Party Logistics Service Research Articles

Coordinating contracts for fresh product outsourcing logistics channels with power structures

We consider an outsourcing logistics channel where a distributor procures a quantity of a fresh product and outsources his logistics operations to a third party logistics service provider (TPLSP), whose logistics service quality and price affect the product sellable quantity and quality on the market, and the distributor׳s order decision, respectively. The distributor sets his order quantity and product selling price. The determinations of logistics service quality and price depend on the channel power structures. We investigate each firm׳s decisions under a traditional unit pricing contract in the three power balance scenarios where the distributor or the TPLSP has the channel power, or they have equal power. The equilibrium results show that the power structures have an important influence on contract design, each firm׳s decision behaviors and channel performances. We further develop two novel incentive mechanisms to coordinate the decentralized channel considering the risk preference of the TPLSP. Computational studies show that the power structures׳ influences increase while the effects of logistics service quality on product quantity and quality increase, and illustrate these incentive mechanisms can achieve full channel coordination and win–win outcomes.

Logistics Service Provider Selection through an Integrated Fuzzy Multicriteria Decision Making Approach

Nowadays, the demand of third-party logistics provider becomes an increasingly important issue for companies to improve their customer service and to decrease logistics costs. This paper presents an integrated fuzzy approach for the evaluation and selection of 3rd party logistics service providers. This method consists of two techniques: (1) use fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to identify weights of evaluation criteria; (2) apply fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method to evaluate and sequence alternatives and to make the final selection. Finally, an actual industrial application is performed in logistics department of a tire manufacturing company. For this, first, eight logistics supplier selection criteria were determined, and then the best alternative among seven logistics service provider companies was selected by the proposed method.

Impact of Logistics Outsourcing Strategy in Oil and Gas Industry in Uganda

The purpose of the study is to analyze the impact of logistics outsourcing strategy in the oil and gas industry inUganda. The most outstanding benefit is that, companies outsourced their logistics activities to restructure theirdistribution networks and achieve competitive advantage. For this purpose purposive sampling method is usedwhere qualitative data are collected and interpreted. Primary data are collected using research questionnaireswhere quantitative method is used in data presentation and analysis of the impact of logistics outsourcingstrategy in the oil and gas industry. The research findings reveal that there are many benefits resulting fromusing logistics outsourcing strategy in the oil and gas industry and in the same way, challenges are faced by bothoil and gas companies and logistics service providers in executing business contracts. Solutions are pursued tocreate an environment for the oil and gas industry and the third party logistics services providers to achieve acommon goal. Findings show that it is very important to outsource full or part of logistics activities to logisticsservice providers in order to attain competitive advantage. Logistics outsourcing strategy plays an important rolein the business especially in minimizing operating costs and spreading risk between the parties engaged inbusiness contracts. Therefore it is necessary for company managers to check their strategies to make sure thatlogistics activities are in place.

Role of Advanced IT Enabled Third Party Logistic Service Providers in Customer Satisfaction.

Third Party Logistics (TPL or 3PL) is a business dynamic of growing significance all over the world. But it is at a growing stage in the world where some domestic and multinational companies are continuously trying to establish themselves in this sector. The prime area of diversity in organizational plan of action is the broader use of TPL service providers who are using advanced information technology (I.T) platforms and integration of supply chain to embellish customer satisfaction with their services. With the outsourcing the logistics operations, organizations can focus on their core competencies and other important areas of organization which cannot be outsourced with other alternatives. This paper is an attempt to provide TPL role in customer satisfaction and how its advancement in I.T helps to win the customer’s trust. The analysis of this paper is conducted by discussing different concepts of supply chain integration, advanced information technology, customer satisfaction, and third party logistics providers, and their aftermath on customer satisfaction with theoretical framework. The paper also reveals that most TPL users are satisfied with the current level of services provided by TPL service providers as it has led to a positive outcome on business. As a result, the usage of third party logistics services is likely to increase substantially in the future and points out opportunities for future research.Methodology and approach used – This study is focused primarily on the advance information technology usage in the third party logistics service providers to enhance and strengthen the customer satisfaction level. The theoretical framework is analyzed with the different concepts of supply chain, TPL and advanced information technology in TPL. The proposed 3PL research classification framework is based on a comprehensive literature review which concentrates on peer reviewed journal papers published within the period 1990-2010. A series of online surveys are also made which includes importance of TPL in business, level of service provided by TPL, main reasons for outsourcing, and overall satisfaction with their services etc.

