A Comparative Study of Third-Party Logistics in Mainland China and Hong Kong

摘要

The last decade has witnessed dynamic changes in business logistics requirements. However, firms, or logistics users, often lack the competence to operate logistics activities internally while facing increased global competition and higher customer expectations; thus an increasing number of companies are outsourcing their logistics activities to third-party logistics (3PL) firms so that they can concentrate on their core competencies (Sanders et al. 2007; Vaidyanathan 2005) and achieve competitive advantages by providing customers with superior services (Arroyo et al. 2006; Sum and Teo 1999). In particular, developing countries, such as China, India, and Mexico, have seen the emergence of 3PL outsourcing (Wang et al. 2006). As the largest emerging economy in the world (Zhao et al. 2006), China has become a global manufacturing center with its rapid economic boost of a nearly 10 percent annual GDP growth in the last decade (National Bureau of Statistics 2007). To take advantage of its immense market potential and low-cost labor, multinational and transnational enterprises have moved their production into China.