Comprehensive view of logistics flexibility and its impact on customer satisfaction

The volatility and uncertainty in internal and external environment has made logistics and supply chain issues more complex. Customer responsiveness and flexibility are the keys to responding to market volatility and uncertainty thereby gaining competitive advantage for firms. Most relevant studies about logistics flexibility reveals that it is contextual in nature and do not have stable components. This fills this gap by exploring logistics flexibility and its components at supply chain level. The study also identifies the non‐contextual nature of components of logistics flexibility. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships among components of logistics flexibility and its impact on customer satisfaction. The dichotomy of flexible logistics competence and capability can help to differentiate the sub‐dimensions of logistics flexibility that are critical to their customers from the sub‐dimensions that support these capabilities. This research helps to understand that flexible logistics competences as well as capabilities of the firm are important to generate customer satisfaction.