Third Party Logistics Service Marketing and Economic Development (Study of the Speed Mail Businesses in Nigeria)

Nigeria is relatively under developed with its indices as poor standard of living, high cost of living, highunemployment rate and low per capita income, thus economic development is retarded. The third party logisticsservice marketing in some developed and developing economies generate employment thus contributes to economicdevelopment based on its infrastructure base. This work studied the situation in Nigeria based on selected speed mailbusiness firms and their clients in major service industries of the country. Findings include the inappropriatemarketing mix service blending, high incidence of taxes on service providers by government, lack of understandingof the market, regulatory inadequacies among others. Thus recommends as solution to the operational inadequaciesof these businesses, are the adoption of strategies of good service quality determination, service quality management,and efficiency in service branding, quality service positioning and value in message creation in content, context andstructure as well as the creation and sustenance of viable network referral structure among others.

Logistics Service Accountabilities and their Effects on Service Buyer's Trust

This research aims to endeavour to bridge a gap in literature by examining accountability dimensions (logistics, financial, marketing, contractual, environmental) in third party logistics (3PL) service providers and the impact of such issues on buyer trust has been attempted to analyse. Towards this objective via the survey method 202 numbers of data have been collected from Turkey's food manufacturing companies. Data were collated and processed through analysis of variance and structural equation model to test the research hypotheses. The results show that logistics accountability, financial accountability and marketing accountability have positive effects on trust. The findings of the current study suggest that so long as 3PL service providers make their systems further accountable, they shall become more reliable.

Supplier evaluation based on Nash bargaining game model

Traditional DEA method is improper for supplier evaluation and selection, as it adopts varying weights in evaluation, and fails to consider competition among the suppliers. In order to solve these two problems, Nash bargaining game DEA model is applied to supplier evaluation in present paper. However, there is a non-uniqueness problem with Nash bargaining game efficiency of supplier in existing Nash bargaining game DEA model. The existing Nash bargaining game DEA model is improved in present paper on this issue, then the improved model is applied to the third party logistics service provider evaluation. The result of supplier evaluation based on the improved model is more persuasive compared with the existing research achievement, owing to adopting common weights in evaluation, and the game between suppliers being taken account.

The impact of institutions on the resources of foreign companies: the case of third party logistics service providers in Russia

Emerging markets and transition economies challenge established business theories. In this paper, we conceptualise a framework incorporating the institution- and resource-based view to analyse how institutions impact the operations of western companies in a transition economy context: foreign third party logistics service providers (3PLs) in Russia. Our case study's findings center on the question of how institutions affect foreign 3PLs' local operations in Russia along six resource and six institutional dimensions. The findings assert the most challenging effects to occur in the areas of human resources, physical resources and organizational resources - and also suggest a new ‘legal resource' in this particular context.

Analysis of 3PL sustainable relationship framework

The purpose of the paper is to present a framework of dimensions that would promote the resources conservation and sustainable development of the different manufacturing organisations in India. The manufacturing sector is trying to optimise its operations by economising on the use of its resources. They have started outsourcing their logistics operations starting from procurement of raw materials, intermediate goods and even the final product, finally from the sales network to the hands of the consumer. For this, 100 organisation across India which are outsourcing their logistics operations and 25 organisations providing 3rd party logistics services in India are studied. The study investigates the positive factors influencing the sustainable growth of the service receiver with the help of AHP analysis. Findings from AHP analysis indicate that organisations are adopting 3PL services in their logistics operations to enhance efficiency of industry, for productivity improvements and to imbibe more flexibility in their operations.

TOPSIS-AHP Based Approach for Selection of Reverse Logistics Service Provider: A Case Study of Mobile Phone Industry

Reverse supply chain logistics, means mobility of goods from end consumers towards core manufacturer in the channel of product distribution. In the turbulent business environment, the companies must promote alternative uses of resources that may be cost-effective and ecology friendly by extending products’ routine life cycles. Reveres logistics activities i.e. storing, transporting and handling of used products poses a great challenge to reverse logistics managers as there is always chances of uncertainty in terms of quantity, quality and timing of return of EOL products in case of reverse supply chains. Business organizations including those of white/electronics goods manufacturing industries would like to focus on their core competency areas and there is need of making outsourcing decisions of their reverse logistics process to Third-Party reverse Logistics Providers (3PRLPs). Thus, most important strategic issue for top management is the evaluation and selection of third party logistics service provider who can effectively provide reverse logistics operation services to the firms. The objective of this work is to develop decision support system to assist the top management of the company in selection and evaluation of different 3PRL service providers by hybrid approach using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. A real life case study of a mobile phone manufacturing company is presented to demonstrate the steps of the decision support system. Present study also enables the logistics managers to better understand the complex relationships of the key attributes in the decision making environment and subsequently improve the reliability of the decision making process.

