Assessing efficiency and innovation in the 3PL industry: an empirical analysis |
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Authors: | Gino Marchet Marco Melacini Elena Tappia |
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Affiliation: | Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy |
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Abstract: | ABSTRACTThe Third-party Logistics (3PL) industry is facing both important growth rates and increasing competitive pressure. 3PL providers are required to continuously sustain a more and more competitive cost structure (i.e. efficiency) and develop capabilities to improve their services (i.e. innovation); hence, the evaluation of these key success factors is considered a key issue. This paper develops a quantitative analysis of 71 Italian 3PL providers by using Data Envelopment Analysis to jointly assess efficiency and innovation. Furthermore, through a case study research, it corroborates the quantitative results by investigating the strategies of best-in-class companies. Results allowed identifying 13 3PL providers as efficiency leaders and 6 as leaders from both the efficiency and the innovation side. Their input composition indicates a diversification of the business models. A breakdown of the analysis by size and industry focus, along with empirical evidence on the strategies enhancing efficiency and innovation, is also provided. |
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Keywords: | 3PL industry data envelopment analysis Malmquist Index case study innovation efficiency |
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