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Warehousing remains the most frequently outsourced logistics activity, but empirical research on the third‐party selection process for warehousing remains scarce. The main goals of this research were to identify the most critical factors to customers during third‐party warehousing selection and to compare the perceived performance levels of national and regional third‐party firms on each of the selection criteria. Surveys were sent to warehousing customers in several industries. Responsiveness to service needs, quality of management, and track record of ethical importance were rated by customers as the most important selection criteria. Results indicate that respondents also rated the performance of the typical regional third‐party warehousing firm as significantly better than national firms on six different criteria while national firms were rated significantly higher on only one criterion. It is hoped that this research can provide guidance to logistics managers as they evaluate third‐party warehousing options.

Provides a comparison of third‐party logistics services utilization between large manufacturing firms in the USA and Western Europe. All these firms had been utilizing third‐party providers for at least three years, although many had been doing so for five years or longer. The group of Western European firms is more committed to outsourcing, as evidenced by the substantially greater percentage of their total corporate logistics budget allocated to third‐party firms. The strategic decision to utilize third‐party companies is more often made at the corporate level and includes input more frequently from other functional areas in Western European firms. However, many of the findings indicate that the issues faced by both groups of executives are very similar, such as their reservations to outsourcing and their experiences with implementation. Almost all the executives indicated that they are satisfied with the performance of third‐party providers, and would, at least moderately, increase their use of such firms.

Focusses on three constructs that we believe are the primary determinants of the future usage of third party logistics services. These constructs are: extent of use of the third party logistics services; decision making process for choosing contract logistics services provider; and impact of the usage of contract logistics services on the organisation. An empirical research was carried out in Singapore to study the impact of these three factors on the future usage of third party logistics services in Singapore. Results based on an analysis of data relating to 126 Singapore‐based firms indicate that most users of these services are satisfied with their providers and believe that this has led to positive developments within the organisation. With a high current level of satisfaction, a large number of these firms are likely to increase their usage of contract logistics services moderately or substantially.

The purpose of this article was to identify the steps that need to be taken when choosing an effective third party logistics provider. Based on the research completed, it was determined that third party logistics are beneficial to many companies. The use of third party logistics provides a competitive advantage in today’s business world. The optimal solution for a company choosing a third party logistic provider would be a five‐step process.

Outsourcing of logistics services has increased rapidly during the last few years. Accordingly, third‐party logistics and supply chain management as a research phenomenon has gained increased attention from academia. However, a strategic view focusing on the relationship between supply chain management and third‐party logistics service strategies has gained little attention. This paper focuses on alternative supply chain strategies and their relationship to different types of third‐party logistics services. A normative framework for organizing these relationships is developed. The strategic view adopted in this paper fills a gap in the understanding of how third‐party logistics providers should offer their services more effectively and efficiently to different types of supply chains.

To carry out a comprehensive survey on 3PL practices in India and to establish the impact of usage of third party logistics services on business results.

Begins by analysing the studies carried out on 3PL practices and establishing a research framework. The input variables to the research framework depict the organization‐specific characteristics, such as the extent of usage of 3PL services, the reasons for outsourcing and the impact of the usage of 3PL services. The output function of future usage of 3PL services is influenced by the three input variables. Data collected through survey questionnaire on the input and output variables are used to establish impact of usage of 3PL services on business performance through statistical analysis.

The usage of 3PL services reveals positive and significant impact on business performance though 3PL practices are still at a nascent stage in India. Additionally, results clearly indicate that significant increase in outsourcing has been planned across all activities of the logistics function in the next 2‐5 years.

Further research work should focus on managing 3PL relationships; selection and contract management of 3PL service providers for building collaborative supply chain partnerships; and identifying critical success factors for 3PL implementation and establishing performance measures for long‐term 3PL relationships.

Detailed study to motivate supply chain managers to outsource and use 3PL services to focus on the core business, drive logistics cost reduction, and improve supply chain efficiency. These indicators should also help the 3PL service providers plan the depth and scope of their service offerings to user organizations in India.

The paper contributes to the current 3PL and supply chain practices and the emerging trends in 3PL services for achieving improved business results and supply chain efficiencies.

This paper provides a comparison of users and providers of third‐party logistics (3PL) services with respect to relationship marketing elements, such as trust and communication, as well as relationship marketing outcomes, such as retention and recovery.

Constructs for the relationship marketing elements and outcomes were derived from the extant literature and modified to reflect the nature of 3PL arrangements. The relevant data were collected from separate, but consistent, mail surveys that were sent to users of 3PL services as well as providers of 3PL services.

The results indicate statistically significant differences between 3PL users and providers across eight of nine relationship marketing elements, with the lone non‐significant comparison involving the communication construct. There are also statistically significant differences between 3PL users and providers for each of the four relationship marketing outcomes.

Although the present study utilized previously validated relationship marketing elements and outcomes, future research could examine other relationship marketing elements and outcomes. Future research could also investigate relationship marketing issues through dyads/matched pairs of 3PL users and providers.

This manuscript examines 3PL with respect to theories and/or frameworks that comes from outside the logistics discipline, an approach advocated by Stock. Moreover, the paper adds to Moore's 3PL/relationship marketing research by investigating relationship elements and outcomes. The current paper adds to the rather limited literature that incorporates both 3PL user and provider perspectives.

Outsourcing of logistics has become a key element of corporate strategy in a growing number of firms. For a variety of reasons, the market for these services is expanding rapidly. Represents the first phase of a triangulated research design formulated to investigate empirically the buying and selling of third‐party logistics services in the USA. A focus group, composed of senior managers personally involved in the evaluation and/or purchase of third‐party logistics services, was convened to explore buyer attitudes and generate concepts related to the contract logistics market. The study investigated the definition of third‐party logistics from the buyer’s perspective, the pros and cons of contract logistics, the necessary attributes of services and suppliers, the impetus for logistics outsourcing and the methods employed to select suppliers. Findings from the research are presented as five propositions.

The selection of third‐party logistics providers is an intriguing practical and research question. With the development and advancement of reverse logistics concepts and practice, the selection of partners for the specific function of reverse logistics support becomes more important. This paper is one of the first to address this issue. The factors that play an important role in selecting a third‐party reverse logistics provider; such as a focus on end‐of‐life product organizational roles (e.g. recycling, reuse, etc.), differ from some traditional factors for supplier selection. How these new factors can be included for the selection of a partner is modeled within a decision‐making framework.

This paper aims to derive and verify a collaborative framework that specifies the role of different parties in contemporary logistics setups.

To prepare this paper, a study of the logistics literature has been conducted together with several case studies. The empirical evidence has been collected in Europe as well as in the USA. Different aspects of collaboration between organizations in logistics setups have been studied where the services and the activities have been analyzed to understand the characteristics of the role of third‐party service providers.

The results from the work cluster the different third‐party service providers in three different groups: carriers, logistics service providers (LSPs) and logistics service intermediaries (LSIs). All of these parties have different roles and provide various services in outsourced logistics setups. A collaborative logistics management (CLM) model has been derived that embraces the role of the different parties, the information and material flows between them, the interface attributes and the information systems architecture. In this paper, a focus is mainly on the part of the model that reveals the role of the third‐party service providers.

The practical implications of the work has its foundation in that activities, performed by two parties, can be adapted to each other so that their combined efficiency is improved. The CLM model can be applied when designing and negotiating third‐party services for specific logistics assignments.

The paper offers a model of logistics collaboration between the different parties in contemporary, outsourced logistics setups.