The subject of the submitted thesis is analysis of the present state of forwarding in a manufacturing-oriented firm and a concept of reduction in logistics costs by implementation of system just-in time or outsourcing.

This research explains the role of aligned inter-firm performance measures as a predictor of success in of contractual alliances. Contractual alliances, a popular type of inter-firm relations, are also known as non-equity alliances and often display conflicting objectives in their contractual agreements. This research proposes that the assessment of contractual alliances performance must go beyond the contract’s ability to deliver to its internal performance targets or service level agreements (SLA). The success of contractual alliances lies in the alliance’s capability to contribute to the specific performance objectives of the firms involved as well as to fulfil its internal SLAs. This capability is called alignment and the results of this research show that is critical to the success of inter-firm relationships. The data for the research was gathered from outsourcing contracts between a logistics service provider and 149 users. Each contract includes its SLAs and two years of actual performance measures. The research design considers the firms’ financial measures as a proxy for their performance objectives during the same period of time. The alignment construct was operationalised by creating an inter-firm alignment (IFA) coefficient calculated with mathematical techniques to assess multi-dimensional fit amongst constructs. The three dimensions included in the IFA coefficient are i) alignment of contract’s SLAs and actual performance values, ii) alignment of contract’s SLAs and provider’s performance objectives, and iii) alignment of contract’s SLAs and user’s performance objectives. Success of contractual alliances was operationalised using known measures from the inter-firm management literature, such as longevity, stability, formality and relative profitability of the relationship. Information for all determinants was available in the 149 contracts. The quantitative correlations were specified and calculated using structural equation models (SEM). The results show that aligned inter-firm performance measures are a strong predictor of contractual alliance success. The empirical model supports the positive correlation of longevity and formality as measures of contractual alliance success, as stated in extant literature. The findings dispute the expected positive correlation between formality and stability with alliance success as described in the alliance literature. The results confirm the positive role of renegotiations as stated in the organization learning literature. Additional in-depth interviews were conducted with relationship managers, during the pilot study. The qualitative results support the quantitative findings. This research contributes to theory by: a) conceptualising and measuring the concept alignment to inter-firm performance measures; b) estimating the contribution of relation-specific measures to contractual alliance success, and c) introducing alignment of inter-firm performance measures as a predictor of contractual alliance success. The research and its results fill a substantive gap in managing contractual alliances. It provides the outsourcing industry with a tool that predicts the likelihood of relationship survival based on the degree of alignment of the inter-firm’s performance measures. The quantitative methods employed in the research extend the use of current techniques for assessing ‘fit’ in the strategy literature, into the field of performance measurement systems.

This research explains the role of aligned inter-firm performance measures as a predictor of success in of contractual alliances. Contractual alliances, a popular type of inter-firm relations, are also known as non-equity alliances and often display conflicting objectives in their contractual agreements. This research proposes that the assessment of contractual alliances performance must go beyond the contract’s ability to deliver to its internal performance targets or service level agreements (SLA). The success of contractual alliances lies in the alliance’s capability to contribute to the specific performance objectives of the firms involved as well as to fulfil its internal SLAs. This capability is called alignment and the results of this research show that is critical to the success of inter-firm relationships. The data for the research was gathered from outsourcing contracts between a logistics service provider and 149 users. Each contract includes its SLAs and two years of actual performance measures. The research design considers the firms’ financial measures as a proxy for their performance objectives during the same period of time. The alignment construct was operationalised by creating an inter-firm alignment (IFA) coefficient calculated with mathematical techniques to assess multi-dimensional fit amongst constructs. The three dimensions included in the IFA coefficient are i) alignment of contract’s SLAs and actual performance values, ii) alignment of contract’s SLAs and provider’s performance objectives, and iii) alignment of contract’s SLAs and user’s performance objectives. Success of contractual alliances was operationalised using known measures from the inter-firm management literature, such as longevity, stability, formality and relative profitability of the relationship. Information for all determinants was available in the 149 contracts. The quantitative correlations were specified and calculated using structural equation models (SEM). The results show that aligned inter-firm performance measures are a strong predictor of contractual alliance success. The empirical model supports the positive correlation of longevity and formality as measures of contractual alliance success, as stated in extant literature. The findings dispute the expected positive correlation between formality and stability with alliance success as described in the alliance literature. The results confirm the positive role of renegotiations as stated in the organization learning literature. Additional in-depth interviews were conducted with relationship managers, during the pilot study. The qualitative results support the quantitative findings. This research contributes to theory by: a) conceptualising and measuring the concept alignment to inter-firm performance measures; b) estimating the contribution of relation-specific measures to contractual alliance success, and c) introducing alignment of inter-firm performance measures as a predictor of contractual alliance success. The research and its results fill a substantive gap in managing contractual alliances. It provides the outsourcing industry with a tool that predicts the likelihood of relationship survival based on the degree of alignment of the inter-firm’s performance measures. The quantitative methods employed in the research extend the use of current techniques for assessing ‘fit’ in the strategy literature, into the field of performance measurement systems.

