外文文献 物流

The use of third party logistics services

M.S. Sohail , A.S. Sohal

With the globalisation of businesses and the consequent competitive pressures, there has been an increasing dependence on the ability of organisations to deliver customer-adapted products all over the world quickly and on time. This has placed a number of demands on the logistics system and has become a rapidly developing area of investigation. In fact, it has been referred to as the last frontier for the development of strategic competitive advantage (Hum, 2000). To gain a competitive advantage, many organisations are seeking to manage their logistics operations strategically, but realise that they lack the core competencies and are increasingly seeking to outsource their logistics activities (Hum,2000). Apart from this, another important development that is making an impact on the organisations is the increased emphasis on time-based competition (Bhatnagar et al., 1999). Broadly, time-based competition refers to the speed with which products can be manufactured, delivered to the market and serviced.

Much has been written in recent years about outsourcing logistics activities. There have been various terms used to describe this phenomenon such as logistics alliance (Bowersox, 1990), operational alliances in logistics (Laarhoven and Graham, 1994), contract logistics (Kearney, 1995), contract distribution (Wilson and Fathers, 1989) and third party logistics (Lieb and Randall, 1996). However, third party logistics (3PL) has been the term more widely used in recent times. Given the growing importance of logistics outsourcing, the extent of its usage has been widely examined in the USA (Lieb and Randall, 1996). Sheffi (1990) describes how the 3PL industry in the US has developed, and mentions several economic, regulatory and technological trends driving

the development. Virum (1993) discusses 3PL development in Europe based on case studies of three Dutch and two Swedish providers. Other studies in the European context have also been undertaken (Lieb et al.,1993).

An examination of the usage of 3PL services by large Australian firms (Dapiran et al.,1996) revealed that a number of operating units at many of the largest Australian firms were utilising the services of contract logistics providers. Some studies have outlined the linkage between manufacturing firms and 3PL services providers in Hong Kong, Southern China, Japan and South Korea (Millen and Sohal, 1996). In the South East Asian region, it was reported that Singapore-based firms are generally satisfied with the services of 3PL service providers.With the advent of multi-modal logistics in Malaysia, service providers have been focusing on establishing linkages and forming an entire logistics chain. Another trend noticeable in the 3PL industry in Malaysia is that most of the players specialise in the field as freight forwarding, container haulage, warehouse operation or conventional truckers and operate with minimal linkage to the other components in the logistics chain (New Strait Times, 1998). The current crop of 39 players in the industry are limited in size and operating capacity with duplication of services offered being considered as too many in the industry. Companies have been merging into larger entities to take advantage of the economies of scale and extend market coverage, as the value of a logistic company invariably lies in the market coverage of its network. However, to our knowledge, we have not found any comprehensive studies reported in the literature focusing on the extent of 3PL by firms in Malaysia. This study aims to fill this gap.

Results reported in this study indicate that a number of operating units at many of the Malaysian firms are utilising the services of contract logistics providers, and have been doing so for several years. Many of

these organisations employ the services of more than one contract logistics firm to provide a wide variety of services.

Furthermore, many non-users are interested in this approach as evidenced by the 30% who are exploring the idea.Those operating units utilising contract logistics services providers have substantial experience with this practice as evidenced by about 45% having done so for more than 5 years. The decision to utilise contract logistics firms is almost as likely to originate at the corporate, divisional or local level. However, wherever the idea originates, managers from other functional areas will usually be involved in the decision to outsource. The level of commitment to the utilisation of contract logistics providers has been very encouraging with about 75% of the firms responding to this survey characterising their commitment as moderate to extensive. Additional evidence of this high level of commitment is provided by one-half of the firms allocating up to 40% of their total logistics budget to contract providers. In almost all cases,senior logistics executives view the use of contract firms as having had a positive impact on logistics costs, logistics systems performance, customer satisfaction, and employee morale. Based on these results, more than 80% of the managers would at least moderately expand their companies’ use of contract logistics firms.

To those logistics executives considering outsourcing,this very positive feedback should be reassuring. The number of experienced organisations provides an important source of information about how to proceed and what to expect. Consideration of the use of contract logistics services providers will bring logistics managers in contact with colleagues in finance, marketing, manufacturing, and other areas, potentially expanding the logistics influence throughout the organisation. This should improve the scope of the analysis, as well as subsequently facilitating implementation.

The experience of the firms in this study also provides insights as how to plan for implementation; for example,the need to educate the 3PL services provider about the firm’s requirements. Programmes to place redundant employees must also be developed.

The survey also contains useful information for the providers of contract logistics services. The most important means for establishing contact with potential customers are through sales calls by representatives ofthe contract firms and discussions with other logistics professionals. Significant resources spent on other approaches should be questioned, based on the results from this survey. In addition, while users are quite satisfied with their experiences to date, few envision contract providers as a means to enter new markets, develop new customers or expand their current offerings. Those contract logistics firms able to offer opportunities of such a nature may find their markets growing rapidly.

The above analysis of the experience of Malaysian firms in their usage of contract logistics services indicates that the market for 3PL services in Malaysia has a good potential for further development. While there is still a percentage of firms which have not outsourced their logistics functions, we believe that the vision of developing Malaysia into a logistics hub in the region will further enhance the use of the contract logistics services in the years to come.

