This research studies the relationship between car manufacturers (CM) and third party logistics providers (TPLP), also known as the logistics partnership, in the outbound delivery channel in the Malaysian automotive industry. It focuses specifically on the dyad perspective, and demonstrates that several critical success factors are required for a successful relationship between these two parties. Five such factors emanate from the operational dimension and eight from the relational dimension. The five operational factors are: logistics service performance, investment, information sharing, information technology and communication, and price of the logistics service; and the eight relational factors are: trust, commitment, power, conflict, dependency, co-operation, informal activity, and understanding. The study also reveals that five outcomes are identified that benefit both the CM and the TPLP as a result of the win-win situation accruing to both parties. These are: renewal of the contract, company profitability, improved logistics service performance, knowledge transfer, and company branding. Such benefits enhance the supply chain relationship, and knowledge of these advantages improves current TPLP theory by deepening the understanding of how logistics partnership can succeed. In order to obtain rich data concerning the CM-TPLP relationship, the researcher adopted a different methodology from that used by previous scholars, who have concentrated on quantitative techniques. In this study, multiple case studies (seven in total) in one industry, the automotive industry, in the non-western context of Malaysia, were conducted. Three main steps in the case study protocol were followed. The first involved a review of the literature pertaining to the themes that required further exploration, together with the development of the interview questions. In the second step, data were collected using semi-structured interviews, observations, document reviews, photographs and also archival records. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. The third stage involved exploring the data until it was found that nothing new was emerging from the interviews, and hence theoretical saturation had occurred. At this point the factors in question were confirmed, and the initial model revised. Additionally, confidentiality was maintained in all respects to protect the participating organisations and individuals. The findings contribute to the understanding of the CM-TPLP relationship which enhance supply chain relationship and TPLP theory, since they shed light on the operational and relational factors in one specific industry, from a dyadic perspective, and in a non-Western context, thereby adding new dimensions to the existing body of knowledge in this field. The findings benefit practitioners via the novel LPS (logistics partnership success) model generated by the researcher. This indicates the key contributory factors to the CM-TPLP relationship success. Moreover, the study may have the capacity to generalise to other culturally-similar environments.

逆物流(reverse logistics)代表了將使用過的產品從消費者手上收回、並將此資源重新在市場上再利用的一連串物流活動。其配送成本往往比正向物流高，對於回送之產品，在運送、儲存、處理、管理方面亦無規律通路，較正向供應鏈增加許多的複雜性和不確定性，企業往往選擇將逆向物流之活動外包給專業物流服務商。 / 對逆向物流服務商來說，既以營利為目標，便有營運範疇內法規、利潤、運輸成本、營運成之考量。過去逆向物流方面之研究主題，多以逆向供應鏈上的廠址設置為主，本研究針對同時具有多個處理廠的逆物流服務供應商進行探討，建立適合的營運模式，考慮多時期、多個逆物流處理廠、多種型態的退回商品，建立一數量決策模式，以逆物流服務商的最大營運利潤為目標，探討逆物流之下的最適合再生物料接受訂單數量、以及個別逆物流處理中心之最適合當期處理量，考慮可能因退回商品回收量之不確定性、處理產出比率的不確定性影響處理廠之中再生物料的實際產量。對於模式當中的不確定因子，本研究建構以情境為基礎的穩健最佳化之模式求得穩健解。 / Reverse logistics reflects a serial of activities including collecting return products from consumers, recycling, reusing, and reducing the amount of materials used. Implementing reverse logistics is complicated and costs more than forward logistics to a firm. Furthermore, there is not a regular way to handle those transportation, storage, processing and management process. In order to reduce cost and focus on core business, industries choose to outsource those processes to third-party reverse logistics provider. / Previous literatures used to focus on the topic of facility location allocation or designing the infrastructure of reverse logistics distribution channels. From a reverse logistics provider perspective, this research concerned about the operational profit of the reverse logistics service provider who has multiple collection sites and refurbishing processing facilities. This research attempts to maximum the net-profit and presents a multi-period, multiple processing facilities, and multi-type return products to optimize the solution of the quantity of processing return products in each refurbishing processing facilities and the quantity of used material ordered by industries. The formulation uses a scenario-based robust optimization approach to solve those uncertainty factors such as the volume of product collection, the usage rate of return product in this model.

台灣圖書出版業者為了增加競爭優勢、降低成本，將物流業務利用外包處理的方式已經相當普遍。為實現使用第三方物流業者之物流服務所帶來之效益，選擇適當的第三方物流公司作為合作夥伴是成功的關鍵之ㄧ，因此如何評選第三方物流公司，就顯得格外重要。 有鑒於圖書出版業者以往易根據供應商的印象或交情，抑或僅憑自己主觀的認定評選物流供應商，比較缺乏系統性的評選；又考量的因素往往難以完全獨立，為解決此一問題，本研究提供一第三方物流供應商評選方法，其包括： 1. 篩選第三方物流供應商評選指標；以及 2. 利用分析網路程序法（ANP）確立評選指標之相對權重。 在參考過去相關研究，並透過專家訪談，歸納出適用於圖書出版業對於第三方物流業者之評選指標，其分為服務品質、履約能力、服務品質、價格條件、資訊管理能力、經營績效五大構面以及17個評選指標；並利用ANP將評選指標之間的相依回饋關係納入考量，找出各指標的權重，以作為企業評選第三方物流業者之評選參考。 之後，本研究以使用第三方物流之圖書出版業者為實例進行說明。研究中發現，圖書出版業者間在評選第三方物流供應商時，所重視的指標會有所不同，業者會根據過去與物流供應商實際合作情況，回饋於選擇第三方物流供應商的系統中，修正評選指標，調整權重認定，以找到適合的物流供應商。以個案公司來說，於第三方物流供應商評選時，對於訂單履行準確性及準時將貨物送達顧客是最重要的考量因素，其反映個案公司過去與第三方物流供應商合作之經驗。 最後，本研究所提供之方法亦可提供決策者充分的資訊與系統化的思考，有利企業做為最終決策的參考。 / As book publishing firms are looking to increase competitiveness, strengthen core competencies and lower overall costs, outsourcing logistics to third party logistics (3PL) service providers have become common practice. To ensure the success and to maximize the benefits of such practice, the selection of the 3PL becomes particularly crucial. This study provides a comprehensive methodology to the selection of a 3PL provider, consisting of two parts: 1. Screening criteria to employ during the selection of a provider；and 2. Determining the relative importance of each screening criterion by the analytic network process (ANP) approach. A total of seventeen criteria have been identified by experts in the book publishing industry with respect to service quality, capabilities, price, information technology management and operational performance of the 3PL providers. As interdependencies exist between each criterion and cannot be captured by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), to solve such types of problems, this study utilizes ANP to determine the relative weighting in the selection of a 3PL provider. Thereafter, the application of ANP for the selection of a 3PL provider is demonstrated through an illustrative example. The result of the example provided indicates that the criteria of shipment error rates and on-time shipment and deliveries are the most important, and this reflects the influence of the experiences from past cooperation between the case company and 3PL providers. This approach also enables the decision-makers to better understand the complex relationship between the relevant attributes during the decision-making process, which may subsequently improve the outcome of the decision.