Abstract: After China's entry into WTO, domestic third-party logistics enterprises are facing great competitive pressure. The key to the success of third-party logistics enterprises is to form their own core competitiveness by strengthening value-added services. This paper mainly expounds how the third-party logistics enterprises "take demand as the guide, customer value-added experience as the center, and strengthen value-added services by means of logistics solutions and IT services", so as to enhance their core competitiveness.
Paper Keywords: third-party logistics; Value added services; core competitiveness
First, the research significance
With the development of domestic logistics market becoming more and more mature, the era of logistics enterprises relying on assets, facilities and relationships to compete has passed, and enterprises must set a new benchmark. For logistics enterprises that rely on services to win, it has become a new idea for logistics enterprises to go beyond single logistics services and turn to providing value-added services to customers in order to enhance brand awareness and core competitiveness. In the case that the profits of the industry are constantly being diluted, value-added services have become the new cheese pursued by logistics enterprises.
Value-added service is an indispensable part of the service of third-party logistics enterprises, and its content and implementation methods are increasingly favored by customers. Among the comprehensive services and package services provided by third-party logistics enterprises, value-added services and IT services are rapidly playing an increasingly important role. How to do value-added services is directly related to the strategic alliance between enterprises and customers, and to the success or failure of third-party logistics enterprises.
Second, the key to the success of third-party logistics
For most logistics enterprises, what is the core competitiveness has become a question that must be answered. Third-party logistics enterprises must establish their own core competitiveness in order to gain a firm foothold in the increasingly fierce competition and adapt to the growing service needs of customers. According to Michael Burton's competitive advantage theory, core competitiveness refers to "the unique advantage that can create lasting benefits for enterprises and distinguish them from competitors". Core competitiveness can be a patented technology or a corporate culture. In the third-party logistics industry, the service products provided by logistics enterprises are the key to the success of enterprises. Only by grasping the characteristics and development trend of service products and calmly responding to market changes can enterprises win in the market competition. Combining the meaning of core competitiveness with the actual situation of third-party logistics enterprises, we can draw the conclusion that whether the third-party logistics enterprises have core competitiveness depends on whether the third-party logistics enterprises can provide unique service products that meet customers' needs and are not easy to be imitated by competitors. This unique service product is value-added service. Third-party logistics services are developing to a higher level, becoming increasingly diversified and integrated; The development and innovation of non-basic service products, namely value-added services, has become the future development direction of logistics service products. The main service of logistics management is the embodiment of value-added service. Obviously, value-added service will become the key service for third-party logistics enterprises to cope with market changes and win customer support, and will continue to develop as the core competitiveness of enterprises.
Third, the third party logistics value-added way
(1) Strive to provide refined and professional value-added services and advocate innovation.
Most of China's third-party logistics enterprises are transformed from traditional enterprises, and it is difficult to compete with foreign-funded enterprises in terms of capital and system architecture in a short time. Logistics enterprises that are unable to develop in a big way can develop in the direction of refinement and specialization, devote themselves to providing logistics services in a certain logistics link, and carry out distinctive value-added services on this basis, so as to make it a link with unique core competence in the logistics chain of users, and integrate into the logistics industry with their own specialization, efficiency, scale or other unique service capabilities to cultivate core competitiveness. Some famous domestic logistics enterprises have formed their own professional advantages, and strive to achieve refinement and specialization in a certain link. Taking COSCO Logistics as an example, it has shown obvious advantages in special transportation, and the marketing objectives of its four major logistics products, household appliances, engineering, exhibitions and automobiles, can also be regarded as its own market positioning; China Merchants Logistics has also achieved good market performance in dangerous goods logistics, petrochemical logistics, beer logistics and other fields. China logistics takes its own attack on production logistics and procurement logistics as the breakthrough point.
(2) Accelerate the integration of information technology and logistics system.
One of the main problems existing in domestic third-party logistics enterprises is that the information system is too poor to communicate effectively, thus reducing customers' trust and satisfaction with logistics enterprises. The business operations of most successful foreign logistics enterprises are based on efficient and advanced logistics information systems. Third-party logistics enterprises can only provide value-added services including IT services on the basis of efficient business operations. Using information system, the third-party logistics enterprises can speed up the response ability to customer orders (using quick response system QR), speed up order processing (using computer-aided ordering CAO and continuous replenishment program CRP), shorten the time from ordering to delivery, and deliver goods quickly and accurately through effective distribution. Through the combination of various transportation machinery and equipment information terminals, GPS (Global Positioning System), GIS (Geographic Information System) and intranet, customers can track goods at any time. Practice shows that in the fierce market competition environment, the combination degree and efficiency of third-party logistics enterprises and information technology will directly affect the business quality and service level.
(C) integration of internal and external resources, the establishment of strategic alliances
The realization of value-added services requires the overall cooperation of all logistics resources, and it is impossible for third-party logistics enterprises to provide customers with a whole set of solutions, nor can they rely solely on their own resources to implement them. Third-party logistics enterprises must integrate internal and external resources, effectively manage the relationship with partners, selectively integrate resources in all links, and propose personalized logistics solutions for customers. The specific means of operation can be to cooperate with logistics enterprises with core competitiveness in transportation, information and talents, and outsource tasks to these logistics enterprises to achieve strong alliance and win-win results. China logistics enterprises have begun to take action in resource integration and strategic alliance. For example, China Shipping Logistics has started to cooperate with China Heavy Duty Truck and Shaanxi Automobile in the field of automobile logistics.
Training logistics professionals
As a new thing, the concept of logistics was introduced to China after 1980s. Although there are experts studying in China and some colleges and universities have opened some logistics-related courses, logistics knowledge, especially modern comprehensive logistics knowledge, is far from being popularized. In order to provide value-added services, third-party logistics enterprises need professionally trained employees at all levels who know both business knowledge and business skills, and employees need to have certain consulting knowledge and advanced foreign logistics theory and operation methods.
Value-added function of third-party logistics enterprises
With the progress of science and technology and the rapid development of e-commerce, the logistics environment has also undergone the following changes: the needs of customers are constantly upgrading; Market competition is increasing; At present, both at home and abroad are promoting the continuous upgrading of requirements related to rapid response supply system, logistics system and sales system; Sales methods are constantly updated; Introduction to the concept of supply chain. It can be seen that the traditional logistics service, which is characterized by excessive geographical dispersion and separated operation links, can no longer adapt to the continuous, systematic and orderly operation process of modern logistics and the changes in the new environment.
In order to further tap the third profit source and extend the scope of logistics system, new third-party logistics enterprises must have the following more value-added functions: