A Framework for Thinking Intermediation in Logistics Management

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a logistics market structural grid that is not based on industry practices. Rather, it is based on clear principles of microeconomics. The analysis of the logistics market based on intermediation standards highlights the essential role of the logistics management function, and derives the key determinants of the logistics management outsourcing. It also provides elements that contribute to the understanding of future industry trends. This chapter logically identifies that the key principles of microeconomics are well applicable to the logistics. They even help better explain the emergence of the logistics management function. It demonstrates that those principles in the context of the new technologic edge could lead to a reintermediation, creating a restructuration of some segments of the market.