Collaborative purchasing of logistics services at the Wanxingda Group
(2012) MTT820 20112Engineering Logistics
- Abstract
- Background: Logistics and distribution of sold goods have traditionally been individually handled by each company in the Wanxingda Group with minimal coordination on group level. The strong relationships between the companies within the group and their close geographical proximity to each other indicate that there might exist potential for closer collaboration in this area. Furthermore, many of the adverse factors facing other cooperation initiatives spanning independent organizations might not be as prevalent in this case. Horizontal cooperation on logistics activities is a rather immature field compared to for example supply chain management. Research that span all three fields of logistics, collaboration and procurement are even... (More)
- Background: Logistics and distribution of sold goods have traditionally been individually handled by each company in the Wanxingda Group with minimal coordination on group level. The strong relationships between the companies within the group and their close geographical proximity to each other indicate that there might exist potential for closer collaboration in this area. Furthermore, many of the adverse factors facing other cooperation initiatives spanning independent organizations might not be as prevalent in this case. Horizontal cooperation on logistics activities is a rather immature field compared to for example supply chain management. Research that span all three fields of logistics, collaboration and procurement are even scarcer, making this topic even more interesting.
Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether it is possible for the Wanxingda Group to lower their distribution costs by working together when purchasing logistics services. Also, how any monetary benefit resulting from this kind of initiative is best shared between the companies involved is central to this study.
Method: First, a literature survey was conducted to provide a solid theoretical foundation for the study and then a framework was developed for how to best approach an improvement project of this kind. A normative professional study with both a qualitative and a quantitative part was then carried out. It involved a pre-study with a series of open interviews to determine the scope of the thesis after which transportation data and costs were analyzed to create a Request for Quotation (RfQ). This RfQ was distributed to a set of local Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) and the analysis of the response constituted the bulk of the quantitative part. To better understand the attitude towards collaborating within the Wanxingda Group and find the, for them, most suitable form of cooperation a questionnaire was designed and handed out to each company’s senior management. This completed the qualitative part of the study and also provided material for the final discussion.
Conclusions: There is definitely potential to reduce costs through increased collaboration, but the logistics market and its actors are currently not mature enough to support a scheme based solely on purchasing activities. This result has led to a discussion of the Wanxingda Group’s specific situation and other alternatives, all presented and discussed in this report. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/3470113
- author
- Majtorp, Johan LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Gemensam upphandling av logistiktjänster inom Wanxingda-koncernen
- course
- MTT820 20112
- year
- 2012
- type
- M1 - University Diploma
- subject
- keywords
- Logistics, services, collaborative, purchasing, sourcing, horizontal, cooperation, ChinaLogistik, tjänster, kollaborativ, upphandling, inköp, horisontellt, samarbete, Kina
- other publication id
- 5742
- language
- English
- id
- 3470113
- date added to LUP
- 2013-02-18 12:57:40
- date last changed
- 2013-02-18 12:57:40
@misc{3470113,
abstract = {{Background: Logistics and distribution of sold goods have traditionally been individually handled by each company in the Wanxingda Group with minimal coordination on group level. The strong relationships between the companies within the group and their close geographical proximity to each other indicate that there might exist potential for closer collaboration in this area. Furthermore, many of the adverse factors facing other cooperation initiatives spanning independent organizations might not be as prevalent in this case. Horizontal cooperation on logistics activities is a rather immature field compared to for example supply chain management. Research that span all three fields of logistics, collaboration and procurement are even scarcer, making this topic even more interesting.
Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether it is possible for the Wanxingda Group to lower their distribution costs by working together when purchasing logistics services. Also, how any monetary benefit resulting from this kind of initiative is best shared between the companies involved is central to this study.
Method: First, a literature survey was conducted to provide a solid theoretical foundation for the study and then a framework was developed for how to best approach an improvement project of this kind. A normative professional study with both a qualitative and a quantitative part was then carried out. It involved a pre-study with a series of open interviews to determine the scope of the thesis after which transportation data and costs were analyzed to create a Request for Quotation (RfQ). This RfQ was distributed to a set of local Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) and the analysis of the response constituted the bulk of the quantitative part. To better understand the attitude towards collaborating within the Wanxingda Group and find the, for them, most suitable form of cooperation a questionnaire was designed and handed out to each company’s senior management. This completed the qualitative part of the study and also provided material for the final discussion.
Conclusions: There is definitely potential to reduce costs through increased collaboration, but the logistics market and its actors are currently not mature enough to support a scheme based solely on purchasing activities. This result has led to a discussion of the Wanxingda Group’s specific situation and other alternatives, all presented and discussed in this report.}},
author = {{Majtorp, Johan}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Collaborative purchasing of logistics services at the Wanxingda Group}},
year = {{2012}},
}