Terms such as ‘‘contract logistics’’, 3PL and ‘‘logistics alliances’’ have been
used to describe contracting out of logistics activities that were previously performed
in-house (Lieb 1992; Lieb et al. 1993; Sink et al. 1996). As a result, several
definitions and interpretations of 3PL have evolved (Holldorsson and Skjott-Larsen
2004). They can be studied from different angles such as the scope of service,
its time frame and the nature of the relationship (Knemeyer and Murphy 2005).
From the point of view of scope, a few definitions have a wide focus. Bagchi and
Virum (1996) take a narrower view but suggest that, in an outsourcing context,
‘‘the shipper and the logistics provider see themselves as long term partners’’
(p. 193), thus adopting a long-term perspective. Bagchi and Virum (1996), and
others that consider a long-term view in the definition of 3PL, tend to be more
strategic than tactical (Skjott-Larsen 2000). In this chapter, we have adopted the
Lieb (1992) definition of outsourced logistics services, which is as follows: