第三方物流服务提供商行业的戏剧性变化

第三方物流合作，三方之间的关系，买方的货物，供应商的这些货物和物流服务供应商移动和/或储存货物之间的买家和供应商。

在过去的二十年左右，第三方服务提供商行业发生了巨大变化。一个为客户提供多种物流服务的公司，第三方物流供应商是外部的客户公司，并为其服务进行补偿。外包的程度各不相同，外包活动的复杂性差异很大。第三方物流安排盖简单的公平交易关系涉及几个一切，而不是简单的物流活动，先进的物流解决方案，包括增值活动如途中合并设置。已经写了很多关于物流的关系，主要是托运人和接收人之间的货物，至少在市场研究领域以及物流研究领域内。然而，在普通的黑社会建立关系，托运人和承运人和接收机和载波之间，很少被覆盖（有2001家）。

 

A logistics triad is a cooperative, three-way relationship between a buyer of goods, the supplier of those goods and a logistics service provider moving and/or storing the goods between buyer and supplier.

 

During the last two decades or so, the third-party service provider industry has changed dramatically. A company that provides multiple logistics services for its customers, whereby the Third-party logistics provider is external to the customer company and is compensated for its services. The degree of outsourcing varies and the outsourced activities differ greatly in complexity. The third-party logistics arrangements cover straightforward arm's-length relationships involving everything from a few, rather simple logistics activities to advanced logistics solutions including value-added activities such as merge-in-transit setups. Much has been written about relationships in logistics, primarily between the shipper and the receiver of the goods, not least within the marketing research area as well as within the logistics research area. However, the relations in the common triad setup, between the shipper and the carrier and between the receiver and the carrier, have rarely been covered (Stank & House 2001).

 

A 4PL is an independent, singularly accountable, non asset based integrator of clients Supply and demand chains. The 4PL's role is to implement and manage a value creating Business solution through control of time and place utilities and influence on form and Possession utilities within the client organization. Performance and success of the 4PL's Intervention is measured as a function of value creation within the client organization (Andarski, 1998).

 

Third Party Logistics provider is a supply chain integrator that assembles and manages the resources, capabilities and technology of its own organization with those of complementary service provider to deliver a comprehensive supply chain solution.

 

3PL is emerging as a path to achieve more than the one time operating cost reductions and asset transfers of a traditional outsourcing arrangement. 3PL organizations can create unique and comprehensive supply chain solutions that cannot be achieved by any single provider. 3PL can be described as the complete outsourcing of the logistics function including procurement of service providers. 3 PL companies are suppliers which have the expertise to manage resources, value delivery processes and technology for their clients in order to allow their clients to totally outsource their logistics management activity. The 4PLs do not compete with 3PLs as they have superior expertise in their respective fields by virtue of their investment and specialization (Bagchi & Virum, 1998).#p#分页标题#e#

 

Logistics service providers provided diverse services in addition to transportation services. These are cross-docking at terminals or consolidation services at DCs, storage or integrated-logistics value-added services at warehouses and DCs. The scope of the services, provided by the third-party service providers, is wide and can include transport but does not need to be carried out in an own-account fleet. If the transportation is outsourced to a carrier, the transport-related services are:

 

Tendering and contracting carriers;

 

Forwarding services; and

 

Track and trace of in-transit movements

 

1.2 Problem statement

To identify the factors due to which company utilize the 3PL/4PL

 

1.3 Research Hypothesis:

H1: The presence (Domestic or Multinational) of the company is independent of the supply chain activities (3PL/4PL) provided by the firm.

 

H2: The size of the logistic firm is independent of the service (3PL/4PL) provided by the company.

 

H3: The presence (Domestic or Multinational) of the company is independent of the degree of supply chain functions performed by the company.

 

1.4 Outline of the study:

The theme of this paper is collaboration in logistics and the role of third-party service providers typically participating in logistics setups. The term is used as a synonym throughout this paper for carriers, warehouse operators, third-party logistics service providers (LSPs), and any other type of logistics service intermediates (LSIs) such as forwarders or information processing service providers.

 

The parties taking over these activities are third-party service providers, carriers providing transportation service or LSPs providing transportation and warehousing services. In recent years these LSPs have been extending their service portfolio, with more complex activities than ever before and serving more customers than previously. The description reveals a need for a framework or a model of relations between the parties that participate in contemporary logistics setups. Such a model provides a language that can recognize the role of the involved parties and the attributes in the relations between them. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the role of different parties in outsourced logistics setups

 

1.5 Definition:

The most dominant definition of logistics is given by the Council of Logistics Management (CLM, 2004):

 

Logistics

Logistics is that part of the supply chain process that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverses flow and storage of goods, services, and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers' requirements (CLM, 2004).#p#分页标题#e#

 

Third party logistics:

Within the area of logistics, a substantial number of definitions can be found on issues related to third-party activities and the parties involved. One of this is stated below:

 

The services offered by a middleman in the logistics channel that has specialized in providing, by contract, for a given time period, all or a considerable number of logistics activities for other firms (CLM, 2004).

 

Collaboration

Collaboration is a process of decision-making among interdependent parties and those parties include the carriers and the LSPs.

 

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW 文献综述

Supply chain management is the management of information, processes, goods and funds from the earliest supplier to the ultimate customer, including disposal.

 

A third-party logistics provider (3PL) is a firm that provides outsourced or third party logistics services to companies for part, or sometimes all of their supply chain management functions Barringer & Harrison (2000). Third party logistics providers typically specialize in integrated operation, warehousing and transportation services that can be scaled and customized to customer's needs based on market conditions and the demands and delivery service requirements for their products and materials (Skjoett & Thernue, (2003).

 

Standard 3PL provider: this is the most basic form of a 3PL provider. They would perform activities such as, pick and pack, warehousing, and distribution (business) - the most basic functions of logistics. For a majority of these firms, the 3PL function is not their main activity (Lieb & Bentz, 2004).

 

Service developer: this type of 3PL provider will offer their customers advanced value-added services such as: tracking and tracing, cross-docking, specific packaging, or providing a unique security system. A solid IT foundation and a focus on economies of scale and scope will enable this type of 3PL provider to perform these types of tasks (Larson & Gammelgaard2001).

 

The customer adapter: this type of 3PL provider comes in at the request of the customer and essentially takes over complete control of the company's logistics activities. The 3PL provider improves the logistics dramatically, but do not develop a new service. The customer base for this type of 3PL provider is typically quite small (Halldorsson & Skjoett, (2004).

 

The customer developer: this is the highest level that a 3PL provider can attain with respect to its processes and activities. This occurs when the 3PL provider integrates itself with the customer and takes over their entire logistics function. These providers will have few customers, but will perform extensive and detailed tasks for them (Fernie, 1999).#p#分页标题#e#

 

The north-east corner of the model represents transportation issues where vehicles are used for carrying out the activities while the south-west represents the logistics issues where activities are carried out in the facilities - warehouses, terminals and production facilities.

 

Distribution structures: Products are moved from producers to final consumers or from producers to other manufacturers, respectively, by routes starting from factories, through intermediate nodes, altogether forming networks. Distribution involves a number of activities. It is possible to distinguish between at least four different ones: collection, distribution, storing and handling, as well as transport Lieb & Randall (1999). A production, distribution and transportation network consists of nodes and a connection between these nodes, i.e. links.

 

Figure 2.2: A production, distribution and transportation network

Figure 2 shows a network structure with several entities, where products can visit on the way from the shipper (supplier) to the receiver (buyer).

 

All of the above activities are subject to outsourcing to third-party service providers. Logistics activities are a collection of functional activities that are repeated many times throughout the channel through which raw materials are converted into finished products.

 

Not only has the scope grown, but also even the issues in question. Forward flow has been complemented with reverse flow, flow with storage, and goods with not only services but also information. This makes the definition much more complete but at the same times more complex Lieb & Kendrick (2003). Warehouse operation is an important part of logistics where products (raw material, parts, goods-in-process, finished goods) are stored at and between point of origin and point of consumption. In addition to storage, there are two other major operations associated with warehousing: movement and information transfer (Lambert & Cooper, 1998).

 

Another term frequently used in association with warehousing is operation of distribution centres (DCs). Researcher compares warehousing with operation of DCs and concludes that the role of the DC is narrower, including receives and ship as the main activities - while receive, store, ship, and pick are part of the warehouse activities. Researcher point out that the difference is that in warehouses all products are kept, while DCs only hold fast-moving products in much smaller quantity (Koster, 2002).

