信息技术策略的分类及其对第三方物流的性能3PL在中国的影响外文翻译.docx

信息技术策略的分类及其对第三方物流的性能3PL在中国的影响外文翻译.docx

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信息技术策略的分类及其对第三方物流的性能3PL在中国的影响外文翻译

外文翻译

原文：

Taxonomyofinformationtechnologystrategyanditsimpactonthe

performanceofthird-partylogistics（3PL）inChina

Thispaperdevelopsataxonomyofinformationtechnologystrategiesusedbythird-partylogistics（3PL）firmsinChinabasedonaclusteranalysisofsurveydatafrom105ofthese3PLfirms.Theinformationtechnologystrategieshavebeenclassifiedintothreemajorgroups:

supportive,technological,andaligned.Thepaperalsoinvestigatestheeffectofinformationtechnologystrategiesoninformationtechnologyadvantage,competitiveadvantage,andfinancialperformance.Theresultsofthestudyindicatethateffortstoimproveinformationtechnologysystemscanonlybeeffectiveiftheinformationtechnologyimprovementsareproperlyalignedwithacompany’soverallstrategy.Itisfoundthatcompaniesthatattempttoimprovetheirinformationtechnologysystemswithouttheproperalignmentofinformationtechnologywiththecompany’soverallstrategycanachieveinformationtechnologyadvantagesrelativetotheircompetitors,butnotcompetitiveadvantagesorimprovedfinancialperformance.Thisstudyisthefirstattempttodevelopaninformationtechnologystrategytaxonomyfor3PLcompaniesinChina.Itprovidesvaluableguidanceandinsightsformanagersinthedevelopmentofinformationtechnologystrategiesin3PLcompanies.

Keywords:

Informationtechnologystrategy;Third-partylogistics（3PL）;Taxonomy;Competitiveadvantage;China

1.Introduction

Duetogrowingpressurestoreducecostsandprovideabetterservice,andtheincreasedcomplexitythatstemsfromexpandedlogisticsrequirements（Sumetal.2001）,increasinglymorecompaniesareconsideringoutsourcingtheirlogisticsrequirementstothird-partylogistics（3PL）firms.Burnson（2000）reportsthatmany‘Fortune500’companieshaveoutsourcedtheirtransportation,warehouse,andinventorymanagementfunctions.Studieshavedemonstratedthattheuseof3PLfirmsmayreduceinventoryandleadtimes,improvecustomerservice,andcaptureeconomiesofscale（Sumetal.2001）.

Previousstudieshavereportedthatinformationtechnology（IT）offersagreatopportunityforcompaniestogaincompetitiveadvantages,suchaslogisticalefficiency,effectiveness,andflexibility（e.g.SandersandPremus2002,2005）.However,duetothehighcostofadvancedITandalackofexpertise,theITadoptionrateoflogisticsusersislow（Sumetal.2001）,whichimpliesthat3PLfirmsmayhaveampleopportunitiestoadoptandexploitIT（Bhatnagaretal.1999）.Therefore,in3PLfirms,ITplaysanessentialroleinsynchronizingandcoordinatingcomplexsupplychainactivitiesbetweenlogisticsusersandtheircustomers.

Withitshigheconomicgrowthandhugemarketpotential,Chinahasbecomeaglobalmanufacturingcentre.TherapidexpansionofChina’smanufacturingindustrieshasleadtorapidgrowthinthelogisticsindustry.TheaverageannualgrowthrateofthelogisticsindustryinChinafrom1992to2004was22.2%,andlogisticsexpenditureaccountedforanaverageof21.8%ofthegrossdomesticproductduringthisperiod（LogisticInformationCenterofChina2005）.AccordingtoareportjointlypublishedbyMercerManagementConsultingandtheChinaFederationofLogisticsandPurchasing（2002）,theoutsourcingoflogisticsandtransportationwillcontinuetoexpandatarateofapproximately25%peryear.

DespitethegrowingimportanceofthelogisticsindustryinChina,therehasbeennoprevioussolidempiricalresearchintoITapplicationsinChinese3PLfirms,andthereisthereforeanurgentneedforsuchempiricalstudies.TheobjectiveofthisstudyistoinvestigateITstrategypatternsandtheireffectontheperformanceandcompetitiveadvantagesofChina’s3PLfirms.Specifically,thisresearchhastwoobjectives:

todevelopataxonomytodescribedifferentITstrategiesin3PLfirms;andtostudytheeffectofITstrategyontheperformanceandcompetitiveadvantageof3PLfirms.

Inthefollowingsections,thetheoreticalbackgroundandtheresearchhypothesesarepresented,followedbyadiscussionoftheresearchmethodology.Thisisfollowedbytheanalysesandresults.Finally,theconclusionsandlimitationsofthestudyarepresented.

2.Theoreticalbackgroundandresearchhypotheses

ManyauthorshavefoundthatITcanenhancelogisticscompetitiveness（Kerr1989,Introna1991,Daugherty1994,BowersoxandDaugherty1995,Daughertyetal.1995）becauseITusecansetafirmapartfromitscompetitors（Clossetal.1997）.Moreover,ITisoneofthefewproductivitytoolsthatincreasecapabilitywhiledecreasingcost.TheproperuseofITinlogisticscanimproveservices（BowersoxandCloss1996,Clossetal.1997）andenhanceproductivity,flexibility,andoperationalcompetitiveness（Daughertyetal.1995）.

