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KEYWORDS
Manufacturing firm,
Logistics capabilities,
Process capability,
Flexibility capability,
Information integration capability
ABSTRACT
This study, based on a survey of 1,000 manufacturing firms in central south, south and central China regions, examines the relationship among logistics capabilities, competitive advantage and firm performance. By exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the scale of manufacturing firm's logistics capabilities is obtained. The results show that logistics capabilities can be conceptualized as a three dimensional construct: process capability, flexibility capability and information integration capability. Furthermore, after testing research hypotheses by LISREL, we find the process that flexibility and information integration capabilities all have significant effects on competitive advantage, and that only process capability has significant effects on firm performance. The implications for our findings are also presented for the improvement of manufacturing firm's logistics capabilities.
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1 Introduction
Dierickx and Cool (1989) suggest that competitive advantage may be gained from two main sources: assets and the capabilities that enable assets to be deployed advantageously. With the quick development of information technology and globalization, manufacturing firms have been in a new era of competition between supply chains. Logistics and supply chain management have become important sources of sustainable competitive advantage. And logistics has been the most crucial element for supply chain success. For sustainable competitive advantage, the supply chain should not only better deploy logistics assets and coordinate the dispersed manufacturing and marketing activities, but also make related logistics capabilities created by these resources the focus of efficient supply chain operation.
Accordingly, researches on logistics capabilities have been highlighted in academic and practical fields at home and abroad. Scholars define logistics capabilities from different perspectives, and put forward their measurement. Daugherty and Pittman (1995), Fawcett, Stanley and Smith (1997) find that the time-based capability is the most important. Eckert and Fawcett (1996) believe that human resource, quality and time are the most important elements of logistics capabilities. Bowersox and Closs (1996) adopt such logistics capabilities measures as responsiveness, consistency and flexibility. Morash, Dröge and Vickery (1996) divide strategic logistics capabilities into demand-oriented and supply-oriented capabilities. Zhao, Dröge and Stank (2001) classify logistics capabilities into customer-focused and information-focused capabilities. Lynch, Keller and Ozment (2000) discuss that logistics capabilities include operational capability and value-added service. Shang and...