3. 1 Current situation and trend of logistics outsourcing at home and abroad
3. 1. 1 development track of foreign logistics outsourcing
With the development of economic globalization, the social division of labor is more and more detailed, the competition between enterprises is more and more fierce, and the needs of consumers are more and more diversified and personalized. In order to reduce logistics costs, realize quick response to customers and improve the competitiveness of enterprises, in developed countries, logistics strategies, including logistics operation mode, have been paid more and more attention by enterprise managers, and have become an important part of the overall strategy of enterprises, and achieved remarkable results. In the United States, through the construction of logistics strategy and the reorganization of logistics business, the logistics cost decreased from 17.2% of GDP in 1980 to 10.5% in 1997, and then to 7.5% in 2004.
Through in-depth study of the characteristics and evolution process of enterprise logistics strategy in countries with developed logistics operations, we can sum up and learn from their experience, avoid detours, and find a logistics development strategy suitable for China at this stage to guide the production practice of Chinese enterprises.
There are two remarkable characteristics for industrial and commercial enterprises in developed countries to formulate logistics strategies. One is supply chain management, which refers to the management of upstream and downstream enterprises including suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers, as well as transportation, inventory, information and other services from raw material supply to final consumption. Supply chain management is the highest realm of logistics management. Its goal is to make the whole supply chain from raw material procurement, processing and production, distribution to commodity sales to customers work together efficiently, reduce the logistics cost of the whole supply chain, realize rapid response to customers and improve customer service level. The second is outsourcing based on logistics integration. In the United States, Japan and other countries, although different manufacturers may adopt different degrees of integrated management due to different industries and scales, the general trend is to gradually evolve from internal integration in the late 1970s to external integration since the 1990s, and the degree of integration is deepening. In the United States, for example, since the 1990s, nearly 70% of enterprises have entrusted the logistics business to 3PL company or reached a strategic alliance with external enterprises to operate, and only 30% of enterprises have carried out logistics self-operation, mainly in the form of logistics service department or logistics subsidiary [13].
1. Internal integration of enterprise logistics
Before 1980s, logistics integration was aimed at centralizing and coordinating the logistics activities of various functional departments within enterprises. Many enterprises in developed countries have set up logistics departments, which are fully responsible for the logistics activities distributed in procurement, material control, manufacturing, assembly and sales during the production and operation of enterprises, and realize the unified operation and management of procurement logistics, production logistics and sales logistics, which is called enterprise logistics internal integration. By adopting integrated logistics management, the related logistics elements, cost and utility are considered together, which eliminates the interest conflict between different departments of sub-logistics management, overcomes the principle of utility contradiction between logistics elements, and realizes the optimization of the whole enterprise system and the lowest total logistics cost.
2. Establish a logistics subsidiary
In the 1980s, many enterprises separated some or all logistics activities such as warehousing, transportation, loading and unloading, procurement, packaging, distribution processing, distribution and information processing, and managed them by an independent enterprise with legal personality, socialized and specialized. As an institution, logistics subsidiary specializes in the organization and management of logistics business. Through the unified coordination, independent accounting and self-financing of logistics business, not only the logistics cost is further reduced, but also the logistics efficiency and labor productivity are improved. Moreover, the redundant logistics capacity of enterprises can also participate in social management to avoid the idleness and waste of logistics capacity. The establishment of logistics subsidiary makes the work of enterprise logistics managers develop from only facing the interior of the enterprise to facing the enterprise and society, and from the effective use of resources to the socialized management.
3. Cross-enterprise supply chain management integration
Supply chain management is an advanced stage of logistics management. Its goal is to make the whole supply chain have the best commodity supply system, reduce the logistics cost of the whole supply chain, realize the rapid response to customers, and improve the customer service level and the competitiveness of enterprises themselves. Since the 1990s, faced with the business environment of economic globalization, increasingly sophisticated social division of labor, increasingly fierce competition, diversified consumer demand, rapid development and wide application of information technology, enterprises have concentrated their limited resources on their core business and strengthened their core competence in order to reduce logistics costs, realize quick response to customers and improve their competitiveness. The business that does not have its own core competence is entrusted to external organizations in the form of contract (outsourcing) or non-contract (strategic alliance or cooperation), and cooperates with external organizations such as upstream and downstream suppliers to realize the integration of supply chain management across enterprises. Through coordination with external organizations, enterprises can enjoy the planning of the whole supply chain, and gain competitive advantage through collaborative planning of the logistics process from raw material procurement, processing and production, distribution and distribution to commodity sales to customers.
Figure 3- 1 shows the ways for foreign enterprises to integrate internal and external resources and improve their core competitiveness under the conditions of changing technical environment and business philosophy. [ 14]
From the improvement of internal efficiency to the improvement of external efficiency
core competitiveness
Development of technology
Changes in business forms
The change of enterprise management concept
Logistics outsourcing
3. 1.2 Current Logistics Operation of Enterprises in China
Compared with the logistics level of developed countries, the logistics level of China enterprises is not high at present, and the focus is mainly on grass-roots operation, which is manifested in the following aspects:
1. High logistics cost
According to the World Bank, in 2003, the logistics cost of the United States accounted for 7.5% of the total GDP, while that of China accounted for 18.7% of the total GDP. Although the emphasis of industrial economy is different, the comprehensive logistics cost of China should be lower than that of developed countries, rather than much higher, when the labor cost, logistics resource cost and equipment cost are far lower than those of developed countries. The huge gap in reality shows that the logistics cost in China still has great potential to be tapped. From the perspective of product cost composition, China's logistics cost generally accounts for 30%-40% of the total cost, and fresh products account for about 60% or more, while such logistics cost in developed countries is generally controlled at about 10% of the total cost.
2. Inventory and liquidity turnover is slow.
The working capital turnover rate of China production enterprises is 1-2 times/year, while that of commercial enterprises is only 2-3 times/year; The working capital turnover rate of Japanese production enterprises is 7.5-8 times/year, and that of commercial enterprises is 15 times-18 times/year; Some well-known multinational chain commercial enterprises such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour have reached 30-40 times/year. [15] In 2003, the fourth national logistics supply and demand survey organized by China Storage Association showed that the inventory cycles of raw materials, finished products and commodities of commercial enterprises in China were 20 days, 5 1 day and 34 days respectively. The storage time of such materials in the United States is only 12 days at most. [ 15]
3. There is a large inventory of finished products
According to statistics, the proportion of China's inventory goods to GDP is as high as 6.8% [16]; At present, the internationally recognized proportion of inventory goods to GDP is generally less than 1% in developed countries and only 5% in developing countries. Finished goods inventory takes up space, capital and huge management expenses without creating value, and there is a risk of commodity depreciation and expiration. Under the premise of not affecting the availability of customers' goods, reducing the inventory of finished products has become the key to logistics management.
4. Logistics operation is inefficient.
In enterprises with logistics facilities and self-logistics, the average idle rate of cars is about 35%, and more than 20% of warehouses are idle [17], which has caused great waste. The inefficient operation of self-operated logistics has become the fatal weakness of China enterprises' logistics operation.
In a word, there are various drawbacks in the current logistics operation of China enterprises, which must be reconstructed. Logistics outsourcing is undoubtedly a good solution, but the proportion of enterprises implementing logistics outsourcing strategy is not high. According to the results of the third national logistics supply and demand survey organized by China Storage Association in 2003, the proportion of enterprises in China adopting logistics outsourcing strategy is low. Only about 20% of production enterprises and 13% of commercial enterprises have implemented logistics outsourcing strategy; From the perspective of business volume, a large number of logistics businesses in China are still completed by enterprises themselves. According to a joint investigation by the secretariat of China Storage Association and Gome, the turnover of logistics outsourcing business in China in 2003 was about 40 billion, accounting for only 2%-3% of the whole logistics market. The total turnover of European logistics business is about 65.438+0.29 billion euros, of which about 654.38+0.4 is completed by outsourcing logistics; As early as 1995, the logistics outsourcing business in the United States accounted for 57% of the whole logistics business; The degree of logistics outsourcing in Japan is the highest in the world, and the logistics volume completed through outsourcing reaches about 80%. [ 18]
3. 1.3 Comparison of logistics operation modes at home and abroad
Logistics outsourcing has become a common practice abroad. A survey of 500 large manufacturing enterprises in the United States by a famous American consulting company shows that 65% of enterprises outsource domestic logistics business. With the outsourcing of international logistics business, about 77% of enterprises outsource logistics, and the duration of logistics outsourcing is generally not less than 5 years. The logistics operations of manufacturing enterprises and commercial enterprises in China are basically self-operated. According to the survey of China Transportation and Storage Association in 2003, the raw material logistics of China manufacturing enterprises was handed over to 3PL enterprises, accounting for only 20%; Logistics outsourcing of finished products is even less, only 13%.
