The Impact of New Logistic Trends in a Regional Context

• Transport demand demonstrates continuing shifts towards decreasing shipment size, increasing delivery frequency and speed and high quality services. In order to fulfil these demands, the transport service suppliers must have access to a good physical infrastructure, efficient distribution terminals, efficient load vehicles as well as qualified information (IT) systems. Especially small sized firms experience difficulties in incorporating modern information technique in their production and logistic systems. Large companies take advantage of having company owned forwarding agencies using modern EDI and GPS techniques etc. Due to economic as well as educational factors smaller firms are often reduced to using the know-how and facilities offered by a separate forwarder.The paper presents an analysis of the importance of firm size and adoption of new ideas of logistics. The investigation is carried out in a small Swedish region -the County of Jönköping. In a questionnaire survey the respondent firms, grouped according to the number of people employed, have answered questions about their experienced changes in the logistic variables shipment size, shipment frequency, delivery time, stock-keeping of intermediary goods, stock-keeping of finished products, and processing time. The paper reports on significant relationships between many of these variables and the size of firms. It is also shown that small affiliated firms to a larger extent are influenced by new logistic ideas than small, independent firms.; that small firms buy less forwarding services than larger ones, except for the largest companies; and that local presence of forwarding agencies seems to influence the small firms to in a larger extent adopt modern logistic ideas.The paper concludes by suggesting three measures to surmount some of the disadvantages of being a small enterprise: (i) By co-operating the firms can take advantage of their close localisation, i.e. their external economies of scale. (ii) Freight brokers and logistics village can help the firms to find efficient transport operation concepts. (iii) Local authorities can organise low and medium level courses in logistics and information technology. In the long run these efforts will raise the level of knowledge of the small and medium sized firms and strengthen their ability to take advantage of new logistic innovations.Keywords: regional development, logistics, small sized firms, new logistic trends.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Nationalekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Economics

Nationalekonomi

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