전략적 제휴 관점에서 본 제3자물류(3PL) 활용에 관한 실증분석

An Empirical Analysis on the Utilization of 3PL from the Perspective of Strategic Alliance

The objectives of this study are to find out what is the most significant factor for a company in each decision-making process of utilizing Third-party Logistics(3PL) services, and to analyze the level of difference between companies that utilize 3PL services. The study is based on Peckar and Allio(1994)'s four stages of strategic alliances and Dapiran, et al.(1996)'s five elements of decision-making process for the utilization of 3PL. The major findings are as follows ; 1) A significant level of difference was found between the ratio of 3PL utilization and the amount of trade in Korean trading companies. 2) Among various intentions or purposes of strategic alliances in the field of logistics, companies that aim at cost reduction and focus on core competency showed a significant level of difference in utilizing 3PL services. That is to say, companies that seek cost reduction as a key purpose of outsourcing its logistics function utilize the 3PL services more actively than those aiming at core competency do. 3) There is a significant level of difference between more internationally operating companies and more domestically working ones. Namely, companies that consider international transportation as the foremost objective of outsourcing showed high ratio of 3PL service utilization than the latter. 4) The companies that seek freight forwarders as the foremost objective of alliance partner and consider warehouse service providers as the foremost objective of alliance partner showed no significant level of difference in using 3PL services. 5) When selecting the 3PL partners, companies aiming at cost reduction and those aiming at better service did not show no significant level of difference in using 3PL services. This study will motivate those exporters and importers who are still hesitating to utilize the 3PL or not, since it showed the fact of the correlation with the company size and the ratio of 3PL usage.