Current Advancements of and Future Developments for Fourth Party Logistics in a Digital Future
This paper aims to analyze the potential future of the 4PL concept based on expert opinions with special regard to the influence of digitalization coming with a disruptive trans-formation of supply chains. Service arrangements, provider capabilities and benefits resulting from a 4PL partnership are...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2019-02-01
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| Series: | Logistics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/3/1/7 |
| _version_ | 1818925532918579200 |
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| author | Hans-Joachim Schramm Carolin Nicole Czaja Michael Dittrich Matthias Mentschel |
| author_facet | Hans-Joachim Schramm Carolin Nicole Czaja Michael Dittrich Matthias Mentschel |
| author_sort | Hans-Joachim Schramm |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper aims to analyze the potential future of the 4PL concept based on expert opinions with special regard to the influence of digitalization coming with a disruptive trans-formation of supply chains. Service arrangements, provider capabilities and benefits resulting from a 4PL partnership are compared in current and future configurations. The research follows an explorative mixed methods approach with semi-structured interviews followed by an expert panel. This builds a basis for an online survey questionnaire to inquire on important future aspects for the 4PL concept by a sample of respondents from multinational companies. Our results show a clear trend away from simply organizing transportation and logistics activities towards the provision of an IT platform as well as further value-added service activities such as planning, analytics and monitoring. Along with this, IT capabilities appear to be an important differentiator for 4PL providers in the future. Moreover, relationships between 4PL providers and their clients become closer and more strategic, which leads to a customer valuing not only direct cost reductions but rather improvements resulting from optimized operations through superior analysis and planning functions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T02:42:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6faa1e6cdc8e45c5a83f76a0edb38149 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2305-6290 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T02:42:44Z |
| publishDate | 2019-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Logistics |
| spelling | doaj.art-6faa1e6cdc8e45c5a83f76a0edb381492022-12-21T19:56:16ZengMDPI AGLogistics2305-62902019-02-0131710.3390/logistics3010007logistics3010007Current Advancements of and Future Developments for Fourth Party Logistics in a Digital FutureHans-Joachim Schramm0Carolin Nicole Czaja1Michael Dittrich2Matthias Mentschel3Department of Global Business and Trade, Institute for Transport and Logistics Management, WU Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, 1090 Wien, AustriaDepartment of Global Business and Trade, Institute for Transport and Logistics Management, WU Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, 1090 Wien, AustriaAccenture Strategy—Supply Chain Management ASG, Accenture, 8001 Zürich, SwitzerlandAccenture Strategy—Supply Chain Management ASG, Accenture, 80807 München, GermanyThis paper aims to analyze the potential future of the 4PL concept based on expert opinions with special regard to the influence of digitalization coming with a disruptive trans-formation of supply chains. Service arrangements, provider capabilities and benefits resulting from a 4PL partnership are compared in current and future configurations. The research follows an explorative mixed methods approach with semi-structured interviews followed by an expert panel. This builds a basis for an online survey questionnaire to inquire on important future aspects for the 4PL concept by a sample of respondents from multinational companies. Our results show a clear trend away from simply organizing transportation and logistics activities towards the provision of an IT platform as well as further value-added service activities such as planning, analytics and monitoring. Along with this, IT capabilities appear to be an important differentiator for 4PL providers in the future. Moreover, relationships between 4PL providers and their clients become closer and more strategic, which leads to a customer valuing not only direct cost reductions but rather improvements resulting from optimized operations through superior analysis and planning functions.https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/3/1/7fourth-party logistics (4PL)digitalizationIT capabilities |
| spellingShingle | Hans-Joachim Schramm Carolin Nicole Czaja Michael Dittrich Matthias Mentschel Current Advancements of and Future Developments for Fourth Party Logistics in a Digital Future Logistics fourth-party logistics (4PL) digitalization IT capabilities |
| title | Current Advancements of and Future Developments for Fourth Party Logistics in a Digital Future |
| title_full | Current Advancements of and Future Developments for Fourth Party Logistics in a Digital Future |
| title_fullStr | Current Advancements of and Future Developments for Fourth Party Logistics in a Digital Future |
| title_full_unstemmed | Current Advancements of and Future Developments for Fourth Party Logistics in a Digital Future |
| title_short | Current Advancements of and Future Developments for Fourth Party Logistics in a Digital Future |
| title_sort | current advancements of and future developments for fourth party logistics in a digital future |
| topic | fourth-party logistics (4PL) digitalization IT capabilities |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/3/1/7 |
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