Introduction
Logistics is that part of the supply chain processes that plans, implements, and
controls the efficient and effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods,
services, and related information between the point of origin and the point of
consumption in order to meet customer requirements (www.clm1.org).
Owing to the globalization of sources, manufacturing and production, distribution
companies in recent years have been adopting the logistics management view to guide
their business operations. The adoption of logistics concepts has increasingly forced
such companies to focus on their core business and, at the same time, to outsource their
transport and other logistics activities. This has resulted in an increasing demand for
logistics services that has generated, in past decades, the creation of a worldwide
growing market in which specialized service providers, which are called third party
logistics (3PL) providers, operate. Recently, it has been highlighted that successful
logistics management depends more and more on the performance of the 3PLs.
Accordingly, they can play a key integrative role in logistics functions by the
management of information flows connected with the entire delivery of goods.