Essays on the globalization of supply chains and the financial drivers of logistics outsourcing.

摘要

This thesis studies three particular aspects of global operations including modeling of firm operational structure as they grow, the requirements of an agile international supply chain, and the drivers and effects of logistics outsourcing on firms.; Essay 1. Current research argues that more detailed models of firm internationalization should be researched that allow for dynamic changes. This essay develops a model for testing a firm's supply chain dynamics. The model includes four key variables: global supply chain structure, global operating strategy, information technology (IT) capability, and global experience. The model is tested using survey data. Of specific interest is the fact that data was gathered by surveying all US owned firms in Europe were surveyed for this research. Onsite surveys of 14 companies were conducted before and after the main survey mailing.; Confirmatory factor analysis of the constructs is also performed in this essay. These results are used to provide a structural equation model (SEQ) detailing the dynamic changes in a firm's operations structure between small, medium and large firms. This model is extended using other SEQ techniques to identify additional differences between firms of differing sizes. A final extension is made of the impact on IT on operations outsourcing.; Essay 2. The on-site surveys performed in the previous essay discovered distinct differences in the ways firms handle their international logistics operations. These tradeoffs between flexibility and uncertainty are detailed in this essay. They are compared to the literature on agile manufacturing firms, showing that in the international realm, the traditional agility literature should be adapted.; Essay 3. Results from essays 1 and 2 show that firms of different sizes have different operational characteristics. Specifically, smaller firms are less likely to outsource portions of their supply chain. On the other hand, larger firms are not likely to outsource "cleanly" but retain some control over their outsourcing partners. Essay 3 studies the financial characteristics of over seventy firms that have outsourced their logistics.