Ae. Ellinger et al., THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTEGRATED LOGISTICS AND CUSTOMER SERVICE, TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH PART E-LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION REVIEW, 33(2), 1997, pp. 129-138
Citations number
35
Categorie Soggetti
Transportation,"Operatione Research & Management Science",Transportation
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.