农产品物流外文翻译.docx

1、农产品物流外文翻译毕业论文外文翻译（一）论文题目：国外发展农产品物流的成功经验及其对浙江的启示外文题目： Logistics &the National Economy 出 处： International Journal of Physical Distribution & LogisticsManagement 作 者： MCB UP Ltd 原 文：Logistics &the National EconomyIntroduceLogistics has always been a central and essential feature of all economic activit

2、y and yet paradoxically it is only in recent years that it has come to receive serious attention from either the business or academic world. One very obvious reason for this neglect is that, whilst the functions that comprise the logistics task are individually recognised, the concept of logistics a

3、s an integrative activity in business has only really developed within the last 20 years.What is logistics? It can be variously defined, but expressed at its simplest it is:The process of strategically managing the movement and storage of materials, parts, and finished inventory from suppliers, thro

4、ugh the firm on to customers.Logistics is thus concerned with the management of the physical flow which begins with sources of supply and ends at the point of consumption. It is therefore clearly much wider in its reach than simply a concern with the movement of finished goods a commonly held view o

5、f physical distribution. In the logistics scheme of things we are just as much concerned with plant and depot location, inventory levels, materials management and information systems as we are with transport.One of the features of the logistics concept which is its greatest attraction whilst simulta

6、neously being the greatest drawback to its widespread adoption in industry so far is that it places the emphasis on integrating activities that traditionally have been located in different functions of the business. Thus in many companies responsibility for, say, inventory on the one hand and transp

7、ort on the other may be vested in the production function and the distribution function respectively, and decisions on one will often be made without regard for the other. The logistics viewpoint however forces the decision-taker to recognise the connections between the component elements of the mat

8、erials flow system indeed it encourages comprehensive systems thinking rather than functional tunnel vision.It is interesting to trace the evolution of thought in the logistics activity and then to assess its importance for business today.As early as 1915, writing from that other place Harvard Busin

9、ess School Arch Shaw took a view of the logistics activity which was radically far-sighted. He said:The relations between the activities of demand creation and physical supply . . .illustrate the existence of the two principles of interdependence and balance.Failure to co-ordinate any one of these a

10、ctivities with its group-fellows and also with those in the other group, or undue emphasis or outlay put upon any one of these activities, is certain to upset the equilibrium of forces which means efficient distribution. . . The physical distribution of the goods is a problem distinct from the creat

11、ion of demand . . . Not a few worthy failures in distribution campaigns have been due to such a lack of co-ordination between demand creation and physical supply . . .Instead of being a subsequent problem, this question of supply must be met and answered before the work of distribution begins.This v

12、iew of logistics as a bridge between demand creation and physical supply is still as valid today as it was when first expressed 65 years ago. However no matter how basic and fundamental this idea was, very little attention seems to have been paid to it and indeed in 1962 one of the gurus of Manageme

13、nt, Peter Drucker, writing in Fortune magazine said:Physical distribution is todays frontier in business. It is the one area where managerial results of great magnitude can be achieved. And it is still largely unexplored territory.There are signs however that management consciousness of the importan

14、ce of logistics is growing. The last ten years have seen a major upsurge in interest in this area in the UK and the rest of Western Europe. We are still some way behind the United States in our acceptance of the logistics concept, a situation that is reflected perhaps in the fact that there is only

15、one Chair in Marketing Logistics in Western Europe and that is here at Cranfield, compared with more than 50 in the United States.A number of factors have contributed to the growth of interest in logistics in management. One of these is that inevitably as companies seek out areas for productivity im

16、provement they are forced to confront the major source of corporate costs represented by distribution. Production and marketing have both been subjected to scrutiny by academic commentators and the more efficiency-conscious companies. Now it is the turn of the materials flow system that binds production and marketing to receive similar examination. Giving increased urgency to this examination is the growth of cost