“第三方仓储的选择：一个国家和地区性企业的比较”【外文翻译】

外文翻译原文“Third-Party Warehousing Selection:A Comparison of National and Regional Firms”Material Source:American Journal of Business Author:ChristopherR.MobergIntroductionThe recent explosion in the outsourcing of key logistics activities within supply chains is one of the most important trends in business today. The size of the logistics outsourcing market has increased from $25 billion in 1996 to an estimated $50 billion in 2000(Lieb and Randall 1996). With increasing pressure from shareholders to use assets more effciently, many firms are using third-party logistics providers (3pls) so that more attention can be given to core competencies that can be leveraged into long-term, sustainable sources of competitive advantage(e.g. Lewis and Talalayevsky 2000).According to a recent study, warehousing continues to be the most frequently outsourced logistics activity, with 63.3 percent of respondents from several industries reporting use of third-party providers for their warehousing needs(Langley 2001). Based on the increased use of third-party logistics providers overall and the large number of firms outsourcing the warehousing function specifically, one would expect that the logistics and supply chain literature would contain numerous research studies focusing on the third-party warehousing selection process. However, previous research has been largely limited to the broader topic of outsourcing and not on the factors affecting the outsourcing of specific logistics functions. It is quite possible that the importance of selection criteria may vary depending on which logistics activity is being outsourced. Therefore, more empirical research is needed that examines the selection process for specific functions so that logistics managers can improve the quality of their outsourcing decisions. Warehousing was examined in this research as a starting point because it is the most commonly outsourced logistics activity.Research FocusTo address this deficiency in the outsourcing literature, a survey was developed and distributed to current and potential third-party warehousing customers. This exploratory study had three main research questions. First, what are the general perceptions of logistics managers toward third-party providers and the outsourcing of the warehousing function? Next, when outsourcing is considered, what criteria are most important to warehousing customers when selecting thirdparty providers? Last, how effective are the typical national and regional third-party warehousing firms at meeting the needs of warehousing customers on each of the examined criteria?Third-Party WarehousingAs recently as five years ago, many experts were predicting the demise of the warehousing function. With the increasing capabilities stemming from new technologies and the emergence of collaborative supply chain strategies, there was speculation that the traditional warehousing function would get squeezed from the supply chain(e.g. Cooke 2000; Lear-Olimpi 1999). In spite of these predictions, today’s warehousing industry is s tronger than ever. While there has been a recent trend to consolidate warehousing networks, the amount of warehousing space has increased nationally. There are fewer warehouses, but they are bigger, more sophisticated, handle more customers, and offer more value-added services. Instead of declining, the warehousing industry has been presented with the challenge and opportunity of meeting the higher expectations of the typical warehouse customer.The renewed emphasis by manufacturers and retailers on core competencies has naturally increased the demand for third-party warehousing providers (e.g. Lewis and Talalayevsky 2000; Loudin 2000). A recent study in 1999 by the International Warehousing Logistics Association found that total public warehousing space was increasing by 12 to 13 percent and total contract space was increasing by 18 to 20 percent (Cooke 2000). In addition to basic storage and handling functions, customers now expect third-party firms to provide added services such as light assembly or labeling (e.g. Cooke 1998).In response to the increased outsourcing of logistics activities in the past decade, researchers have tried to develop frameworks and strategies for managers to use when deciding whether to outsource a function and to identify the critical factorsfirms consider when choosing among third-party providers (e.g. Maltz 1994a; Maltz 1994b; Lieb and Randall 1996; Sink and Langley 1997; Maltz and Ellram 1997; Razzaque and Sheng 1998). But, most of this research focused on the initial decision to outsource and not on the specific decision to outsource individual logistics functions such as warehousing or transportation. One study by the American Warehouse Association in 1994 found that the top ten selection criteria for firms choosing public warehouse providers was service quality, reliability, on-time performance, good communication, customer support, speed of service, flexibility, management quality, willingness to customize and order cycle time (Traffic Management 1995). Clearly, it is time to narrow the focus of outsourcing research to the decision making process for specific logistics functions.MethodologyBecause of the scarcity of research on the third-party warehousing selection process, in-depth phone