 

In addition, in DCs the value-added services are mainly carried out. Terminals are facilities where load units are shifted between links in a transportation network. Examples of terminals are ports, crossing points of transport modes (e.g. between road and rail), and facilities specialized in fast throughput of load units which makes cross-docking possible. Examples of terminal activities are transhipments, coordination and cross-docking Gentry (1996). The terminal activities can take place in a warehouse or a DC. The terminal function may then be carried out as any other consolidation activity - the only difference is that the arriving good has a known receiver prior to arrival at the warehouse or DC and is not stored there. Transportation is in general said to be a physical movement of people and goods from one place to another. Transport is one of the major activities within logistics, where a creation of time and place utility is performed Fleischmann (1993). There is an interaction between distribution structures and transportation structures, where transport costs and performance are among the important factors in deciding the distribution structure. A distribution system can be efficient only if its collaboration with the transportation network is efficient (Delfmann & Albers, 2002).#p#分页标题#e#

 

A decentralized distribution system fulfils the customer demand in a nearby area. The transport distances are short and relatively inexpensive, but instead there will be many warehouses, which leads to high fixed costs for facilities and equipment as well as to variable costs for inventories and workforce wages. With the change from a decentralized distribution system to a centralized one, the transport distances will increase. The associated costs must partly be covered by reduced warehouse operation costs, as some economies of scale are reached and a huge amount of fixed capital and facility costs will disappear since the number of warehouses has decreased Christy & Grout (1994). Most 4PL companies have no assets like warehouse facilities, own fleet, etc. and they provide services to the customers in the form of responsibility and knowledge of how to fulfil the customer requirements. The physical movement of the goods is outsourced to other third-party service providers. To simplify the terminology in this work, the term LSI is used for operators that provide only administrative services to their customers, such as 4PL, forwarders, web-marketplaces, etc (Bhatnagar & Viswanathan, 2000).

 

Collaboration in logistics activities

There are many types of inter-organizational relationships. Past research mentioned six: joint ventures, networks, consortia, alliances, trade associations, and interlock directories. In recent years, there has been an intensive discussion about relationships in logistics and particularly in supply chain management, as the relations between companies form the basis for supply chain management setups Gentry (1996). The strategic alliance is defined "as the one that yields cost benefits to both parties and where both parties utilize the competence of the other partner to enhance their competitive position." Collaboration between companies participating in supply chain setups is generally believed to increase efficiency and decrease costs. This applies particularly to collaboration on forecasts, as companies spend valuable resources on responding to unexpected conditions. However, the potential for increased efficiency does not stop with collaboration on forecasts; companies create increased value by collaborating on knowledge, resources, promotions, placed orders, etc. which is equally valuable (Barringer & Harrison, 2000).

 

Carriers:

The most straightforward service is in a point-to-point network setup where transport operators carry out the haulage of products from one point to another, often with a full truckload Sink (1996). Similarly, in a multi-stop network setup, the transport operators haul full truckloads or LTL with many stops throughout a predetermined route. By transporting products in time to a customer, a time utility is generated, and even a place utility as the products become available to the receivers. The services provided by the carriers in all the inspected cases were:#p#分页标题#e#

 

Inbound and Outbound transportation;

 

Door-to-door transportation service; and

 

Contract delivery.

 

In addition, several administrative services were provided:

 

Transportation administration;

 

Documentation handling;

 

Transport scheduling;

 

Tracking and tracing information; and

 

Delivery performance tools

 

Some carriers provided customized services to some extent, but the above are the typical ones. The scope of the carrier services, both physical and administrational, spans the activities that need to be carried out in the lower part mainly performing the physical transport in the transport structure Bagchi & Virum (1998). Carriers can provide transhipment function in transportation setups where load units are shifted from one transport mode to another. This service applies often in railroad-to-truck intermodal setups where railroad operators run terminals of their own. Larger carriers can even run cross-docking terminals where load units, pallets or similar, are shifted from one truck lane to another. Thereby, carriers can take over the transportation network structure, in part or as a whole. The carriers often own a significant part of their resources, are owners or leasers of the trucks and the equipment needed for their operation, and are in that sense asset-based operators (Andarski, 1998).

 

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHOD 研究方法

3.1 Method of Data collection:

In this research primary data is used in the form of questionnaire used as an instrument for data collection. Data was collected by two ways

 

i) Personal meeting with the managers of 3PL organizations

 

ii) By emailing the questionnaire to the respondents.

