Abstract
Logistics is a one of the common function that companies usually outsourced. The decision to keep this function in-house or contract with one or many third-party logistics (3PL) companies is entirely strategic and can dramatically impact any organization's bottom line. 3PL users report an average of 44% of their total logistics expenditures are related to outsourcing. 72% of firms are increasing their use of outsourced logistics services in 2015, which is up slightly from the average reported in recent years. Most developed outsourcing logistics market belongs to the U.S. with 88%. It is followed by Asia 48%, and Europe – 46% (O’Reilly, 2010). In Italy some industries can reach the 70%, in particular food, groceries and fashion (Osservatorio Contract Logistics del Politecnico di Milano). There are many researches about logistics and large enterprises. There are less studies about Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and logistics outsourcing. SMEs play a major role in the Italian economic system. Their business activities have become an important component of the Italian economy.This paper aims to depict the adoption level of outsourcing by Italian SMEs. By direct interviews to 28 companies’ representatives we investigate which services or processes are outsourced. We investigate the reasons why companies adopt or don’t adopt the externalization. Moreover, for every company we calculate the logistics costs of simple logistics processes. In effect, we wish to compare the logistics costs communicated by the firms and the same costs calculated with ABC (Activity Based Cost) model. This research demonstrate that SMEs adopt 3PLs only for transportation. SMEs do not know all the logistics services offered by 3PLs and SMEs think the services are dedicated only to large enterprises. Finally, many companies are not able to calculate logistics costs, then they cannot compare a 3PL offer with their real costs.
Highlights
Logistics encompasses all of the information and material flows throughout an organization
The scope of logistics has changed since the emergence of new technologies and strategic alliances in order to compete on flexibility and responsiveness
Thiese two services can represent the first stage of the development towards a more extensive adoption of logistics outsourcing
Summary
Logistics encompasses all of the information and material flows throughout an organization. For example Andersson (2003) provides a very basic definition of logistics outsourcing: “Third-party logistics (3PL) are activities carried out by an external company on behalf of a shipper and consisting of at least provision of management of multiple logistics services. These activities are offered in an integrated way, not on a stand-alone basis. The functions performed by the third party can encompass the entire logistics process or selected activities within that process.”
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