An Empirical Study on the Use of Third Party Logistics in Korean Companies

물류산업 합리화와 제3자 로지스틱스 이용 결정요인분석

Over the past decades the concept of Third-Party Logistics(TPL) has generated considerable interest in American and European industries. It involves outsourcing logistics activities that have traditionally been performed within an organization. The functions performed by the third-party logistics can encompass the entire logistics process or, more commonly, selected activities with that process. Increasing corporate emphasis on such concepts as reengineering and supply chain management has led many companies to consider the use of such third-party logistics. This study examines the possibility of applying existing American research of the third-party logistics to Korean companies and investigates the criteria for the use of third-party logistics in Korea. To design the model and generate the hypotheses, this study conducted a comprehensive literature survey on the third-party logistics. To test the hypotheses, this study collected data from 229 companies from the public companies in Korea through a questionnaire survey and conducted descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis using the SPSS for Windows Ver. 7.5 package. This study is hoped that it may contribute to the understanding and introducing of the third-party logistics in the fields of the firms. But there were some restrictions that the respondents were not covered all kinds of firms. These and other major findings from this study imply that existing American studies may be applicable the Korean companies and that this study may complement the deficiencies of the existing studies. Thus, the summary of the literature review, the research model and hypotheses, and empirical findings in this study will provide useful ideas for future research and deep insights for successful logistics management.