Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) evaluation and selection: Literature review and framework development
Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal
ISSN: 1753-8297
Article publication date: 16 February 2015
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight to the outsourcing decision-making through investigating if the old evaluation/selection criteria and methods still fit with current business priorities or not and, therefore, to identify the appropriate criteria and methods to develop a new selection framework. Since the economic recession of 2008, logistics outsourcing decisions have become more prominent to avoid high fixed costs and heavy investment requirements and to achieve competitive advantages.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a focused literature review prepared after analyzing 56 articles related to the logistics service provider (LSP) evaluation and selection methods and criteria during 2008-2013. The academic articles are analyzed based on research focus/area, evaluation and selection methodology/methods and evaluation and selection criteria. Then reviewed result is compared with previous literature studies for the periods (1991-2008) to identify any possible shifts.
Findings
The review reveals that: several problems in current LSPs literature have been identified; the reviewed papers can be categorized into seven groups, the usage and importance of evaluation and selection criteria fluctuate during different periods; 12 crucial criteria have been identified, increasing the importance of specific selection methods and the integrated models and fuzzy logic in logistics literature. Then, a comprehensive LSPs’ evaluation and selection framework has been developed.
Originality/value
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first focused logistics outsourcing study that reviews the 2008-2013 period in detail, comparing results with previous literature studies, identifies current LSPs literature problems/gaps, new trends and shifts in the way that LSPs are evaluated and selected, identifies crucial selection criteria and proposes a new holistic LSPs evaluation and selection framework. In addition, it identifies important issues for future research.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study is supported by Yarmouk University. The authors acknowledge the contribution of anonymous reviewers and thank them for their valuable comments and constructive suggestions to improve the manuscript.
Citation
Alkhatib, S.F., Darlington, R. and Nguyen, T.T. (2015), "Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) evaluation and selection: Literature review and framework development", Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 102-134. https://doi.org/10.1108/SO-12-2014-0028
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited