Logistics Outsourcing and the Role of Logistics Service Providers From an Industrial Network Perspective

The aim of this paper is to analyse logistics outsourcing and third party logistics from an industrial network perspective. The analysis of outsourcing from a network view clearly illustrates that outsourcing of logistics is not only about moving an activity from one firm to another. Owing to network interdependencies other activities and the links between these will be affected. Moreover, logistics outsourcing will impact on prevalent resource constellations and actor webs. In the analysis a particular emphasis is placed on the various roles of a logistics service provider and the interaction with the outsourcing company. The paper explores the variety of the roles of a logistics service provider and discusses these findings in relation to the approach of outsourcing firms.