AlthoughITisconsideredtobeakeycomponentoffuturelogisticssystems（Dawe1994）andthereisanincreasingtrendintheuseofITapplicationsinlogistics（LaLondeandAuker1995）,manymanagersremaincautiousabouttheuseofITduetothehighcostoftechnology,therisksoforganizationaldamageduringimplementation,andthelackofdemonstratedeffectiveness（Sumetal.2001）.Therefore,theadoptionrateofadvancedITsystemsisstilllow.OtherreasonsthatfirmscontinuetohesitatetoinvestinITincludetherapidobsolescenceofhardwareandsoftware,applicationredundancy,andtheirrelevanceofapplicationstoafirm’sparticularindustryandinformationneeds（Dawe1994）.Bowersoxetal.（1989）refertotheinabilityorunwillingnessofmanagerstoadoptITdespiteitspotentiallypositiveimpactonafirm’ssuccessasthe‘informationgap’.Forthesereasons,manylogisticsuserfirmsembrace3PLfirmstoharnessthebenefitsofadvancedITsystemsforthemanagementoftheirlogisticsfunctions.

However,ITdoesnotworkalone.Themission,objectives,andplanforITimplementationshouldsupportandbesupportedbytheoverallmission,objectives,andplansofthecompany（ReichandBenbasat1996）.LucasandTurner（1982）proposeatheoreticalmodelfortheroleofITandclassifyITapplicationsintothreetypes:

.TypeI（Independent）:

ITisusedtoimprovetheoperationalefficiencyofroutinetransactionsandreporting,butcompaniesinthiscategorydonotdirectlylinkITtothecompany’sstrategy.

.TypeII（Policysupport）:

ITisdesignedtohelpformulateastrategicplanbutisnotpartofthestrategicplan.Generally,incompaniesinthiscategory,ITaidsrepetitivedecision-making.Examplesincluderiskmanagementinformationandschedulingsystems.

.TypeIII（Fullyintegrated）:

ITbecomesapartofacompany’sstrategyandexpandstherangeofstrategicalternatives.

Onthebasisoffieldinterviewswithexecutivesfrom11industriesthatincludedbanking,diversifiedfinancialservices,oil,food,hotel,pharmaceuticaldistribution,

industrialproducts,airline,supermarket,consumerproductmanufacturing,andofficeequipment,JohnstonandCarrico（1988）alsoproposeathree-prongedmodeltodescribetheextenttowhichITisintegratedintostrategy:

.TypeI（Traditional）:

theroleofITfocusesprimarilyonimprovingadministrativeandoperationalefficiency,butITisnotstrategyrelated.

.TypeII（Evolving）:

ITsupportstheexistingbusinessstrategybutisnotexplicitlyconsideredduringbusinessstrategyformulation.OrganizationsinthiscategorydefineanddeveloptheirbusinessstrategieswithoutregardforthestrategicpotentialofIT.Oncethebusinessstrategyisdefined,theITfunctionactivelyseeksoutopportunitiestoapplyITtosupportthestrategy,whichmeansthattheroleofITroleisreactive.

.TypeIII（Integrated）:

ITbecomesintegratedintobusinessstrategyformulationandisinconstantalignmentwiththatstrategy.CompanieswithinthiscategoryuseITtocreatenewproductsorservicesandalterlinkageswithsuppliersandcustomers,whichmeansthattheroleofITroleisproactive.

Venkatraman（1991）alsodevelopedathree-typetheoreticalmodelforintegratingITintostrategythatissimilartothemodelsthatwereproposedbyLucasandTuner（1982）andJohnstonandCarrico（1988）:

.Type1（Independent）:

ITdesignisindependentofstrategicplanningandaimstoimproveoperationalefficiency.CompaniestreatITasan‘administrativeexpense’.

.TypeII（Reactive）:

ITdesignisderivedfromthestrategiccontext,andthestatusofITinthecompanyisincreasing.CompaniestreatITasa‘businessexpense’.

.TypeIII（Interdependent）:

ITdesignaimstoachieveadynamicco-alignmentbetweenthestrategiccontextandtheITinfrastructure,andITisusedtoidentifyandrespondtobusinessopportunities.Companieshaveamoredynamicandconstantlychangingmodel,andbothstrategicmanagersandtechnologistshavethecommongoalofexploitingtechnologyforcompetitivebenefits.CompaniestreatITasa‘businessinvestment’.

3.Discussionandconclusions

ThisstudyisthefirsttodevelopanempiricaltaxonomyofITstrategiesfor3PLfirms,andtherebycontributessignificantlytotheITliteraturebyempiricallytestingsomepreviousconceptualmodelsusingdatacollectedfrom3PLfirmsinChina,andbyextendingthetaxonomyofITstrategyto3PLfirms.ThisstudyalsocontributestotheliteraturebyprovidingempiricalevidenceoftherelationshipsbetweenITstrategy,ITadvantage,competitiveadvantage,andthefinancialperformanceof3PLfirms.Althoughthethree-clustertaxonomythatisdevelopedinthisstudyprovidesempiricalsupportfortheconceptualmodelsofITstrategiesproposedbyLucasandTuner（1982）,JohnstonandCarrico（1988）,andVenkatraman（1991）,therearealsosomeinterestingdifferencesbetweenthisstudy’sempiricalfindings