The logistics industry today is characterized by heterogeneous customers with different needs. As a result, logistics operators need to adapt their operations, and thus their revenue model and contract with them, according to customer needs. The question that then arises, however, is what these customer needs are and how they differ between customers. The purpose of this study is to determine which are the crucial customer needs when creating contracts between food operators and 3PLs. Something that can be the basis for more efficient contracts between the parties and reduce information asymmetry between the parties. To achieve this research question, a literature review has been conducted, discussions with 3PLs have been held and an adaptive conjoint analysis has been conducted where food operators in the Swedish market have answered an advanced questionnaire study. The results of this study indicate that the length of a contract has a significant impact on the financier (customer). It turns out that financiers active in temperature-controlled products (freezers and refrigerators) value short contract durations with fixed prices for all services offered by the 3PL. This is in comparison with colonial-oriented producers who tend to value contracts with lock-in periods of up to three years where all prices invoiced by the 3PL are index-based. The results show that the surveyed industry is in line with previous studies arguing for a high heterogeneity. However, the reason behind all results is not investigated in this study and thus left for future research. There is no indication that the previous research on the correlation between e-commerce and heterogeneity in logistics is disproved. With the help of the digital analysis tool Lighthouse Studio provided by Sawtooth, a dominant contract combination has been identified. The study has extended the existing research in logistics and contract creation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:bth-26600 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Strandberg, Joar, Ahlin, Daniel |
| Publisher | Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för industriell ekonomi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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