Page 66 - Rižnar, Igor, and Klemen Kavčič (ed.). 2017. Connecting Higher Education Institutions with Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 66
Aleksander Janeš, Roberto Biloslavo, and Armand Faganel
of the enterprise. At the end of the paper, in the fifth section, conclu-
sions, limitations and suggestions for further research are gathered.
The Third-Party Logistics Provider’s Strategy and Practice
One of the preferred logistics resourcing strategies is to take logistics
as a function within a company, the so-called in-sourcing strategy. Once
the functions began to be integrated and considered as a supply chain
rather than separately, several key themes emerged: a shift from a push
to a pull, a demand-driven supply chain; customers’ bargain power in
the marketing channel; an enhanced role for information systems (iss)
in supporting the supply chain; the elimination of unnecessary inven-
tory; and a focus on core capabilities and the increased outsourcing of
non-core activities to specialists/contractors. To achieve the maximum
effectiveness of the supply chains, it became clear that integration, i.e.
the linking together of previously separated functions and activities
within a single system, was required. At about the same time, total qual-
ity management, business process re-engineering and continuous im-
provement brought Japanese business thinking to western manufac-
turing operations (Fernie, Sparks, and McKennon 2010).
However, nowadays more and more companies, especially those in
Europe and North America, are outsourcing their logistics to third-
party logistics (3pl) companies in a so-called outsourcing strategy.
A hybrid model between the above two strategies is also possible. A
company can purchase a previously 3 p l company and make it a sub-
sidiary firm. The importance of logistics has increased and subsidiaries
of major shippers have dominated the logistics industry market in sev-
eral countries around the globe, extending the scope and scale and
services. In the e u, most manufacturers have faced various difficul-
ties through the worldwide economic downturn since 2007, likewise in
Japan and partly in Korea in the late 1990s. Logistics subsidiaries had
to change their strategies and consequently most of them diminished
from 2004 to 2010, due to business rationalisation in the direction of
profiling as a domestic logistics operator. Consumers demand fluctu-
ation represents a serious challenge to the configuration of the sup-
ply chain, resource synchronisation and lead-time management (Ahn,
Ishii, and Ahn 2013; Kavčič and Bertoncelj 2010; Janeš and Faganel 2013;
Kobal, Dežjot, and Ventin 2013a; 2013b; Lu 2011).
3 p l provides a good example of a widely promoted service by the
phenomenon of outsourcing in a rapidly emerging intermediate mar-
64
of the enterprise. At the end of the paper, in the fifth section, conclu-
sions, limitations and suggestions for further research are gathered.
The Third-Party Logistics Provider’s Strategy and Practice
One of the preferred logistics resourcing strategies is to take logistics
as a function within a company, the so-called in-sourcing strategy. Once
the functions began to be integrated and considered as a supply chain
rather than separately, several key themes emerged: a shift from a push
to a pull, a demand-driven supply chain; customers’ bargain power in
the marketing channel; an enhanced role for information systems (iss)
in supporting the supply chain; the elimination of unnecessary inven-
tory; and a focus on core capabilities and the increased outsourcing of
non-core activities to specialists/contractors. To achieve the maximum
effectiveness of the supply chains, it became clear that integration, i.e.
the linking together of previously separated functions and activities
within a single system, was required. At about the same time, total qual-
ity management, business process re-engineering and continuous im-
provement brought Japanese business thinking to western manufac-
turing operations (Fernie, Sparks, and McKennon 2010).
However, nowadays more and more companies, especially those in
Europe and North America, are outsourcing their logistics to third-
party logistics (3pl) companies in a so-called outsourcing strategy.
A hybrid model between the above two strategies is also possible. A
company can purchase a previously 3 p l company and make it a sub-
sidiary firm. The importance of logistics has increased and subsidiaries
of major shippers have dominated the logistics industry market in sev-
eral countries around the globe, extending the scope and scale and
services. In the e u, most manufacturers have faced various difficul-
ties through the worldwide economic downturn since 2007, likewise in
Japan and partly in Korea in the late 1990s. Logistics subsidiaries had
to change their strategies and consequently most of them diminished
from 2004 to 2010, due to business rationalisation in the direction of
profiling as a domestic logistics operator. Consumers demand fluctu-
ation represents a serious challenge to the configuration of the sup-
ply chain, resource synchronisation and lead-time management (Ahn,
Ishii, and Ahn 2013; Kavčič and Bertoncelj 2010; Janeš and Faganel 2013;
Kobal, Dežjot, and Ventin 2013a; 2013b; Lu 2011).
3 p l provides a good example of a widely promoted service by the
phenomenon of outsourcing in a rapidly emerging intermediate mar-
64
