Post on 22-Dec-2015
© Peter Dicken 2015
‘Making the Connections, Moving the Goods’:
Logistics and Distribution Services
Global Shift
Chapter 17
Review
• Concepts to Review– Transport and communications technologies,
resource extraction, buyer-driven industry, clothing, agro-food and automobile industries, key nodes
• Key Words– Distribution, business-to-business/business-
to-consumer delivery, RFID, e-commerce
Logistics and Distribution: Definition and Structure
• Nature of the Industry– Intermediate between buyers and sellers
– Involves complex flows of both goods and information across vast distances
– Obstacles, political and physical, provide barriers to movement
• Globalization of the Industry– Getting things from point to point is a fundamental problem
– Growth of logistics market related to growth of economy
– System is driven by the consumer
– Lean production stimulates lean systems of distribution
Traits and Trends
• Industry Players– Transportation companies, logistics service providers,
wholesalers, trading companies, retailers, e-tailers
• The boundaries between these are slippery
• Consolidation of the Industry– Trend towards consolidation and concentration through
acquisition/merger
– Different types of logistics companies
• traditional transportation and forwarding
• asset-based logistics providers
• network-based logistics providers
• skill-based logistics providers
IT and Logistics/Distribution• Technology
– Time is the basis of competition
– Three key elements • electronic data interchange
• bar code systems and RFID
• distribution centres
• E-commerce– Two types dominate
• business-to-business
• business-to-consumer
– Rise of ‘infomediaries’
– Different types of shipment models
– The Internet is difficult to regulate
Retailers and the State
• Role of the State– Regulatory systems provide a significant obstacle
to logistics
– Try to protect domestic retail markets
– Regional economic blocs (e.g. EU, NAFTA) remove obstacles to distribution
• Retail Industry– Strong domestic orientation• sourcing is increasingly global
– Acceleration in transnational activities
– Transforms retail supply and logistics networks