 

3.2 Sample Size and Sampling Technique

In this research sample size was 20 respondents keeping in mind the fact of that there are very less logistics firm which provides the whole supply chain solutions to the different companies. It has been tried to cover all the supply chain solution provider companies.

 

3.3 Instrument of Data Collection

In this research, questionnaire is used as an instrument for the data collection and this questionnaire focusing on the scope of 3PL/4PL activities in Pakistan. Demographic part is also included

 

3.4.1 Validity and Reliability

Reliability test is the test of measuring reliability and validity in the variables of the constructs. Reliability statistics is used to test the power of the variable to measure what it says it measure. The rule of thumb is that data is considered perfect for the study if the value of 'Cronbach's Alpha' is closer to 1. However, the data is deemed reliable if the value of 'Cronbach's Alpha' is greater than .5#p#分页标题#e#

 

3.4 Statistical technique used:

In this study, Chi square is used as the statistical used. The reason of using this technique because when the purpose is to study the association among the two variables chi square is suitable to use. As variables in this research are in the categorical form having nominal and ordinal scaling that's why the chi square is applied to generate results.

 

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS 结果

4.1 Hypotheses Assessment Summary

H1: The presence (Domestic or Multinational) of the company is independent of the supply chain activities (3PL/4PL) provided by the firm.

Table 4.1

The above table explains the division of the data in terms of the service provided by the company with respect to their presence around the globe. Out of 20 firms 12 are providing 3PL activities only, 4 are providing 4PL activities and also 4 are providing 3PL/4PL activities both. On the other hand there in the analysis 13 firms are domestic by genre and 7 firms are multinational.

 

Table 4.2

From the above table it can be observed that the value of chi square is 0.083 that is less than 0.10. On 90 % confidence interval level we can conclude that the decision of the services provided by the company is dependent on the presence of the company around the globe therefore the null hypothesis is not accepted. The multinational presence of the company has an advantage of broad scenarios as well as resources. Companies when approaching towards outsourcing their supply function do analyze the factor, presence of the logistic firm that either they are domestic or multinational. The decision of the logistic firm to provide 3PL or 4PL is also based on that on the basis of resources and expertise held by the company.

 

H2: The size of the logistic firm is independent of the service (3PL/4PL) provided by the company.

Table 4.3

.

The above table explains the division of the data in terms of the service provided by the company (3PL/4PL) with respect to the size of the firm. Out of 20 firms 12 are providing 3PL activities only, 4 are providing 4PL activities and also 4 are providing 3PL/4PL activities both. On the other hand 5 firms have an employees size of less than 20, 6 having employees in between 20-40, 2 companies have an employees around 40-60 and 7 companies have an employee's size in between 60-80.

 

Table 4.4

From the above table it can be observed that the value of chi square is 0.128 that is greater than 0.05. On 95 % confidence interval level we can conclude that the decision of the number of services provided by the company is independent of the size of the company (in terms of employees) therefore, the null hypothesis is not rejected. In broad view employees size of the company doesn't effect on the decision of the service provided (3PL/4PL) but it would be possible that size of the company do impact on any specific function of the supply chain that company performs. Due to the advancement of technology the supply chain processes are more towards less human this is also the reason due to which the size of the employees does not show any difference in terms of service provided by the company.#p#分页标题#e#

 

H3: The presence (Domestic or Multinational) of the company is independent of the degree of supply chain functions performed by the company.

Table 4.5

The above table explains the division of the data in terms of the presence of the company with respect to degree of supply chain Function Company performed. On freight forwarding function there is only 1 company that degree of performing this particular function is 0-19%, 4 are in between 20-39%, 8 are in between 40-59, 5 in between 60-79% and only 2 firms are in between 80-99%. On the other hand in the analysis 13 firms are domestic and 7 firms are multinational.

 

Multinational or Domestic * Freight Forwarding

 

Table 4.6

Multinational or Domestic * Freight and Fleet management

Table 4.7

Multinational or Domestic * Warehousing

Table 4.8

Multinational or Domestic * Distribution/Transportation

Table 4.9

Multinational or Domestic * Negotiation in Procurement arrangements

Table 4.10

Multinational or Domestic * Reverse Logistics

 

