The relationship between logistics sophistication and drivers of the outsourcing of logistics activities

Abstract

A strong link has been established between operational excellence and the degree of sophistication of logistics organization, a function of factors such as performance monitoring, investment in Information Technology [IT] and the formalization of logistics organization, as proposed in the Bowersox, Daugherty, Dröge, Germain and Rogers (1992) Leading Edge model. At the same time, shippers have been increasingly outsourcing their logistics activities to third party providers. This paper, based on a survey with large Brazilian shippers, addresses a gap in the literature by investigating the relationship between dimensions of logistics organization sophistication and drivers of logistics outsourcing. To this end, the dimensions behind the logistics sophistication construct were first investigated. Results from factor analysis led to the identification of six dimensions of logistics sophistication. By means of multivariate logistical regression analyses it was possible to relate some of these dimensions, such as the formalization of the logistics organization, to certain drivers of the outsourcing of logistics activities of Brazilian shippers, such as cost savings. These results indicate the possibility of segmenting shippers according to characteristics of their logistics organization, which may be particularly useful to logistics service providers.

Grado de Personalización de los Servicios Logísticos: Prioridades de Servicio y Desempeño

“…Primero, la falta de una buena implementación al nivel de los proveedores puede dar lugar a un nivel de satisfacción bajo, aún cuando el nivel de personalización es consistente con el tipo de prioridad que se busca. Segundo, la sofisticación logística de algunas compañías, en términos de capacidades de TI u organización superior, por ejemplo, puede explicar que las empresas, gracias a la cooperación de proveedores de servicios de calidad, pueden hacerlas capaz de transcender el compromiso entre costo y servicio, logrando un buen desempeño en ambos aspectos simultáneamente (Wanke et al, 2008).…”

“…Pocos estudios han conceptualizado las características logísticas de la administración de la cadena de suministro; en su lugar, se han enfocado en la naturaleza de los productos (Fisher, 1997;Quinn, 2000;Delfmann, Albers and Gehring, 2002;Halldorsson and Skjott-Larsen, 2004;Vasiliauskas and Jakubauskas, 2007;Wanke, Arkader and Hijjar, 2008). Adicionalmente, la mayor parte de estos estudios han omitido examinar las implicaciones en el desempeño del alineamiento o ajuste entre la prioridad en costos y personalización (Morash and Clinton, 1997;Bask, 2001;Delfmann et al, 2002;Halldorsson and Skjott-Larsen, 2004;Vasiliauskas and Jakubauskas, 2007).…”

“…Por el contrario, algunas compañías consideran el tiempo de entrega, seguridad, confiabilidad y disponibilidad como los criterios más importantes para la elección de los servicios logísticos. Estas organizaciones deberían de alinear sus requerimientos logísticos con un tipo de cadena de suministro responsiva que supuestamente implica un cierto número de servicios personalizados (Bask, 2001;Wanke, Arkader, and Hijjar, 2008;Green, Whitten and Inman, 2008).…”

Segmenting logistics service users based on their provider selection criteria to succeed in outsourcing

“…These selection criteria were derived from the literature (La Londe and Maltz, 1992; van Laarhoven and Sharman, 1994; Maltz, 1995; Sink et al , 1996; van Damme and Ploos van Amstel, 1996; Crum and Allen, 1997; Sink and Langley, 1997; Logistics and Transport Focus, 2000; Aktas and Ulengin, 2005; Göl and Çatay, 2007; Wanke et al , 2008; Gotzamani et al , 2010; Aktas et al , 2011; Wolf and Seuring, 2010; Aguezzoul, 2014 and the references she cites, Govindan et al , 2016; Hwang et al , 2016) and evaluated and adapted to Germany by four experts from LSPs, four from manufacturing companies and three from trading companies. For instance, the criterion employment of subcontractors or contract workers was included.…”

“…In the realm of logistics outsourcing, factor analysis has been appliedto check the reliability and validity of census data for 136 outsourcing cases from 68 high-tech manufacturers (Tsai et al , 2007)to assess a model for measuring logistics outsourcing relationship quality for 130 Chinese manufacturing and trading companies (Chu and Wang, 2012)to assess measures of relationship marketing elements with a sample of 388 US LSUs and 31 LSPs (Knemeyer and Murphy, 2005)to logistics satisfaction of 93 Brazilian manufacturing companies (Wanke et al , 2007, 2008)to identify two cost components (component 1: logistics administration, transportation and transport packing; component 2: inventory carrying and warehousing) for a sample of 299 Finnish manufacturing and trading companies (Solakivi et al , 2013)to extract three factors of logistics services (value-added logistics services, technology-enabled logistics services and freight forwarding service) for 221 Hong Kong LSPs (Lai, 2004; Lai et al , 2004)to criteria for selecting third-party LSPs in the U. S. (Menon et al , 1998)to selection criteria in transportation of Turkish manufacturing companies (Aktas and Ulengin, 2005)to LSP selection criteria of Taiwanese directly selling manufacturers (Sheen and Tai, 2006) andto extracts the factors “supplier support” and “supplier selection criteria” in outsourcing of production to maquiladoras for the supplier selection criteria quality, price, service, right supplier and lead time and analyzes differences between ISO-certified and non–ISO-certified outsourcing companies (Dowlatshahi, 2011). …”