1.
Figure 1 shows more clearly the configuration of the factors within each cluster. When these results are interpreted together with the ANOVA test results (Table VII), it can be seen that the clusters do not have significant differences in terms of their Factor 1 and Factor 7 values. However, there are significant differences among the clusters in terms of other factors.
The firms in Cluster 1 especially give importance to prestige and to ease of collaboration with carriers in their carrier's selection process.
These firms are not overly concerned with the financial opportunities and flexibility that can be offered by the carrier. They give also less importance to "Honesty and quality of operations management and delivery cycle". In fact, these firms prefer an easy way of selecting the carrier and assuming that the prestige of the firms is the primary indicator of its success, they prefer to select any carrier that has a good reputation in the market.. They are risk averse.