The objective of this thesis is to analyze logistics processes of company Verana, s.r.o. both from the cost and feasibility perspective and using this analysis, the thesis investigates the possibility of outsourcing logistics by using a third party, that is a logistics company. Both advantages and disadvantages are addressed and compared to the current state of logistics system in the company.

在全球化競爭的條件之下，企業之專業分工漸趨精細，企業為了發展自己本身的核心能力，選擇將非核心能力委外給專業的第三方，以求獲得更佳的服務品質且為企業減少成本支出。其中物流相關費用占企業營運費用約5%~35%，物流在整體企業營運扮演重要角色，近年來供應鏈管理的興起，企業更加重視與上下游廠商間協調關係，物流管理受到重視，物流關係到整體供應鏈的穩定度，因此在選擇物流委外供應商時，企業需審慎的評估供應商各方面的能力，以選出最適物流委外供應商。 　　過去評選物流委外供應商，多數藉由專家主觀判斷，本研究提出一套完整的物流委外供應商評選模式，以客觀的角度評選物流委外供應商。過去文獻中多數假設評估準則間關係獨立，此假設與現實狀況不符，評估準則通常存在相互關聯。企業在評選過程中，針對特定評選準則會有限定標準，若單以績效值評估，不符企業之需求，本研究將其納入考量，建立出更加完整的物流委外供應商評選模式。此評選模式可給予參與評選之候選廠商改善建議，為雙方建立良好的關係，創造雙贏的局面。 　　本研究透過決策實驗室法建立指標之網路關係，以網路程序分析法計算指標之權重，於評分處理部份，針對企業特定評選指標，透過田口品質損失函數轉換成與目標之損失值，最後藉由VIKOR排序法評選出最佳物流委外供應商。受限於成本考量，本研究透過系統動態學模擬運送情形，藉由所獲得之營運資料驗證此評選模式。 / Under the global competitive conditions, enterprises become more sophisticated division of labor. Enterprises want to develop their own core competencies. Enterprises choose to outsource non-core capabilities to third-party professional,because of better service quality and reducing costs for enterprises. In recent years, enterprises pay more attention to coordination with the relationship between upstream and downstream firms. The logistics in the overall business operations play an important role. Therefore, in the choice of logistics outsourcing providers, enterprises evaluate all aspects of supplier's abilities to select the most suitable supplier of logistics outsourcing. 　　This study provides a complete model to evaluate logistic service providers. Enterprises in the selection process, selection criteria will be qualified for a particular standard. Selection criteria usually have interrelationship. Under the condition, this study use DEMATEL and ANP to create criteria relationship and compute criteria weights. Taguchi loss function is used to calculate some criteria loss value, which is the distance between enterprise’s target values. Finally, VIKOR combines loss value with performance value to select the best logistics service providers. These models also give candidates some suggestions to improve their performance.