Appraisement and selection of third party logistics service providers in fuzzy environment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a decision‐making procedural hierarchy for evaluation as well as selection of third‐party reverse logistics provider (3PL) under fuzzy environment.Design/methodology/approachDue to uncertainty, vagueness arising from decision makers (DM) subjective judgment towards intangible (qualitative) selection criteria, fuzzy logic has been utilized to facilitate such a decision‐making process for 3PL evaluation and selection.FindingsEvaluating and selecting 3PL providers can be regarded as a multi‐criteria decision making (MCDM) process in which a decision maker chooses, under several selection criteria, the best suited alternative. The present study highlights a case study on evaluation and selection of 3PL service providers for a reputed Indian automobile part manufacturing company. The fuzzy based decision‐making tool applied here has been proved fruitful for its effectiveness.Research limitations/implicationsThere are many research issues remaining in the development of this approach. First, the definition of appropriate fuzzy linguistic variables, corresponding membership functions (MFs) and their numbers, and their universe of discourse for a general use in the algorithm. Second, a methodology for accumulating raw data and analyzing the appropriate MFs for the base linguistic variables. Third, the relative importance of every decision maker, the decision‐making environment and structure may affect the decision‐making process. These have been assumed negligible in this study.Originality/valueThe main contributions of this research are: first, an integrated criteria list (followed by sets of sub‐criteria) has been modeled for service quality evaluation and appraisement of 3PL providers. Each sub criteria set has been structured to be preceded by a main criteria. Second, priority weights of various main criteria as well as sub‐criteria; extent of successful performance (rating) of different sub‐criteria have been expressed in fuzzy numbers. It facilitates in accumulating DMs subjective judgments into a unique numerical evaluation score. Third, decision makers risk‐bearing attitude has been estimated and utilized in computing overall evaluation index for alternative candidates. The decision‐making framework presented here can be extended to solve any decision‐making problem designed under a complex and interconnected set of primary criteria followed by sub‐criteria or more extended elaborate criteria hierarchy.

Fourth Party Logistics Service Composition based on Co-Evolutionary Genetic Algorithm

Fourth Party Logistics Service Composition based on Co-Evolutionary Genetic Algorithm

Selection of a third party logistics service provider for an aerospace company: an analytical decision aiding approach

As shippers worldwide are increasing their use of third party logistics (3PL) services, the need for carefully selecting 3PL service providers is becoming much more critical. Choosing the right 3PL service provider is often a dilemma faced by supply chain managers. Our purpose is to show how the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) can be used in aiding companies with the decision of selecting the most capable 3PL service provider for an aerospace company. The methodology we propose enables practitioners to systematically evaluate the trade-offs among multiple factors and therefore helps them in making more informed decisions when evaluating outsourcing logistics services.

A fuzzy AHP and TOPSIS methodology to evaluate 3PL in a supply chain

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the use of an integrated approach of fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (fuzzy AHP) and TOPSIS in evaluating the performance of global third party logistics service providers for effective supply chain management.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the integration of fuzzy AHP with TOPSIS is proposed in determining the relative importance (weight) of criteria and then ranking of 3PLs.FindingsFindings show that the logistics cost and service quality are two most important criteria for performance rating of 3PLs. Deciding the relative importance of various criteria for 3PLs evaluation is a complex task. The superiority of one criterion over the other varies from person to person and firm to firm. Therefore, to capture the variability in decision fuzzy extended AHP is very useful tool. Finally, the preference raking of alternatives are found using TOPSIS.Research limitations/implicationsFuzzy AHP is a complex methodology and requires more numerical calculations than the traditional AHP and hence it increases the effort. But in this paper single stage fuzzy AHP is used to simplify the process. Fuzzy AHP is integrated with TOPSIS for preference ranking of 3PL, which provides a good methodology to rank 3PLs.Originality/valueThere is a lack of research in the literature to deal directly with the uncertainty of human decisions in evaluating the relative importance of multiple criteria. Therefore, fuzzy AHP is an appropriate methodology to find the relative importance of the criteria to rank the 3PLs using TOPSIS.

Customer Perceptions on Service Satisfaction with Third Party Logistics (3PL) Service

Today, more firms are focusing on core competencies and turning to external specialists (Third Party Logistics – 3PLs) for sophisticated logistics solutions. The 3PL service industry is characterized by customer relationships that can extend over several years, involving multiple instances of service delivery. Customers’ satisfaction level has a profound impact on attracting new customers and customer retention. This research investigates customer perceptions regarding the service offered by a medium-sized 3PL operating in Greece. Results indicate that customers are satisfied with the outfit of personnel, adequacy of knowledge, speed of service, quality of services offered, and politeness of personnel at the point of sales as well as during the delivery. The major problem stated by the respondents was the long hold on time at the call center, which causes intensity and confusion among the customers.

