Third-Party Logistics Providers in the Digital Age: Towards a New Competitive Arena?

Erik Hofmann and Florin Osterwalder
Additional contact information
Erik Hofmann: Chair of Logistics Management, University of St.Gallen, Dufourstrasse 40a, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland
Florin Osterwalder: Lampe & Schwartze KG Marine Underwriting, Herrlichkeit 5-6, 28199 Bremen, Germany

Logistics, 2017, vol. 1, issue 2, 1-28

Abstract: This paper looks at the impact of digitalization on third-party logistics (3PL) business models. An eclectic framework for the analysis of digital disruptions in service industries is elaborated by linking Porter’s five forces to insights from research on digitalization and innovation. Applying this framework to the business field of 3PL reveals that logistics service providers face significant digital hardship from new technologies such as autonomous vehicles and 3D printing as well as from platform-based business models and the sharing economy. We see the following changes in the competitive arena: First, 3PLs focusing on standard services may lose significant market share in the near future. Second, management-related 3PL activities seem to be increasingly offered by new external competitors, which may downgrade 3PLs to simple forwarders. Third, digitalization enables the forward or backward integration of 3PL customers and suppliers when they establish their own services. In addition to its threats, the opportunities of digitalization for 3PLs are discussed. These include the customization of standardized logistics services, the provision of cloud logistics services, platform-based asset and logistics infrastructure sharing, the “physical internet” as a future transportation system and the adoption and integration of 3D printing into existing 3PL business models.

Keywords: third-party logistics (3PL); logistics; digital disruptions; industrial economics; e-business; digitization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L8 L80 L81 L86 L87 L9 L90 L91 L92 L93 L98 L99 M1 M10 M11 M16 M19 R4 R40 R41 R49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/1/2/9/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/1/2/9/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlogis:v:1:y:2017:i:2:p:9-:d:117611

Access Statistics for this article

Logistics is currently edited by Ms. Mavis Li

More articles in Logistics from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().