This study provides 3PL services providers who are considering South East Asia as a potential market, a comprehensive analysis of the current situation in Malaysia.

Technovation 23 (2003) 401–408

物流使用第三方服务

质谱苏海尔 , 索哈尔随着企业全球化和随之而来的竞争压力，出现了以提供越来越依赖于组织能力的客户，产品适应世界各地的迅速和及时。这数字放在一个系统对物流的要求，并已成为一个迅速发展的地区进行调查。事实上，它已被称为竞争优势的最后领域的战略性发展。为了获得竞争优势，许多企业都要求管理其物流业务战略，但意识到他们缺乏核心能力，并越来越多地寻求他们的物流活动外包。除此之外，另一个重要的发展正一个组织的影响是巴特纳格尔等加强了对基于时间的竞争。从广义上讲，基于时间的竞争，是指生产速度，产品可以交付给市场和服务。

很多人以书面方式介绍近年来在物流活动外包的情况。1995年鲍尔斯斯，描述这种现象，例如物流联盟（1990年业务联盟），物流（格雷厄姆，1994年），合同物流（科尔尼），合同分配（威尔逊和父亲，1989年）和第三方物流（利布和兰德尔，1996年）。但是，第三方物流近年来一直在更广泛的长期使用。由于物流外包市场的重要性，它的使用范围得到了广泛的研究在美国（利布和兰德尔，1996年）。谢菲（1990）描述了美国第三方物流业的发展，并提到一些经济，管理和技术发展趋势推动发展。

第三方物流服务的使用，澳大利亚公司（达皮兰等1996）显示，一些公司的经营单位，在澳大利亚最大的是利用物流供应商的服务合同。一些研究概述了1996年制造企业之间的联系和第三方物流，服务提供者在香港，南中国，日本和韩国。在东南亚地区，据报道，新加坡为基础的公司一般都在马来西亚满意的多模式的物流服务与服务，出现第三方物流，物流服务供应商已集中力量建立联系，形成一个完整的链。另一个趋势，第三方物流业在马来西亚是他们最擅长的领域，作为货运代理，集装箱运输，仓库操作或常规卡车司机及营办的联系，以最小的时代，1998年的其他成员在物流链（新海峡）。该行业目前的作物在有限的39个球员在规模和经营服务的能力与被视为重复提供过许多行业的。公司已合并为较大的实体经济体采取的规模优势，扩大市场的覆盖面，为公司价值的物流网络往往在于它的市场覆盖率。不过，据我们所知，我们没有发现任何全面研究文献报道，在马来西亚重点是第三方物流企业的程度。本研究旨在填补这一空白。

在这个研究报告结果显示，一公司的营运单位数目在马来西亚的许多正在

利用物流供应商的服务合同，并已做了数年如此。许多组织采用的这些物流公司的服务多个合同，提供多种服务。

此外，许多非用户兴趣的方法在本机构中，30％证明谁是探索经营单位利用合同物流服务，这种做法有丰富的经验约45％，证明了这样做了5个以上年。利用合同的决定几乎是物流公司，可能来自于企业，部门或地方一级。然而，无论这个想法源于哪里，其他功能区管理人员通常会参与决定外包。该供应商的承诺水平利用物流合同已经非常广泛令人鼓舞的约75％为温和的公司应对这一情况进行调查分析他们的承诺。承诺的补充证据的高级别这是由一个供应商合同的公司的一半分配给了他们40％的物流总预算。在几乎所有情况下，物流业的主管高级查看公司利用合同作为一个有过积极的影响物流成本，物流系统的性能，客户满意度和员工士气。根据这些结果，超过80％的管理人员将至少适度扩大其公司的合同物流公司使用。

要考虑外包的物流业的主管，这个非常积极的反馈可以使他们放心。在一些组织提供了一个经验丰富的期望是什么重要的信息来源和如何进行。服务提供者思考的使用合约物流将在金融物流管理与同事接触，营销，制造和其他领域，可能扩大到整个组织物流的影响。这应该提高分析的范围，以及随后协助执行。

该研究的公司在这方面亦规定见解如何规划的执行情况;例如，需要教育的第三方物流服务需求的供应商对公司而言的。方案认为多余的员工也必须得到发展。

该调查还包含有用的物流服务合同信息的提供者。接触潜在客户建立的最重要手段是通过电话销售代表ofthe合同由公司和其他物流与专业人士讨论。大量资源用在其他方法应受到质疑，在此基础上从调查的结果。此外，虽然用户很满意自己的日期经验，目前产品数设想作为一种手段发包商进入新市场，开发新客户或扩大。这些合同的物流公司能够提供这样的机会自然会找到自己的市场迅速增长。

上述分析的物流服务合同的经验，马来西亚公司在马来西亚的使用表明，在第三方物流服务市场的进一步发展具有很好的潜力。虽然还存在着职能百分比物流外包公司，但没有他们，我们相信，今后的眼光，发展马来西亚成为物流枢纽地区，将进一步加强对利用合同物流服务年到。

这项研究提供第三方物流服务供应商谁正在考虑一个潜在的市场如东南亚，在马来西亚全面分析当前形势的。

资料来源：技术创新的23（2003）401-408