Land freight logistics Firms = Are there economies in operations in periods of boom and recession?

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

A major advantage which China and India has over many Southeast Asian economies is that of that of low land and labor costs. These have drawn much of manufacturing foreign direct investments away from the region and in particular, Singapore. Inresponse Singapore has identified several niche industries where it has a comparative and competitive advantage. One such sector is the logistics sector as this will in turn attract foreign direct investment in distribution operations (DC) of Multi-National Corporations (MNC). An efficient freight transport system is vital in enhancing the supply chain. The system needs to be both costs competitive and capable of providing value added services. A survey of 95 firms was carried out of which 46 responded. The results of the ordinary least square regression analysis suggest the presence of diseconomies of scale or at best constant economies. Efficiency was lower during boom periods compared to recession years. One implication that firms should move away from strategies centered on asset expansion to strategic asset acquisition with a focus regional network expansion. The role of government is to provide support through tax breaks and upgrading of high value added skills.