Logistics Self-study, And Outsourcing

As a comprehensive science at the end of the 20th century, logistics plays an increasingly important role in the national economy and the improvement of business management together with finance, R&D, marketing and operations. Unlike other functions, logistics activities have the potential to directly affect performance in terms of revenue enhancement as well as cost reduction. It has been called one of the three pillars of modern economy. By the effective management of the logistics, the benefit of economy, technology and information can be improved greatly. As a result, the revenue of enterprise will also be improved. So, it is believed that logistics will be the third profit resource of enterprises. And the competition in the 21st century is finally the competition of supply chain.In China, the definition of logistics is applied for a short time. We don't digest and absorb the logistics theories which have been introduced in developed countries. Many people can not master the spirit of logistics .In other word, they do not know that the enterprise can benefit great from the effective management of logistics. As we all know, with the development of the global economy and China's entering WTO, enterprises in China will face more and more competition. In order to strengthen the competition of our enterprises, we must pay more attention to logistics. The development of logistics in China has its inevitability. However, how do our enterprises manage/operate logistics? Whether do they operate it themselves or cooperate with the third party logistics? What methods should they use when they make decisions? And what difficulties will they meet with and how to solve them when they make decisions? This thesis was born in such an environment. Its purpose is toassist enterprise to solve the above questions. At the same time, I am interested in this theme. When I wrote this thesis, I became familiar with many theories, such as resource-based theory, core competence, transition cost theory and comparative advantage theory. And I try to bring forward a few measures about the development of our country's logistics according to the theories.This thesis mainly consists of three parts:Chapter 1 is the introduction of logistics. This chapter is the basis of the whole thesis. There are three parts in this chapter. First, I outlined the definition of logistics, logistics of enterprise and logistic outsourcing. Second, I analyses the trend of logistics' development. With the development of division of society, there are some negative effects on Michael Poter's theory of mainstream competitive strategy. And the cooperation is emphasized by the enterprises step by step. Many enterprises revise their corporate strategy and focus their available resources on the selected activities and processes relating to their core competence. The external provision of logistics services, commonly known as logistics outsourcing or third party logistics, is part of a trend toward outsourcing noncore activities. The scope of logistics offerings may range from limited services such as transportation or warehousing to a comprehensive, fully integrated set of logistics activities. At last, I analyses that facing the intense competitive environment, what logistics plans enterprises in our country should select, and how to make decisions?Chapter 2 narrates and evaluates some theories and measures about the decision of logistics of enterprises, and discusses how an enterprise selects the appropriate logistics according to its resources and capability. The theories include resource-based theory, core competence, transition cost theory and Comparative Advantage theory. The measures include decision-making, two-dimensional decision-making, logisticsoutsourcing decision-making and the model of SWOT. Together with the advantages of the theories and measures, I also list the applying scope of them and their shortcomings.Chapter 3 points out that there are so many obstacles which restrict the logistics development in China logis...