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The purpose of this research is to first explore various third party logistic service provider supply chain enablers. Thereafter the interrelationship amongst the various supply chain enablers has been studied using ISM Methodology. Despite the complex relationships third party logistic service providers (3PLs) share with their clients or firms, they often attract a demand owing to the flexibility and competitive edge they provide to their client firms in adapting to the rapidly changing market conditions, focusing on their core competencies and developing long-term growth strategies for them. Choosing and evaluating the right third-party logistic service provider is an important responsibility for logistic managers. This largely depends on selecting appropriate 3PLs supply chain enablers that assess the 3PLs on different fronts.

This paper presents an ISM approach for studying the interrelationships between various 3PLs enablers and accordingly constructing a hierarchical structure of them.

The results suggest that delivery, service reliability and risk and uncertainty factors have the highest importance.

Selection of the 3PLs is a critical issue when they are required to be selected by the company at the global level. This often requires doing a comparative study for both domestic as well as global service providers. Choosing appropriate supply chain enablers as the basis for selection of 3PLs therefore will serve as a research topic to be further explored both by researchers as well as company managers. Further studying the inter-relationships amongst various supply chain enablers will provide basis to managers to justify their choice.

The novelty of the research lies in the application of methodology to the case of third-party logistic service provider selection

This study aims to empirically examine a model of the halal logistic services, its impact on manufacturers’ trust and satisfaction.

This study was conducted through survey questionnaires after an extensive review of the literature. A total of 564 samples of the questionnaire were distributed to logistics management representatives of halal manufacturing companies in Malaysia. This survey was carried out to measure the respondents’ perception of halal manufacturers’ satisfaction with third-party logistic (3PL) service providers in Malaysia. The instruments/survey incorporate halal assurance services, halal service diversity and halal service procedure as the antecedents of halal manufacturers’ trust and satisfaction.

The findings indicate that halal assurance services and halal service procedure are positively associated with manufacturers’ trust and satisfaction, while halal service diversity is not associated with it. The study also shows that manufacturers’ attitude play a mediator role between the halal logistic service and manufacturers’ satisfaction.

The study provides useful information in understanding the importance of halal logistic services and more particularly aims at facilitating 3PL service providers to offer halal logistic services quality that suits the manufacturers’ needs.

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.

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.

Focal service providers increasingly involve customers in the decision-making about outsourcing parts of the service delivery process to third parties. The present study investigates how customers' outsourcing decisions affect the formation of the waiting experience with the focal service provider, by which the objective waiting time, environmental quality and interactional quality act as focal drivers.

To test our hypotheses in the context of cancer care, we gathered process data and experience data by means of a patient observation template (n = 640) and a patient survey (n = 487). The combined data (n = 377) were analyzed using Bayesian models.

This study shows that opting for a service triad (i.e. outsourcing non-core services to a third party) deduces customers' attention away from the objective waiting time with the focal service provider but not from the environmental and interactional quality offered by the focal service provider. When the type of service triad coordination is considered, we observe similar effects for a focal service provider-coordinated service triad while in a customer-coordinated service triad the interactional quality is the sole experience driver of waiting experiences that remains significant.

By investigating the implications of customer participation in the decision-making about outsourcing parts of the service delivery process to third parties, this research contributes to the service design, service triad and service operations literature. Specifically, this study shows that customer outsourcing decisions impact waiting experience formation with the focal service provider.

The objective of this paper is to propose a model for assessing the quality of service at various interfaces of supply chain using third party logistics.

Based on a rich combination of extensive literature review and insights gained through exploratory interviews, gap analysis methodology is used in developing the model. This was followed by an in‐depth analysis of gaps at various interfaces in supply chain. Further, both qualitative and quantitative techniques are suggested for data collection and analysis.

The key gaps in both the directions (forward and reverse) that are likely to affect the service quality at different levels are extensively defined. These gaps may exist between a 3PL service provider and the manufacturer, the marketing function and the 3PL service provider, etc. The paper also proposes frameworks such as data envelopment analysis for measurement of these gaps. A set of possible performance indicators is also proposed at various interfaces in supply chain.

This proposed model is an attempt to explore the relatively less explored area. It is expected that this research will further motivate researchers to work in this area. This supply chain service quality tool will be beneficial to practising managers in identification of opportunities for improvements in service quality.

This paper explores some critical issues in the less explored area and offers practical help to researchers and practitioners in providing a direction for supply chain service quality improvement.

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.

Third-party logistics (3PL) plays a main role in supply chain management and, as a result, has experienced remarkable growth. The demand for 3PL providers has become a main approach for companies to offer better customer service, reduce costs, and gain competitive advantage. This paper identifies important criteria for 3PL provider selection and evaluation, and the purpose of this paper is to select 3PL providers from the viewpoint of firms which were already outsourcing their logistics services.

This study utilized the grey decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method to develop 3PL provider selection criteria. Because human judgments are vague and complicated to depict by accurate numerical values, the grey system theory is used to handle this problem.

The findings revealed the structure and interrelationships between criteria and identified the main criteria for 3PL provider selection. The most important criteria for 3PL provider selection are on time delivery performance, technological capability, financial stability, human resource policies, service quality, and customer service, respectively.

The paper’s results help managers of automotive industries, particularly in developing countries, to outsource logistics activities to 3PL providers effectively and to create a significant competitive advantage.

The main contributions of this paper are twofold. First, this paper proposes an integrated grey DEMATEL method to consider interdependent relationships among the 3PL provider selection criteria. Second, this study is one of the first studies to consider 3PL provider selection in a developing country like Iran.

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.