interviews were conducted with twelve warehousing experts representing various supply chain roles. The group of experts consisted of four regional warehouse operators, four public warehousing customers, three warehousing management consultants, and one academic researcher with considerable expertise in warehousing. The logistics and warehousing experience of the interview subjects ranged from thirteen to forty-five years, and it should be noted that most of the experts had held positions as both warehousing customers and providers.ResultsRespondent ProfileThe managers that responded in this study had an average of 18.02 years of warehousing/logistics experience and represented the highest levels of management in their firms, with 16.8 percent holding the title of corporate officer, 34.8 percent in director positions, and 45.8 percent in manager positions. The typical firm represented by these managers was a large manufacturer in the grocery/food/beve- rage and consumer goods industries. The average annual global sales of firms in this research was 6.274 billion dollars, with 64.5 percent of the firms in the grocery/food/beverage industry and 22.6 percent in the consumer goods industry.Manufacturing firms accounted for 74.2 percent of the respondents, while 12.9 percent of the respondents were wholesalers and 11.6 percent were retailers.Logistics Managers’ Perceptions of Third Party Logistic Suppliers (3pls)The first goal of the study was to assess the general perceptions of logistics managers to the use of third-party warehousing providers. Means and frequencies for each question can be found in Table 1. There was some good news in the results for third-party providers based on the apparent willingness of managers to use 3pls. First, a majority of the respondents agreed that the performance of the ‘best’ 3pls is extremely high (mean = 3.74). In addition, respondents also tended to agree that they were uncomfortable with all of their outsourcing with one 3pls (mean = 3.35) and that a blend of private, regional, and national 3pls warehouses was best (mean = 3.11). These results indicate that many customers will include several 3pls in their warehousing networks and not just one national provider.Relative Importance of 3pls Selection CriteriaThe second goal of the study was to assess the importance of various selection criteria during the evaluation of third-party warehousing providers. In the survey, respondents were asked to rate the importance of each selection factor from 1 (not important at all) to 5 (extremely important) when they are evaluating third-party warehousing providers.Performance of National vs. Regional 3plsThe last goal of the research was to compare the performance of national and regional third-party warehousing providers based on the perceptions and experiences of their customers. The list of criteria used for the performance evaluation was not identical to the previous list, but did include nine of the twelve original items. Two items, size and national market coverage, were not included because they would not apply to the typical regional third-party provider.DiscussionFirst, perceptions of logistics managers of the thirdparty providers on the questions asked hovered around the scale mid-point and indicated no strongconsensus either way. This study is exploratory due to the scarcity of previous research on third-party warehousing and the results of all three research questions make a contribution to the logistics literature. However, some of the results are particularly interesting and merit further discussion. The results report good news for regional third party warehousing providers. Clearly, these findings can be used by regional third-party warehousing firms when competing with national firms for new customers. It should be noted that the generalizability of these findings is limited to relatively large manufacturing firms in the food and beverage and consumer packaged goods industries. The lack of attitudinal questions in this research limits the ability of the researcher to explain the “why” behind the logistics ma nagers’ ratings of selection criteria. Finally, this research only compared the performance of national and regional third-party providers. Future studies should examine the performance of smaller, local warehousing firms to assess their relative strengths and weaknesses while competing with other third-party firms.ConclusionThe importance to logistics practitioners of narrowing the focus of outsourcing selection research to specific logistics functions and of conducting empirical research cannot be overstated. As environmental and business factors continue to increase the pressure for logistics managers to outsource activities, it is the responsibility of researchers to empirically examine factors that may affect their decision. This research found that the top four selection criteria are responsive to service requirements, quality of management, track record of ethical importance, and ability to provide value-added services. It is hoped that this study will provide a key first step in the process of providing practitioners with information that can be used to make better decisions when selecting third party warehousing providers.译文“第三方仓储的选择：一个国家和地区性企业的比较”资料来源: 美国商业杂志作者：克里斯托弗莫贝格最近爆出物流外包会是当今企业在关键物流供应链活动中最重要的趋势之一。