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Sources of competitiveness for logistics service providers: a UK industry perspective

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Logistics Research

Abstract

This paper empirically examines perceptions on the sources of competitiveness for logistics service providers (LSPs) drawing on two influential theories of strategic management, Porter’s competitive advantage theory and the resource-based view (RBV). In contrast to most previous studies of third-party logistics which have viewed the subject from the user’s perspective, this study investigates the perceptions of competitiveness primarily from the LSP’s point of view. It is based on questionnaire data which was collected from UK LSP managers. Standard statistical techniques were applied for the analysis. The empirical results reveal that capabilities are considered most important among the factors of competitiveness suggested by theory. The most critical aspect of an LSP’s capabilities was found to be the service quality capability. At a more theoretical level, the study adds new evidence on the relative explanatory power of the two theories of strategic management used: it indicates that the RBV is the more appropriate in the context given, suggesting that capabilities (i.e., endogenous factor) inside companies are more important in leading to an LSP’s competitiveness and need greater attention than the environmental factors.

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Notes

  1. Day [19] uses competitiveness rather than competitive advantage in his study. In fact, there is no special distinction between competitive advantage and competitiveness in many discussions.

  2. Nevertheless, α1 = 0.20 and α2 = 0.25 seem to be relatively high to be used as entry and removal levels. However, it will result in a better regression model as the adjusted R2 value with the three predictors is higher than the model with the two predictors. In addition, the constant is nearly zero as shown in the equation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a research scholarship provided by the School of Management and Languages at Heriot-Watt University, UK. The authors would like to thank the chairholder em. Business Logistics at Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany for his great help with the work. Thanks also to both referees and the editor for their useful comments on the revision of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business and Economics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Nuremberg, Germany

    Xiaohong Liu

  2. Logistics Research Centre, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK

    Alan C. McKinnon

  3. Logistics Institute, University of Hull, Kingston upon Hull, UK

    David B. Grant

  4. Department of Economics, University of Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany

    Yuanhua Feng

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  1. Xiaohong Liu
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Correspondence to Xiaohong Liu.

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Liu, X., McKinnon, A.C., Grant, D.B. et al. Sources of competitiveness for logistics service providers: a UK industry perspective. Logist. Res. 2, 23–32 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12159-010-0024-7

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