Relational benefits and manufacturer satisfaction: an empirical study of logistics service in supply chain

Using data collected from US manufacturing firms, this research evaluates logistics service from the eyes of manufacturers. The study leads to a close look at how manufacturers view third party logistics services to provide important strategic and operational values to manufacturers. The results indicate that the building of a long-term relationship is mediated by trust and commitment from manufacturers. When manufacturers believe that the logistics service provider is honest and passionate, and care about their business, they will make a commitment toward a long-term business relationship.

DESIGN OF ROBUST DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS RUN BY THIRD PARTY LOGISTICS SERVICE PROVIDERS

We consider a third party logistics service provider (LSP), who faces the problem of distributing different products from suppliers to consumers having no control on supply and demand. In a third party set-up, the operations of transport and storage are run as a black box for a fixed price. Thus the incentive for an LSP is to reduce its operational costs. The objective of this paper is to find an efficient network topology on a tactical level, which still satisfies the service level agreements on the operational level. We develop an optimization method, which constructs a tactical network topology based on the operational decisions resulting from a given model predictive control (MPC) policy. Experiments suggest that such a topology typically requires only a small fraction of all possible links. As expected, the found topology is sensitive to changes in supply and demand averages. Interestingly, the found topology appears to be robust to changes in second order moments of supply and demand distributions.

3PLSP scale for co‐operative dairies in Indian context

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a scale for measuring benefits of third party logistics service providers for co‐operative dairies in an Indian context. The objective is to measure benefits of third party logistics service providers for co‐operative dairies.Design/methodology/approachA standard scale development research procedure recommended by experts was followed. First, the literature review of studies to measure benefits of third party logistics was undertaken. Later, Delphi method was used. Interviews were conducted of experts and customers for understanding and generating items for measuring benefits of third party logistics service providers for co‐operative dairies. A survey was then undertaken first for development of the scale and later for validation purpose.FindingsA reliable and valid scale is developed to measure the five dimensions of benefits of using 3PLSPs for co‐operative dairies: responsiveness, accuracy, customization of service, inventory handling and order processing and information sharing.Research limitations/implicationsThis scale is developed to outsource logistics functions at operational levels in the context of co‐operative dairies in India. So, this scale can be tested for co‐operative dairies of countries other than India. The scale can also be tested where outsourcing of logistics activities is done at operational level, other than co‐operative dairies.Practical implicationsThe proposed scale can be used as a diagnostic tool to identify important benefits to consider in outsourcing operational function of logistics management to 3PLSPs in co‐operative dairies.Originality/valueMost relevant studies about benefits of third party logistics service providers do not have stable factor structure, especially for co‐operative dairies. The new scale fills the gap of the absence of a validated scale to measure benefits of 3PLSPs for co‐operative dairies at operational level.

Generic balanced scorecard framework for third party logistics service provider

To provide valuable support for successful decision-making, managers needs a balanced set of financial and non-financial measures that represent different requirements, strategic goals, strategies, resources, and capabilities and the causal relationships between these domains. The balanced scorecard (BSC) is such a measurement system. Although much discussion has taken place in industries and academia circles for the development of BSC for third party logistics (3PL) service provider, little research exists which studies and develops BSC strategies for 3PL service providers. This study proposed a set of strategies for BSC of 3PL service providers. We devised a strategies framework for all the four BSC perspectives of the various functions of 3PL service providers and the weightages for the different strategies are evaluated using Delphi analysis. The implementation of the proposed framework in a 3PL company is also discussed.

A network design model considering inventory cost from a third party logistics perspective

The importance of third party logistics (3PLs) service providers is increasing in supply chain management, particularly in warehousing and transportation services as clients expect 3PLs to improve lead times, fill rates, and inventory levels. Therefore, in a dynamic and uncertain business environment, 3PLs are under pressure to meet client service requirements. Few studies have addressed the problem of logistic network design from viewpoint of 3PLs. The main objective of this paper is to propose a new network design problem from 3PLs perspectives by considering inventory to determine economic order quantity. This paper proposes a new nonlinear mixed integer programming model for integrated logistics network design that in facility location-allocation and inventory location problems. To optimize the model, new auxiliary variables and constraints are added. The model was solved by using DICOPT solver.