Table 4.11

Multinational or Domestic * Inventory/Stock Management

Table 4.12

Multinational or Domestic * Designing organization's route to market model

Table 4.13

From the above table it can be observed that the Chi Square value of (Multinational or Domestic * Freight Forwarding) and (Multinational or Domestic * Distribution/Transportation) are 0.024 and 0.059 respectively that are less than 0.10. On 90 % confidence interval level we can conclude that the degree of the supply chain function performed by the company is dependent on the presence of the company around the globe therefore the null hypothesis is not accepted. The multinational presence of the company has an advantage of broad scenarios as well as resources. Companies when approaching towards outsourcing their supply function do analyze the factor, presence of the logistic firm that either they are domestic or multinational. The significant supply chain factors indicate that companies when taking decision of outsourcing their supply function do analyze the current resources of the company. Transportation is the most outsource function among supply chain functions. Domestic companies are having an advantage as their presence are in multiple cities provides them advantage to serve the company products better than multinational. On the other multinational companies are more interested in 4PL activities as well as looking towards adapting the whole region for performing supply chain function especially on the location where they are already operational. They are more involved in the software integration, planning, forecasting and controlling. Domestic companies are lacking in resources when it comes to the transfer of whole supply chain function as compare to multinational where they have enough resources and abilities to perform and specialization in performing their job. For 4PL companies preferred multinational logistic firm and for outsourcing of a function there first preference is domestic firm.#p#分页标题#e#

 

Data Analysis

Table 4.14

The above table explains the data in terms of the companies' presence around the globe. Out of total sample size of (N=20) there are 14 domestic companies and 6 multinational companies operational in Pakistan. From the above table we can observe that there is an increase in the number of the firm that provides supply chain solution to the Companies the presence and entrance of the multinational firms in the Pakistani environment will reflect the scope of 3PL and 4PL activities are increasing in Pakistan. Local as well as multinational companies present in Pakistan have outsourced their supply chain function fully or partially to these logistics firms. The scope of 3PL/4PL activities are increasing day by day as more companies are entering in to this market providing these services and a huge growth has been observed in this area over the last 5 years.

 

The above diagram explains the data in terms of the services provided by the logistics firms in Pakistan. Out of total sample size of (N=20) there are 12 companies providing 3PL service 4 are providing 4PL and 4 are providing both supply chain services in Pakistan. From the above table we can observe that the scope of 3PL and 4PL is increasing in Pakistan the offering of different supply chain functions by the logistic firms gives an idea that companies are outsourcing their functions that why the logistics companies offering different product mix to their clients. Companies in Pakistan are fully or partially outsourcing their functions that result in increase in the demand of the companies that offer to perform the supply chain functions of the firm. In near future there is more demand for the supply chain function performing companies and companies are more involved or interests in outsourcing their functions.

 

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION 结论

5.1Discussion

Outsourcing for some service organizations has developed into a core competitive advantage and companies already adept at managing a global workforce, and outsourcing to domestic companies for technical support, customer service support and product design, are simply taking outsourcing one step further, into the global marketplace. These organizations now have access to and the ability to utilize the world's best and brightest resources. Also, customers can be supported round the clock, while simultaneously keeping costs in line. As long as organizations are not giving up core competencies, business controls, and continue to improve on abilities to coordinate and control a global enterprise, the outsourcing of services can continue to be a core competitive advantage.

 

5.2 Implications and Recommendations

4PL management has become an integral component of many organisations "new generation" value chains. There is a current trend toward the involvement of 4PL providers, to help manage a number of third-party logistics (3PLs) that may be involved with a company's operations. note, adopting a holistic approach, 4PL has evolved as a breakthrough supply chain solution, comprehensively integrating the competencies of 3PLs providers, leading edge consulting firms and technology providers. Such strategic alliances leverage the skill sets, strategies, technology and global reach, which would have otherwise taken years to duplicate. In another, more strategic role, the 4PL serves as the integrator that brings together the needs of the client and the resources available through the 3PL providers, the IT providers, and the elements of business process management.#p#分页标题#e#

 

5.3 Conclusion

The scope of 3PL/4PL activities are increasing day by day as more companies are entering in to this market providing these services and a huge growth has been observed in this area over the last 5 years. Companies in Pakistan are fully or partially outsourcing their functions that result in increase in the demand of the companies that offer to perform the supply chain functions of the firm. In near future there is more demand for the supply chain function performing companies and companies are more involved or interests in outsourcing their functions. The multinational presence of the company has an advantage of broad scenarios as well as resources. Companies when approaching towards outsourcing their supply function do analyze the factor, presence of the logistic firm that either they are domestic or multinational.