Competitiveness of logistics service providers: a cross-national examination of management practices in China and the UK

Abstract

This paper investigates the extent to which logistics service providers (LSPs) translate their visions of competitiveness into management practices. It is based on a comparative study conducted in both China and the UK. The results demonstrate that both Chinese and UK LSPs have established various management practices conducive to achieving competitiveness. These practices are related to different business and operational activities of an LSP. The results also reveal a fairly high degree of similarity between the UK and Chinese LSPs with regard to their perspectives and management practices, despite their different business contexts and backgrounds. There are, nevertheless, several areas in which the views of UK and Chinese LSPs diverge, which are likely to reflect differences in the development (age and the maturity) of the UK and Chinese LSPs concerned. This is the first comparative study of LSPs in China and the UK, and it provides insights as to how LSP managers pursue competitiveness in either developing or developed countries through initiating successful management practices, and also suggests that it is important for LSP managers to establish a good understanding of their international counterparts in the competition, particularly in today's globalised world, in which more and more LSPs have extended their supply chain management to leverage value from a truly world marketplace.

An empirical examination of the contents and evolution of the composing factors of logistics enterprise competitiveness: a perspective from China

“…The concept of LEC is derived from enterprise competitiveness and has some unique characteristics. According to Liu et al (2010) and Liu (2011), LEC or the competitiveness of a logistics service provider refers to a firm's capacity to compete in a logistics service market, increase its market share, and achieve sustainable growth and profitability.…”

“…Through competitiveness, an enterprise can obtain a competitive advantage (Snyder and William, 1992). Logistics enterprise competitiveness or the competitiveness of a logistics service provider (LSP) refers to a firm's capacity to compete in a logistics service market, increase its market share, and achieve sustainable growth and profitability (Liu et al, 2010;Liu, 2011). With the rapid development of logistics enterprises in China during the last two decades and the increase of external environmental pressure, many logistics enterprises continuously seek new ways of achieving superior performance to differentiate themselves from competitors and safeguard their competitive positions.…”

“…With the rapid development of logistics enterprises in China during the last two decades and the increase of external environmental pressure, many logistics enterprises continuously seek new ways of achieving superior performance to differentiate themselves from competitors and safeguard their competitive positions. Thereby, scholars and managers are increasingly curious about LEC studies (Liu, 2011).…”

“…The LEC factors of different types of logistics enterprises also may not be the same. Third, there are a large number of empirical studies focusing on the composition of LEC (Liu et al, 2010;Liu, 2011;Liu et al, 2013), but the various types of LEC factors needed in different enterprise development stage are not stated clearly. The evolution of composing factors of LEC for different types of logistics enterprises is also not presented.…”

“…Given the existing research, literature review and the survey method are most often used to study LEC (Harding, 1998;Chapman et al, 2003;Ngai, 2003, 2004;Pannayides and So, 2005;Lai, 2004;Wang et al, 2006;Yeung et al, 2006;Liu et al, 2010;Liu, 2011;Liu et al, 2013). Most of the studies focus on the definition and composing factors of LEC, the evaluation of LEC, and the cultivation of LEC.…”