponomarenko
et al., 2020).
Evidence indicates that when a country lags
behind considerably in terms of its transportation and
SCM systems as compared to its neighboring nations,
ISC systems prefer routes that are developed and
safer for their goods (Kucharčuková et al., 2012).
This consequently affects the economic development
of the various countries in the CIS region. More
particularly, a report by the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (2017) indicated that ISCs
provide comparative advantages for various
countries—improving their economies and creating
local jobs.
In the following steps of the study, we project to
provide more information about cargo tracking
systems and the use of more advanced sensors on
board and connectivity. This can help us to have a
larger optic on the subject.
6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The key limitation in this study was obtaining
representative data for all of the CIS countries. The
countries have different populations and it may not be
practically possible to obtain same number of
respondents for all the countries—an issue that
introduced bias. However, owing to the vastness of the
countries, it was difficult to get representative numbers
from all states and still be able to attain the sample size
of 500 respondents in total. This was still achieved but
it brought with it a lot of logistical re-adjustments.
Future studies can improve data collection techniques
by using purposive sampling frameworks.
7 CONCLUSION
Intelligent Transport systems provide a number of
comparative advantages for countries. Comparative
A Comprehensive View of Intelligent Transport Systems and Supply Chain Management for CIS Countries
615

development should be achieved by the various CIS
countries in infrastructure to leverage the benefits of
ITS systems. Additionally, users’ express concerns
about privacy and security of ITS systems. Ensuring
security of freight cargo will be critical to supporting
various ITS systems.
As a next step, we are planning to create a data set
for one of the countries and follow the same
methodology. With a number of 500 participants,
study the each state separately and to finalize our
conclusion as the study remain a work in progress.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During our research, the assistance provided by
Madina Duchshanova; marketing student at Almaty
Management University was greatly appreciated.
REFERENCES
Anholcer, M., Hinc, T., & Kawa, A. (2019). Losses in
Transportation—Importance and Methods of Handling.
In SMART Supply Network (pp. 111-128). Springer,
Cham.
Badalyan, G., Herzfeld, T., & Rajcaniova, M. (2014).
Transport infrastructure and economic growth: Panel
data approach for Armenia, Georgia and Turkey.
Review of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 17(2),
22-31.
Dries, L., Gorton, M., Urutyan, V., & White, J. (2014).
Supply chain relationships, supplier support
programmes and stimulating investment: evidence from
the Armenian dairy sector. Supply Chain Management:
An International Journal.
Fayezi, S., O'Loughlin, A., & Zutshi, A. (2012). Agency
theory and supply chain management: a structured
literature review. Supply chain management: an
international journal, 17(5), 556-570.
Hartwell, C. A. (2013). A Eurasian (or a Soviet) Union?
Consequences of further economic integration in the
Commonwealth of Independent States. Business
Horizons, 56(4), 411-420.
Harvey, J., & Kumar, S. (2020, May). A Survey of
Intelligent Transportation Systems Security:
Challenges and Solutions. In 2020 IEEE 6th Intl
Conference on Big Data Security on Cloud
(BigDataSecurity), IEEE Intl Conference on High
Performance and Smart Computing, (HPSC) and IEEE
Intl Conference on Intelligent Data and Security (IDS)
(pp. 263-268). IEEE.
Kelarestaghi, K. B., Foruhandeh, M., Heaslip, K., &
Gerdes, R. (2019). Intelligent transportation system
security: impact-oriented risk assessment of in-vehicle
networks. IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems
Magazine, 1-1.
Kucharčuková, O. B., Babecký, J., & Raiser, M. (2012).
Gravity approach for modelling international trade in
South-Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of
Independent States: the role of geography, policy and
institutions. Open economies review, 23(2), 277-301.
Mangiaracina, R., Perego, A., Salvadori, G., & Tumino, A.
(2017). A comprehensive view of intelligent transport
systems for urban smart mobility. International Journal
of Logistics Research and Applications, 20(1), 39-52.
Marotta, A., Studer, L., Marchionni, G., Ponti, M., Gandini,
P., Agriesti, S., & Arena, M. (2018). Possible impacts
of C-ITS on supply-chain logistics system.
Transportation research procedia, 30, 332-341.
Novikov, A., Novikov, I., Katunin, A., & Shevtsova, A.
(2017). Adaptation capacity of the traffic lights control
system (TSCS) as to changing parameters of traffic
flows within intellectual transport systems (ITS).
Transportation Research Procedia, 20, 455-462.
Ponomarenko, T., Nevskaya, M., & Marinina, O. (2020).
An assessment of the applicability of sustainability
measurement tools to resource-based economies of the
commonwealth of independent states. Sustainability,
12(14), 5582.
Radosevic, S. (2011). Science-industry links in Central and
Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent
States: conventional policy wisdom facing reality.
Science and Public Policy, 38(5), 365-378.
Sharipbekova, K., & Raimbekov, Z. S. (2018). Influence of
logistics efficiency on economic growth of the CIS
countries.
Silvestre, B. S. (2015). Sustainable supply chain
management in emerging economies: Environmental
turbulence, institutional voids and sustainability
trajectories. International Journal of Production
Economics, 167, 156-169.
Swami, S., & Shah, J. (2013). Channel coordination in
green supply chain management. Journal of the
operational research society, 64(3), 336-351.
Traganos, K., Grefen, P. W. P. J., den Hollander, A.,
Turetken, O., & Eshuis, R. (2015). Business model
prototyping for intelligent transport systems: a service-
dominant approach. Beta Publication, 469, 7.
Tundrea, A. C., Draganescu, C., & Popa, C. (2017, May).
Integrating Intelligent Transport Systems in a Risk
Management System of Systems. In 2017 21st
International Conference on Control Systems and
Computer Science (CSCS) (pp. 385-391). IEEE.
UNECE. (2017). Strengthening the capacity of developing
and transition economies to link to global supply chains
through the reduction of trade obstacles. Retrieved from
https://unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trade/TF_JointUNR
CsApproach/SCM-in-CIS_ENG.pdf
Ushakov, A., & Łukasik, Z. (2017). Modern container
tracking systems on russian railroads: technologies and
prospects. Autobusy: technika, eksploatacja, systemy
transportowe, 18.
Veres, P., Bányai, T., & Illés, B. (2017). Intelligent
transportation systems to support production logistics.
In Vehicle and Automotive Engineering (pp. 245-256).
Springer, Cham.
VEHITS 2021 - 7th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems
616

Yang, G. H., Xu, K., & Li, V. O. (2010, May). Hybrid
cargo-level tracking system for logistics. In 2010 IEEE
71st Vehicular Technology Conference (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
APPENDIX
Survey One: For Users
1. How long did it take for the product to reach you?
a. Less than a day
b. Less than 3 days
c. Less than a week
d. More than a week
e. More than a month
2. Was the delay caused by inefficiencies in supply
chain management systems?
a. Yes
b. No
3. If yes, what was the problem and what do you
think could have been done differently?
a. Open Question
4. Have you ever lost your ordered goods while they
were still on transit?
a. Yes
b. No
5. If yes, was the transporting mode, e.g track, fitted
with a cargo tracking device?
a. Yes
b. No
Survey Two: For Providers
1. What type of goods do you deliver?
a. Solid Goods
b. Products
c. Perishable Food
2. What country do you work in?
a. Open Question
3. Are there any problems during the transportation
phase?
a. Yes
b. No
4. Evaluate the infrastructure of your country for
work in a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is poor and 5 is
excellent
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4
e. 5
5. How often are there cases of loss of goods? (rare
- always)
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4
e. 5
6. Do you use cargo tracking devices?
a. Yes
b. No
7. How would you rate the performance of SCM
applications? (bad to god)
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4
e. 5
A Comprehensive View of Intelligent Transport Systems and Supply Chain Management for CIS Countries
617