Many Key Issues in Who Does What in Terms of Supply Chain Innovation

We are at the intersection of two major trends.

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First, companies are increasingly outsourcing their logistics operations to 3PLs. Armstrong & Associates, for example, estimates that the US third-party logistics market will reach $169.7 billion in 2016, up from just $127.3 billion in 2010. Since 1994, the annual growth rate in US 3PL spend has average a strong 9.6%. Logistics outsourcing numbers across the globe show similar growth.

The second important trend is a growing focus overall on innovation in corporations across the globe, with such innovation seen as a key to revenue and margin growth. A recent survey of CEOs by the Boston Consulting Group, for example, found that 85% ranked innovation as a top-three priority, with 40% putting it as their top priority.

Put these two trends together and it seems clear: innovation in the relationship between shippers and 3PLs is critical, both to support corporate innovations and to bring new strategies and practices into the supply chain.

With that backdrop, SCDigest is pleased to launch a new research study on innovation in shipper-3PL relationships, with the goal of obtaining the perspectives of both shippers and service providers on this increasingly important topic.

The link to the brief survey can be found here: Innovation in 3PL Capabilities: Perspectives from Shippers and Providers

Key questions to be answered include:

• What role should 3PLs really play in supply chain innovation?

• How aggressive should 3PLs really be in developing process and technology innovation capabilities?

• What are the barriers on both sides to enhanced innovation?

• How do practices like gainsharing and “vested outsourcing” intersect with innovation?

The new study will address these questions. SCDigest does believe any previous survey has looked at 3PL innovation at this level of depth and from the perspectives of both shippers and providers.

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The survey results will form the core of a new SCDigest study that will look at innovation in the shipper-3PL relationships.

All respondents will receive an early summary of the survey data, and of course later the chance later to download the full report.

All individual responses are of course completely confidential – we guarantee it.

“We have put together I believe a survey instrument that will drive some very interesting results and insights,” said SCDigest editor Dan Gilmore. “There really are a lot of important issues around who does what in terms of supply chain innovation between shippers and 3PLs.

The survey is now live and will last for a few weeks, but we encourage everyone interested to take the survey now.

Is shipper-3PL innovation a good subject to study? Why or why not? Let us know your thoughts at the Feedback section below or the link above to send an email.

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