National Institute for Transport and Logistics 2006-0101 Techonology Usage in the Supply Chain : the Case of Small 3 PLs

Purpose In today’s supply chain management (SCM) practice s, a successful strategy depends increasingly on the performance of Third Party Logi stics (3PL) providers as they play a key integrative role linking the different supply chain elements more effectively. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has become an impor tant element of 3PL competitive capability as it enables higher levels of supply ch ain integration. Recent industry developments have widened the technological gap between large an d small 3PLs. This is critical particularly for those markets populated by a large number of small 3PLs such as the Italian logistics industry. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of ICT adoption in small logistics service providers. The focus of the study is the Italian 3PL market. Design/methodology/approach The methodology adopted in this paper is based o n the action research framework and it is a combination of theor etical analysis and empirical findings (focus groups and surveys). Firstly, a literature review o n ICT dissemination in the international and Italia n 3PL industry has been carried out. Then, a field su rvey has been developed preceded by two focus groups. The empirical investigation examined a samp le of 153 small Italian 3PLs on the base of a definition and taxonomy proposed by the authors. Findings The results provide a useful technological profil e of the surveyed companies, as well as an analysis of the role of ICT in customising servi ces and of the factors influencing ICT adoption. Research limitations/implications To give a more robust scientific justification o f the survey results it would be useful to carry out an addition al large scale analysis including other countries with a high presence of small logistics service com panies. Furthermore, a complementary case study analysis would be of help in defining the rol e f specific factors in different types of 3PL. Given the importance of small logistics providers i n contemporary supply chain configurations, the main implication from a research point of view is t hat further investigations in this field are needed to better understand innovation paths, and how ICT can improve the competitive capabilities of 3PLs and of the wider supply chain. Practical implications The practical implications deriving from this pa per are twofold. Firstly, managers of small 3PLs can use findings to set up g idelines for improving a company’s technology innovation. Technology vendors can use f indings to better market their service/product into the small logistics service provider segment.