Study On The Transportation Enterprises' Operation Patterns Of Logistics

It is obvious that logistics has great impact on traditional transportation industry. Because of the increase in customer demands and the intension of market competition, the situation of transportation enteiprises is getting serious and becoming the key factor to restrict the enterprises' development. At this moment, some domestic and foreign transportation companies are seeking for their own ways to develop logistics services, and it has come out lots of successful examples such as Maersk and Sinotrans and also some failure ones. Generally, different kinds of transportation enterprises should have different ways to develop logistics, and it will brings about problems when they consult with each other. To this end, the paper discusses the transportation enterprises' operation patterns of logistics, which will give the guidance for transport companies to transit from transportation to logistics rapidly.Through survey and investigation in different kinds of transportation companies and case studies, the paper firstly analyzes the current situation of transportation companies to develop logistics. It shows that, being an important role in logistics actions, the transportation companies have great advantages in logistics developments, which can not be replaced by other companies. But there are still hard tasks for them to reengineer their business completely and offer full-range and integrative logistics services. Also, they meet some key problems which have to solve in the innovation process.In this context, the paper summarizes the general logistics running patterns of the transportation companies based on further theoretical analysis. According to the enterprises' preference in choosing inside-expansion and outside-alliance, there are eight patterns, which are Vertical Integration Pattern, Logistics Center Pattern, Conglomeration Pattern, Supply Chain Cooperation Pattern, Supplier/Distributor Cooperation Pattern, Virtual Managing Pattern, Voluntary Chain Patten, and "Conference" Pattern.Under the guidance of the general pattern, different kinds of transportation companies can choose suitable patterns according to their logistics characters and development targets. The logistics character of unimodal transportation companies lies in the cargo movement, so their logistics running can follow the Vertical Integration Pattern or Supplier/Distributor Cooperation Pattern. Ports and depots/stations provide multifunctional logistics services, so Logistics Center Pattern and Voluntary Chain Patten should be their choice. Transportation agencies have the advantage of wide and professional business network and good costumer relationship, therefore they can use Virtual Managing Pattern or Incomplete Vertical Integration Pattern to develop the logistics services. Multimodal transportation companies are the most competent ones, so Conglomeration Pattern and Supply Chain Cooperation Pattern should be the shortcut for them to get into the advanced developing stage.Surely, besides the operating pattern, the companies also need other references on management, organization, and information construction. This paper also discusses them.Lastly, Based on the investigation in Central China Logistics Ltd (CCL), the paper gives a case study for a transport company to develop logistics service. In light of the above analysis, the paper studies the current situation of CCL, and designs a logistics developing project for them which including disposing the business network, setting up the distribution center, optimizing the distribution process, innovating the organization, and improving the information network. This design is also an application of logistics developing pattern in the practice for transportation enterprises.