Conclusion
QUO VADIS?
The internet has changed the way things are done in logistics. Logistic firms changed their boundaries and became less vertical integrated. ICT enabled new business structures due to substantially lowered transaction costs. But the de-fragmentation of the value and supply chain increased dramatically the links in a complex growing supply and demand matrix that went online. Thus risk management becomes more important. E-markets will touch and transform more and more Logistic Service Providers (3PL and 4PL). The brief case study www.courierexchange.co.uk provided some tacit evidence that there may be a change in freight forwarders behaviour using exchanges to manage SC risks in a more balanced way.
I believe that the capability of a firm to collaborate will become a core competency in any competitive environment. ICT and e-markets facilitate collaboration. Who will benefit from this trend? Bigger companies due to economies of scale and scope? Smaller companies due to more choice and thus more freedom to choose which hub they want to serve? It all boils down to supply and demand. But as we can learn from the case study: Social institutions are the glue that may hold together the hyper-defragmented supply demand matrix that is ante portas.
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