The successful operation of logistics socialization in developed countries reveals the essence of logistics: reducing costs by scale; Reduce inventory at a speed; Enterprises with complementary core competencies form strategic alliances and build a strong value chain.
At the beginning of this century, China enterprises began to pay attention to logistics. However, due to the lag of academic research on logistics, enterprises only think that logistics is the "third profit source" and should be vigorously explored. The research on logistics also focuses on the internal operation of enterprises. From this point of view, the development of logistics in China is not only backward, but also congenitally deficient: the research of logistics in developed countries abroad is at the strategic level, not at the socialization level; In China, not only is there little research on social logistics in academic research, but also many manufacturing enterprises are engaged in logistics self-operation, which runs counter to international practice. Of course, manufacturing enterprises also have their own reasons and difficulties, for example, they can't find high-quality 3PL enterprises in China. However, in today's enterprises in China, funds are not abundant, resources are not very rich, and talents are relatively scarce. Facing the fierce competition of foreign multinational enterprises, it is very dangerous to disperse limited resources.
From another point of view, this phenomenon of enterprises running their own logistics at least shows that the management of enterprises has begun to attach importance to logistics and realize that logistics can reduce costs, increase profits and enhance the competitiveness of enterprises. However, production enterprises or commercial enterprises have invested a lot in this, but due to the limitation of logistics volume and the lack of professional knowledge, the utilization effect is not ideal and the efficiency is not high. In addition, due to frequent technical updates, the shortage of special equipment and professional technicians, and the difficulty in developing logistics self-support, enterprise logistics self-support should not become the long-term development strategy of enterprises.
In today's fierce market competition environment in China, enterprises not only integrate internal resources to build core competitiveness, but also start to look at the outside, attach importance to external procurement, and build a harmonious enterprise relationship. In this large external environment, logistics outsourcing has been paid more and more attention.
3.2 Literature Review of Logistics Outsourcing
Logistics outsourcing, also known as 3PL, contract logistics [19]. Jon Africk of A.T.Kearney Consulting defines logistics outsourcing as a series of contract-based logistics services provided by a single supplier. They point out that "at least two related services are integrated into the logistics process using different information systems" [20]. However, it should be pointed out that outsourcing "can be very narrow" and limited to one service, such as warehousing [2 1]. Bradley believes that outsourcing logistics business is no different from other procurement processes. He pointed out that just like a reliable parts supplier, the executor of logistics contract should also provide high-level customer service to help his customers become more competitive in the market.
For the driving factors of logistics outsourcing, there are: 1, the need to reduce costs at the operational level. Candler and Lieb believe that for the same business, the cost to external enterprises is lower than that to internal enterprises [20], because enterprises with logistics as their core business have higher logistics efficiency [21]; 2, the need to improve the level of logistics services. Henkoff believes that the third-party logistics enterprises have professional customer knowledge, rich organizational experience and high service consistency, which can undoubtedly improve the logistics efficiency of enterprises and obtain higher customer satisfaction. In addition, it can also concentrate many small-batch distribution needs and obtain scale effect, which is a better transportation solution for enterprises [22]; 3, the need to reduce inventory costs. Richardson believes that outsourcing can reduce the inventory level and improve the inventory turnover rate [23]; 4. Reduce the demand for capital investment. From the perspective of investment, no matter whether the enterprise is in the expansion period or the compression period, the funds of most enterprises are always limited. Outsourcing logistics can reduce the investment of enterprises in facilities, equipment, information technology and manpower. , thus converting fixed costs into variable costs [24]; 5. The logistics system needs to be updated.
At the strategic level, 1, logistics outsourcing can acquire logistics professional skills at a small cost. Altman put more emphasis on logistics professional skills, believing that outsourcing is the basis for enterprises to acquire and maintain excellent logistics professional skills. Third-party logistics enterprises are best at automatic replenishment system, automated warehouse, EDI, GPS, bar code, scanner and other technologies, and apply them by fulfilling logistics outsourcing agreements [25]; It is easier to enter the new market. Rao believes that with the help of third-party logistics, economies of scale can be achieved [26], regional and cultural differences can be overcome, and there is a chance to enter an emerging market without investing in infrastructure, which can undoubtedly reduce the entry risk of enterprises [27]; 3. Let the enterprise focus on its core business. Virum recognizes that outsourcing logistics business can narrow its business scope and focus on its core competence [28]; 4. Obtain economies of scale and so on.
There are also many obstacles to logistics outsourcing. Enterprises are afraid of losing control of 3PL. Bowman considers that outsourcing can not meet the needs of enterprises to supervise suppliers, and enterprises are afraid of losing control of third-party logistics [29]; 2. The connection between logistics and other businesses in the enterprise leads to the discomfort of other functional departments in the organization. Bradley believes that in the long run, outsourcing may hinder the connection between core business and logistics activities and reduce customer satisfaction [30]. 3. Worried that the asymmetry of logistics information will lead to the fraud of third-party logistics enterprises. Cook believes that third-party logistics enterprises may lack the ability to satisfy customers, and the benefits created by outsourcing are difficult to evaluate [31]; 4. Revealing important business secrets, etc.
Traditionally, the decision-making basis of logistics outsourcing is whether the enterprise has the ability to manage logistics independently, followed by the total logistics cost and customer service level. If the enterprise has the equipment and technology, it will choose self-management to facilitate control. If enterprises don't have enough logistics capabilities, they will choose outsourcing. The general outsourcing method is that enterprises buy transportation services from transportation companies or warehousing services from warehousing companies. These services are generally limited to one-off or decentralized logistics functions, and the demand is temporary. Logistics companies will not design services suitable for the unique needs of enterprises according to the actual situation of enterprises. Barlow noticed the limitations of the traditional decision-making model and proposed a two-dimensional decision-making model. The two dimensions are the influence of logistics on the success of enterprises and the management ability of enterprises on logistics. He believes that logistics is more important to enterprises, and the ability of enterprises to deal with logistics is weak, so logistics outsourcing; The importance of logistics to enterprises is low, and the ability of enterprises to deal with logistics is weak, so they outsource public logistics services; If the logistics of an enterprise is very important and the enterprise has a high ability to handle logistics, the logistics self-management mode is adopted. The model established by Ballow has a big defect, which does not consider the influence of logistics cost and customer service. At the same time, there is no specific evaluation standard to distinguish strategic importance from logistics capability.
Tian Yu and Gong Guohua of Fudan University added cost assessment to Ballow model. A logistics outsourcing decision model [32] is proposed. The model consists of three levels: the strategic importance of logistics subsystem (logistics business sub-item), enterprise logistics resources and capabilities, and cost competitiveness. It is considered that the core goal of enterprise logistics activities is to achieve the service level required by customers at the lowest total logistics cost in the whole logistics process. Therefore, the level of customer service is also a factor that must be considered when making logistics outsourcing decisions. In addition, the model does not give specific evaluation criteria based on all levels.
1. Logistics outsourcing is an operation mode in which an enterprise entrusts its logistics business to a professional logistics company (third-party logistics) by contract in order to concentrate resources, save management costs and enhance its core competitiveness. Logistics outsourcing is also a contract or contract management mode for enterprises to logistics, and it is a long-term, strategic, mutually infiltrated and mutually beneficial business entrustment and contract execution mode. With the promotion of enterprise's core competitiveness strategy and the development of third-party logistics, logistics outsourcing constantly shows its advantages in modern enterprise competition.
Second, the advantages of logistics outsourcing
1. Reasonable integration of resources is conducive to the establishment of core competitiveness of enterprises.
With the differentiation of logistics activities from production field and circulation field, various logistics elements have gradually become market resources. Logistics outsourcing can effectively coordinate the logistics activities between production, circulation and consumption. Through the contractual relationship with enterprises, all aspects of logistics activities are organically connected from point to surface by using information high-tech means, specialized equipment and talents, and the logistics process is completed quickly. Outsourcing logistics business to third-party logistics enterprises can enable enterprises to optimize the allocation of resources, reduce the investment in vehicles, warehouses, manpower and other aspects of logistics business, concentrate limited manpower and financial resources on core business, consolidate and expand core competitiveness, and thus quickly establish competitive advantages.