Logistics management has been appearing as one of major research area of business management in recent years. A growing awareness of importance of logistics as a source of competitive edge has put logistics management from a supportive function of bus...
Logistics management has been appearing as one of major research area of business management in recent years. A growing awareness of importance of logistics as a source of competitive edge has put logistics management from a supportive function of business to a strategic one. In the development of effective logistics system, the outsourcing of logistics function to logistics-specialized firms, known as TPL(Third-Party Logistics), has increasingly become the efficient and powerful alternative to the vertically integrated firm, of which logistics activities are performed within an organization.
The scope of TPL study involves areas such as distribution strategy, material handling and inventory control, purchasing, transport planning, information system. Increasing emphasis of modern firms on such concepts as reengineering and SCM (Supply Chain Management) has led firms to recognize the importance of TPL in business activities. The costs of logistics management are steadily growing and account for an increasing portion of GDP. Logistics cost has become inevitably an important part of the added value of products.
While TPL has generated considerable interest in American industry during the past several years, the concept of TPL has not been well defined yet. Sometimes, it encompasses the entire logistics process, and, more often, indicates selective activities within the entire process. This study tries to redefine the concept of TPL, used with various meanings among scholars through thorough literature review.
This study suggests decision making model of TPL usage, analyze TPL usage pattern and TPL selecting factors, and compare the different outcome of each pattern, while most of previous researches on TPL either focus on specific aspects of TPL or suggest a merely conceptual model. It is very evident that utilization of TPL is rapidly on the rise in recent years in Korea, though the degree of utilization is still staying at the very beginning stage. Widening of utilization of TPL requires that services of TPL firms reach to the level, which demands more concrete and user-specific services as well as aggregate.
The empirical findings of this research suggest, firstly, that strategy and purpose of usage of TPL is well defined for successful performance of firm logistics and on the harmony with long term plan of firm. Secondly, cooperative relationship between user and TPL firm, including active communication each other and clear understanding of scope of order, should be emphasized for the best result of TPL usage. Thirdly, it is found in the study on behavior of TPL users in Korea that leveling up performance of logistics acts as the most important factor to select TPL firm.