Logistics outsourcing: an examination of third-party providers

The outsourcing of logistical functions to third-party providers has become an increasingly powerful trend in modern multinational companies. The literature presents several studies on the outsourcing of logistical activities by contractors, the greater proportion of which focus on industrial and service companies. In contrast, there are only a few studies on providers who offer logistical services. A survey of several managers from logistics service providers operating in different industrial sectors and countries was designed in order to accept or reject a set of hypotheses collected from previous studies found in the literature. The database was analysed by applying statistical modelling and inferential analysis, which are based on the Pearson chi-square test, Kruskal–Wallis test and the calculation of exact p-values. Not all results are consistent with previous findings.