Logistics capabilities

The second limitation is differences due mostly to geography and takes the form of infrastructure disparities. Infrastmcture is the network capability, along with logistics capabilities in the regions where the companies are located. In this context, a company in a country with a strong infrastructure may have to deal with partners in have-not areas with weak infrastructures. 

Ma SH, Shen W (2007) A planning model and analysis for logistics capability in a multistage supply chain. Chin J Manag Sci 15(4) 83-88... 

Shen W, Ma SH (2007) A scheduling model for logistics capability in a time-based multistage supply chain. Oper Res Manag Sci 16(3) 20-25... 

It follows that the company needs to build a set of logistics capabilities to respond to the external and internal drivers, discussed above. As shown in Fig. 5.3, the four first tier capabilities are warehousing, transportation, packaging, and managing customers. The cluster of capabilities, labeled managing customers refers to external drivers, whereas the other three clusters labeled warehousing , transportation , and packaging , are related to the internal drivers. 

Let us turn to an industrial marketing example to illustrate how new segments can impact on logistics capability. 

Inspired by the Japanese version of supply relationships with partners, outlined in the introduction to this chapter under Sako s obligationaT description. Western auto manufacturers have been developing their own versions. The model for these has been the keiretsu structure shown in Figure 9.6 below, which is similar to the structure we showed in Figure 1.2. A number of lead suppliers like Robert Bosch and Delphi supply to their customers worldwide and have developed sophisticated marketing, development and logistics capabilities. 

Tier 1 basic suppliers with in-house design capability and project management capability who can ensure timely delivery and reasonable quality reliability (25 ppm). An example would be a tyre manufacturer who holds 4-5 days stock and who delivers to set time windows that is, limited logistics capability. 

---