THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTEGRATED LOGISTICS AND CUSTOMER SERVICE

Buyers' expectations regarding customer service have increased dramati cally in recent years. Requests for tailored or customized service oft en represent standard business practice today. Survey research was und ertaken to examine: (1) how well firms are doing in responding to cust omers' requests and (2) whether a proposed linkage between integrated logistics and customer service could be documented. More specifically, the research sought to determine whether firms that have implemented the integrated logistics concept can more easily accommodate customer requests. The results provide an indication of the respondent firms' r elative abilities in the eight customer service areas examined. Furthe r, strong support was found for a linkage between integration and cust omer service. Logistics executives at integrated firms reported signif icantly greater ease in accommodating service requests than the execut ives at non-integrated firms. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.