Title: A conceptual view on the scope and scale of growth of third party logistics provider services in India

Authors: G. Kannan, V.P. Vinay, S.C. Lenny Koh

Addresses: Department of Business and Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. ' Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tamilnadu, 620015, India. ' University of Sheffield, Management School, 9 Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 4DT, UK

Abstract: Logistics is becoming more widely recognised in the last two decades. Logistics is one of the major enablers of growth of trade and commerce in a country. In the era of globalisation today, corporations are looking for sustainable competitive advantage not only for their growth, but for their survival too. The business world cannot expect loyalty from their customers as they are having many options as the benefit of globalisation. The necessity of outsourcing the logistical operations like transportation, warehousing, packing and other value added operations is becoming inevitable to satisfy the customers through the on time delivery of goods/services at reduced cost, place and quality of their choice. In a developing country like India, the third party logistics though in the nascent stage is considered to be a sector where immense potential exists. This paper presents a conceptual approach to find the scope and scale of outsourcing the logistical operations or third party logistics system growth in India. Some hypothesis is formulated with regard to the TPL in India and is to be validated in the work proposed.

Keywords: third party logistics; 3PL; TPL; LSP; outsourcing; competency; India; logistics service providers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENM.2009.022566

International Journal of Enterprise Network Management, 2009 Vol.3 No.1, pp.43 - 55

Published online: 15 Jan 2009 *

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