The 3PL Provider as Catalyst of Coopetitive Strategies-An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The subject of coopetitive strategies has been increasingly studied since the end of the 1990s in academic literature on strategic management, offering an in-depth renewal of the way of looking at the evolution of exchange relations between firms, and emphasizing that neither pure cooperation nor pure competition are satisfying explanatory models of the reality of business. In fact, cooperation and competition blend to give rise to a novel model of value creation: coopetition. The paper makes use of this conceptual framework to study the role of third party logistics (3PL) in the operation of modern supply chains. 3PLs appear to be the catalysts of coopetitive strategies, particularly when they manage modular platforms. An exploratory field study conducted in France has identified three 3PL archetypes in the dynamics of coopetitive supply chains: 3PL as caretaker, 3PL as lead operator and 3PL as architect.

The benefits of the digital supply chain for horizontal resource pooling – the case of the Bio Loire Océan Farmers’ Association

“…For the businesses, the challenge of this type of resource pooling is to agree on common rules. This mediation arises through a logistics service provider in their capacity as a neutral actor (Fulconis et al, 2011;Pan et al, 2014;Rouquet and Vauché, 2015).…”

“…For Noireaux (2015), organisational risks are linked to two factors: non-performance (not achieving the set goals) and relational risk (deterioration of relationships owing to difficulties in coordinating between individual logics and a collective logic). In literature, the risk is generally arbitrated by the logistics service provider (Rouquet and Vauché, 2015;Fulconis et al, 2011;Pan et al, 2014 ;Habbad et Mahjoub, 2017 ;Ruel, 2019). The logistics service provider here is a neutral stakeholder who facilitates intermediation tasks.…”

“…The logistics service provider here is a neutral stakeholder who facilitates intermediation tasks. The logistics service provider's challenge is therefore to manage the strategic changes of the actors who pool flows (Fulconis et al, 2011). The instability of resource pooling is largely linked to difficulties in coordination between the individual strategy and the collective strategy (Ruel, 2019).…”

“…In the literature on logistics, the role of the logistics service provider (LSP) is a key factor in the success of approaches to horizontal pooling (Fulconis et al, 2011;Pan et al, 2014;Rouquet and Vauché, 2015;Habbad and Mahjoub, 2017;Ruel, 2019). The LSP makes it possible to facilitate the exchange of information regarding logistics, to reach the critical size, to have mediation on cooperation and to acquire expertise in managing flows.…”

O Papel da Coopetição na Criação de Valor para Micro e Pequenas Empresas - MPEs no Âmbito da Cadeia de Suprimentos em Relações Fornecedor-Fornecedor

“…Dois dos contextos específicos em que a estratégias coopetitivas acontecem são de particular interesse para a construção teórica deste estudo, permitindo a delimitação do debate que segue: o das Micro e Pequenas Empresas -MPEs (Levy, Loebbecke & Powell, 2003;Morris, Koçak & Özer, 2007;Robert, Marques & Le Roy, 2009;Thomason, Simendinger & Kiernan, 2013) e o da gestão da cadeia de suprimentos (Gurnani, Erkoc & Luo, 2007;Fulconis, Hiesse & Paché, 2011;Li, Liu & Liu, 2011;Sepehri & Fayazbakhsh, 2011).…”