外文文献翻译---电子商务对物流服务商的影响(节选)Word格式.docx

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203-222.

文献原文

Theimpactofelectroniccommerceonlogisticsserviceproviders

WernerDelfmann,SaschaAlbers,MartinGehring,

BusinessPolicyandLogistics,UniversityofCologne,Germany

AbstractTheimpactofe-commerceonthebusinessenvironmentisoftenpraisedbutseldomanalyzedwithscrutiny.Inthispaperwetrytodepicttheunderlyinglogisticallyrelevantaspectsofe-commerceandtheirimpactsonlogisticsserviceproviders.Thisseemstobeofconsiderableimportance,aslogisticsisseenastheback-boneofe-commerceoperations.However,thefirmsspecializinginthisfieldarecommonlyneglected.Wearguethatthelogisticalimplicationsofe-commercecanbedifferentiatedintotwomaincategories:

theriseofe-marketplaces;

andtheeliminationofsupplychainelements（disintermediation）.Byanalyzingthesetwocategoriesandtheirmajorlogisticalimplicationsindetailwedeductstrategicconsequencesforlogisticsserviceproviders.

Keywords：

Internet,logistics,strategy

Introduction

E-commercehasbeenoneofthebuzzwordsofthelastyears.Analystsaswellasresearcherspredictedenormouschangesinthecompetitivelandscapeofwholeindustries,causinganasyetunwitnessedsurgeinstockpricesofcompaniesinthe“new”economy.However,thiswasalmosttwoyearsago.Today,thedusthassettledandmanyofthepromisingnewe-commercecompanieshavefailedorarestrugglingforeconomicalsurvival.Thefailureofsomanycompaniesine-commercecanbeinpartaccountedforbytheneglectoflogisticsasakeyfactorofsuccess,implyingaprominentroleforcompaniesspecializinginthelogisticssegment（Bretzke,2000）.Logisticsserviceproviders（LSPs）arethusconfrontedwithchangesintheirrespectivemarketenvironments.ItisthereforesurprisingthatlittleattentionhasbeenpaidtoanassessmentofthesechangesandtheirdirectaswellasindirectimplicationsforLSPs.（Incontrast,e-commerceapplicationsforlogisticscompanieshavestimulatedabroaderecho,e.g.PfohlandKoldau,1999.）

Thispapertriestobridgethegap.Itisdividedintothreemainsections.Thefirstpartdealswithaspecificationandclassificationoflogisticsserviceproviders.Inthesecondpartaclarificationoftheterme-commerceisprovidedandprominentbusinessmodelsofe-commercefirmsaredepictedaswellasmodificationsintheconfigurationoflogisticschainsillustrated.Finally,wefocusontheimplicationsofthesemodificationsandtrendsforLSPs.

LSPs

LSPshavegrowninimportancesincemoreandmorecompaniesoutsourcetheirlogisticsfunctions（Sheffi,1990）.Generallyspeaking,logisticsserviceprovidersarecompanieswhichperformlogisticsactivitiesonbehalfofothers.Additionalpopulartermsforthesecompaniesarethird-partylogisticfirm,orcontractlogisticsfirm（RazzaqueandSheng,1998;

Sinketal.,1996）.“Whateverlabelischosen,itdenotesexternalsuppliersthatperform（s）allorpartofacompany’slogisticsfunctions”（Coyleetal.,1996;

Ihde,1991）.However,definitionsofthiskindonlygiveaninstitutionalcharacterizationofLSPs,leavingthefunctionalscopeoftheseprovidersunanswered.

ItappearsreasonabletoassessthefunctionsofLSPsbyreferringtoadefinitionoftheunderlyingdomain,thatislogisticsandlogisticsmanagement.WithreferencetothepredominantlogisticsdefinitionprovidedbytheCouncilofLogisticsManagement（2001）,logisticsfunctionsincludetheplanning,implementationandcontroloftheflowofgoods,servicesandrelatedinformation.

LSPsdifferamongthepaletteofservicestheyprovidetotheircustomersaswellaswithregardtoothercriteria.AlthoughacommonlyacceptedtypologyforLSPsisstillmissing,somepropositionsexistonthismatter,e.g.typesofservices（Muller,1993a,b;

AfrickandCalkins,1994）,geographicalscopeofoperationsandtypeofgoodshandled（Niebuer,1996）.Withregardtotheircontributionfortheexplanationofchangesinthesupplychaininducedbye-commerce,wewillpursueacharacterizationemployingtwocriteriahere,whichare,however,closelyrelated.Wewillfocusonfunctionsandthedegreeofcustomization,asthecombinationofthesecriteriaallowsacomprehensiveclusteringofLSPs.

AnoverviewoffunctionsLSPstypicallyperform,basedonasurveyamongbuyersoflogisticsservices,isprovidedbySink.

AmoreconceptualapproachwastakenbyEngelsleben（1999）,whoclusteredthesefunctionsintotwobroadgroups:

serviceswhicharedirectlyrelatedtothephysicalflowofgoods,andserviceswhicharenotdirectlyrelatedtothephysicalgoodsflow.

However,thesefunctionsandtypesofservicescanbegroupedwithregardtothedegreeofcustomizationaswell.AclusteringofLSPsaccordingtothisdimensionwasconductedbyNiebuer（1996）,whodividesLSPsintothreemajorgroups.Thefirstgroupconsistsofserviceproviders,whichonlyofferstandardizedandisolatedlogisticsservicesordistributionfunctions,e.g.transportationandwarehousing.Theservicestheyfulfilfortheircustomersarestandardized,resultinginhighlyinterchangeableservicesamongthistypeofLSPs.Thesecompaniesarehighlyspecializedintheirfieldanddonottakeovercoordinationaloradministrativefunctionsfortheircustomers.Theymostlyhandlehomogeneousobjectsandoptimizetheirwholelogisticssystemwithregardtothesespeciallogisticsobjects.StandardizingLSPsplan,implementandcontroltheirownlogisticssystemaccordingtotheirrequirementsandconsiderations.Examplesaretraditionalcarriersandtheintegrators’originalexpressparcelservicesasoffered,interalia,byUPSandFedEx.WewillrefertothemasstandardizingLSPs.

Thesecondgroupconsistsofcompanieswhichcombineselectedstandardizedservicestobundles

oflogisticsservicesaccordingtotheircustomers’wishes.WewillthuscallthembundlingLSPs.The

operationalcoordinationandarrangementoftheseservicebundlesareprovidedbythe LSP,whereasthedispositionliesintheresponsibilityofthebuyingcompany.Frequentlythesebundlesofservicesconsistofacorelogisticsactivity,liketransportation,whichiscombinedwithsecondaryactivitiessuchassimpleassemblyandqualitycontrolactivities,performedbytraditionalforwardingcompaniesintheautomobileindustry.Thesebundlesareofferedundifferentiatedforallpotentialcustomersandcanthusnotberegardedascustomizedservices.

WewillcallthethirdgroupcustomizingLSPs,asthesecompaniesdesignlogisticsservicesandlogisticssystemsaccordingtothepreferencesoftheircustomers.TheseLSPscombineandmodifycomponentsoflogisticsservicesespeciallyfortheneedsofonespecificcustomer.Companiesofthistypeusuallytakeovercoordinativeandadministrativeresponsibilityfortheircustomeraswell（Engelsleben,1999）.Theseprovidersalsoofferserviceswhicharenotoriginallyattributabletothelogisticsfunctions,butrathertofinancingandproductionactivities.ThecorecompetenceofcustomizingLSPscanthusbeseenontheconceptualandcoordinationside,themselvesoutsourcingsingularlogisticsactivitiestostandardizingLSPs[1].ThecustomizingLSPtakesoverresponsibilityfortheeffectivenessandefficiencyofthelogisticssystemofitscustomer.ExamplesaretheGermanWMGroupandRyderSystemintheUSA.IllustratestheclusteringofLSPsaccordingtothecustomizationcriteria.

ThecombinationofbothdimensionsrevealscertainbasicconfigurationsofLSPs,asthenatureoftheproductdeterminesitspotentialforcustomization.StandardizingLSPsoffermainlythecorelogisticsprocesses,asdepictedabove.Theseprocessesaresubjecttoeconomiesofscaleandthereforefavourspecializedprovidersoftheseservices.

BundlingLSPsofferexdefinitionemorethanonestandardizedproduct.Thebundletheyofferwillmostprobablyconsistofcertaincoreprocessesand/orvalueaddedserviceswithregardtotheircustomers’needs.Standardizedfinancialservices,suchasinsuranceorpaymentservices,mayaswellbepartoftheirproductportfolio.However,bundlingLSPswillnotoffermanagementsupportservicesortools,astheseproductshavetobeconfiguredwithregardtoonespecialcustomer.ThesetoolsarethereforethedomainofcustomizingLSPs.ThisgroupofLSPswillmostlyrefrainfromproducingthecoreprocessesthemselves,astheywillbesourcedfromspecialized（standardizing）LSPs.

E-commerce

Tounderstandtheimportanceoflogisticsinmanye-commercebusinessmodels,wewillfirstproposeadefinitionofelectroniccommerce.Subsequently,wewillpointouttherelativeimportanceoflogisticsforeachgenerice-commercebusinessmodelanddescribehowsupplychainsareaffectedby

e-commerce.

“Broadlyspeaking,electroniccommerceincludesanyformofeconomicactivityconductedviaelectronicconnections”（Wigand,1997）.Althoughthisisaverybroaddefinitionofe-commerce,ithighlightsthetwocrucialelements:

（1）economicactivity;

and

（2）electronicconnections.

Aneconomicactivityor,moreprecisely,aneconomictransactioncangenerallybedividedintofivephases:

（1）initiation;

（2）agreement;

（3）exchange;

（4）inspection/control;

（5）adjustment/service.

Itisclearthatthetermelectroniccommercecombineseconomictransactionswithelectronicalmeans.Thequestiontoberaisedis:

whichofthefivephaseshavetobecarriedoutelectronicallytoallowtheterme-commercetobeapplied?

Wewillincludethemostfundamentaltransactionphase,thatofagre