1、 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.Moberg Introduction The recent explosion in the outsourcing of key logistics activities within supply chains is one of the most important trends
2、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
3、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
4、 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 logi
5、stics 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 function
6、s. 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 ou
7、tsourcing decisions. Warehousing was examined in this research as a starting point because it is the most commonly outsourced logistics activity. Research Focus To address this deficiency in the outsourcing literature, a survey was developed and distributed to current and potential third-party wareh
8、ousing 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 warehousin
9、g 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 Warehousing As recently as five years ago, many experts were predicting
10、 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 1
11、999). In spite of these predictions, todays warehousing industry is stronger 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
12、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 natu
13、rally 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 in
14、creasing 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,
15、researchers have tried to develop frameworks and strategies for managers to use when deciding whether to outsource a function and to identify the critical factors firms consider when choosing among third-party providers (e.g. Maltz 1994a; Maltz 1994b; Lieb and Randall 1996; Sink and Langley 1997; Ma
16、ltz 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 tha
17、t 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). Clea
18、rly, it is time to narrow the focus of outsourcing research to the decision making process for specific logistics functions. Methodology Because of the scarcity of research on the third-party warehousing selection process, in-depth phone interviews were conducted with twelve warehousing experts repr
19、esenting 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 t
20、he 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. Results Respondent Profile The managers that responded in this study had an average of 18.02 years of warehousing/logistics
21、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
22、/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
23、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 p
24、roviders. 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
25、(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 seve
26、ral 3pls in their warehousing networks and not just one national provider. Relative Importance of 3pls Selection Criteria The 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 wer
27、e 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 3pls The last goal of the research was to compare the performance of national and regional
28、 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 i
29、ncluded because they would not apply to the typical regional third-party provider. Discussion First, perceptions of logistics managers of the thirdparty providers on the questions asked hovered around the scale mid-point and indicated no strong consensus either way. This study is exploratory due to
30、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
31、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 co
32、nsumer packaged goods industries. The lack of attitudinal questions in this research limits the ability of the researcher to explain the “why” behind the logistics managers ratings of selection criteria. Finally, this research only compared the performance of national and regional third-party provid
33、ers. 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. Conclusion The importance to logistics practitioners of narrowing the focus of outsourcing selection research to spec
34、ific 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 dec
35、ision. 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 practi
36、tioners 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。估计该物流外包市场规模会从 1996 年的 25 亿美元上升至 2000 年的 500亿美元（利布和兰德尔 1996）。随着股东的压力增大，需要更有效地使用资产，许多公司开始寻找第三方
37、物流供应商（第三方物流）合作，而物流活动的长期外包可以使企业将有限的资源集中用于发展主业，以便在竞争中处于优势地位。 根据最近的一项研究表明，仓储外包仍然是最频繁的物流外包活动之一。而报告中的 63.3受访者认为仓储外包的企业应该选择多个第三方物流服务商（兰利 2001）。基于第三方物流供应商更多地使用整体效益和仓储功能外包企业的增多，可以预料到在物流和供应链中将包含大量的研究文献重 点研究第三方仓储的选择过程。然而，以往的研究基本上仅限于外包之外的主题，而不是研究特定功能对物流外包因素的影响。这个很有可能影响企业采取物流活动外包的选择标准。因此，需要更多的实证研究，研究特定功能的挑选，以致物
38、流经理可以提高他们的外包决策质量。由于仓储外包是最常见的外包物流活动，因此要以检查仓库作为研究的出发点。 研究重点 为了解决外包文学 的 这一缺陷， 我们 开 展 了一项调查， 并且将问卷 分发给当前和潜在的第三方仓储客户 。 这种探索性的研究主要研究 三个 问题 ： 第一，什么让他们迈向第三方物流供应商管理和一般认知的外包仓 储功能； 接下来，当 决定外包时 ， 仓储客户 在选择 第三方物流服务 商 方面 最重要的标准 是什么；最后， 每个客户的仓储需求 成效如何是国家和区域的 典型 第三方仓储企业在会议上经过审核的标准 。 第三方仓储 近五年，许多专家都预测到仓储功能的消亡。越来越多的新功
39、能伴随着技术和供应链的协同战略出现而产生，有传言说传统的仓储功能将会受到供应链的排挤（ 例如库克 2000； 李尔 1999） 。尽管存在着这些预言，但是今天的仓储业比以往任何时候都强大。伴随着巩固仓储网络的趋势，国内仓储空间的数量也在增多。虽然仓库数量较少，但他们更大，更复杂，能 处理更多的客户和提供更多的增值服务。相反下降，仓储行业为满足客户的典型仓库颁发挑战和创造机会，并且给予更高的期望。 由于再次重新强调制造商和零售商的核心竞争力，自然增加了对第三方仓储提供者的需求（ 例如刘易斯和 查耶夫斯基 2000；娄丁 2000）。在 1999 年由国际仓储物流协会最近的一项研究发现，占公共仓储
40、空间由 12增至 13，而合同总空间由 18增至 20（库克 2000）。除了基本的储存和处理功能外，客户现在希望第三方公司能够提供轻工装配或贴标签的增值服务（例如库克 1998）。 为响应过去十年物流活动外包的 增加，研究人员一直试图发展框架和战略管理，决定何时利用外包功能，并确定企业选择第三方服务商要考虑的关键因素（ 例如马尔兹 1994a； 马尔兹 1994b； 利布和 兰德尔 1996； 下沉和兰利 1997；马尔兹和 伊让 1997；拉扎克 汗 和年盛 1998）。但是，大多数研究都是着眼于最初的决定，而不是针对个别物流职能外包的具体决定研究，如仓储或运输外包。 1994 年， 美国
41、 一个 仓储协会 的 一项调查发现，十大供应商选择公共仓库公司的选择标准是服务质量，可靠性，服务的及时性，良好的沟通，客户支持，服务速度，灵活性，质量管理，定制和意愿订货周期时间（交通管理 1995）。显然，现在是时候缩小有关具体物流过程中决策职能外包的研究焦点。 方法论 由于 对 第三方仓储选择过程 研究较少 ， 所以对 代表不同供应链角色 的 十二个 仓储专家进行了 深入的 电话采访。 分别是 四个区域的仓库运营商 、 四个公共仓储客户 、 三 个 仓储管理顾问和一个具有相当专业 仓储 知识组成 的 专家小组。物流和仓储的采访对象 经验 范围从 13 年 到 45 年 ， 并且 大多数专家
42、都 是站在为客户提供仓储和供应商 的立场谈论。 结果 答辩人简介 该经理说，在这项研究中有一个回答仓储 /物流经验年 平均水平为 18.02 是代表了他们公司管理的最高水平，其中 16.8的控股企业人员称号， 34.8的导演和 45.8的经理职位。具备这些管理人员的典型公司是代表大的食品制造商 /食品 /饮料及消费品行业。全球销售公司在这个研究上平均每年需要花费627400.00 万美元，其中 64.5的企业属于杂货店 /食品 /饮料行业和 22.6属于消费品行业。受访者中制造业公司占 74.2，其中 12.9为批发商， 11.6 为零售商。 物流经理感知的第三方物流供应商（第三方物流） 这项
43、研究的第一个目标是评估物流经理对第三方仓储供应商的整体认识到使用。每个问题的手段和频率，可以依据图表中的数据发现。一些有关的管理人员基于第三方提供者的结果是好的，显然愿意使用第三方物流。首先，大部分受访者同意“最好”的第三方物流企业表现是非常高（平均 = 3.74）。此外，受访者也倾向于同意他们不舒服的一个第三方物流外包（平均 = 3.35），并融合了私人，区域和国家第三方物流仓库是最好的（平均值 = 3.11）。这些数据结果表明， 在仓储网络 方面， 很多 客户 不仅仅 作为 一个国家的供应商 ，而是几个第三方物流的成员。 第三方物流企业相对重要性的选择标准 这项研究的第二个目标是评估第三方
44、仓储需求商对各种选择标准的重要性。在评估第三方仓储供应商的调查中，受访者被要求对每个选择因素的重要性从 1（都不重要）到 5（非常重要）评价。 第三方物流的全国区域性能对比 本研究的最后一个目标是 经验 看法 的比较 ， 是基于国家和区域的第三方仓储提供者为客户提供的基础表现。至于绩效评估采用的标准清单并不相同，以前名单里确实包括原有的十二个项目中的九个。因为他们并不适用于典型区域的第三方提供商 ，所以两个比较项目并没有包括规模和覆盖全国市场在内。 讨论 首先，提供第三方物流的经理对问题的看法是在规模中点左右徘徊，并没有表示任何一种方式的强烈共识。其次，这项研究是探索关于第三方仓储和三个研究问
45、题的结果做出前人研究稀缺的物流文献。然而，一些结果特别有意思，值得进一步讨论。显然，这些研究结果可用于区域的新第三方仓储公司如何面对国内企业的竞争。再者，应当指出这些研究结果仅限于一般性的食品 /饮料以及消费品行业比较大的制造企业。在本研究的态度问题上，缺乏限制了研究者的能力来解释“为什么”背后以及对于物流经理评 级的评选标准。最后，本研究只比较了国家和区域的第三方物流提供者的表现。未来的研究范围应该更小，地方仓储企业的绩效评估，其相对与其他第三方公司竞争的优势和劣势。 结论 缩小重点选择外包物流功能的具体研究和实证分析物流从业人员的重要性值得再次强调。由于环境因素和商业因素造成物流经理压力的继续增加，所以外包活动的研究人员有责任对可能影响他们决定的因素进行实证研究。本研究发现，四大评选标准是响应服务要求，质量管理，跟踪记录道德的重要性，并能提供增值服务。我们希望这项研究的关键是可以为企业更好地决策提供信息，跨出选择 第三方仓储机构执业过程中的第一步。
