Title

Author(s)

Citation

Issued Date

URL

Rights

An impact study of e-commerce development on a freight forwarding company: a case study

Chan, Ho-kuen.; 陳浩權. Chan, H. [陳浩權]. (2001). An impact study of e-commerce development on a freight forwarding company : a case study. (Thesis). University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5353/th_b3194535 2001

http://hdl.handle.net/10722/29841

The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works.

The University of Hong Kong

An Impact Study of E-commerce Development on a Freight Forwarding Company 一 a Case Study

Chan Ho Kuen University No. 1999912210

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Transport Policy & Planning at the University of Hong Kong

June 2001

Declaration I declare that this dissertation represents my own work, except where due acknowledgement is made, and that it has not been previously included in a dissertation or report submitted to this University or to any other institution for a degree, diploma or other qualification.

Signed Chan Ho Kuen

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my supervisor Dr. Jian L i for his patience, guidance and encouragement. Without his support, I would not be able to complete this Dissertation successfully.

Furthermore, I would also like to thank Mr. Cliff Sullivan and Mr. Simon Wong who were interviewed by me to provide their professional opinion.

THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG LIBRARIES

物

|

Thesis Collection Deposited by the Author

Abstract of dissertation entitled

An Impact Study of E-commerce Development on a Freight Forwarding Company 一 a Case Study Submitted by Chan Ho Kuen for the degree of Master of Arts in Transport Policy & Planning at the University of Hong Kong in June 2001

Nowadays electronic commerce is a hot topic. Advanced Internet as well as computer technology makes them become crucial elements i n doing business. Different industries start to apply e-commerce because they believe, with e-commerce advantages, which can help them to improve their business performance. Freight forwarding companies are undergoing changes due to the effect of e-commerce. The success in Fedex and UPS encourages freight forwarders to introduce e-commerce to their business. Usually】 freight-forwarding companies apply e-commerce in three main areas, they are，Intranet, Extranet and Internet. The application of e-commerce will cause influences to the traditional ways of making business, thus it will cause changes to the freight forwarding companies as well Sales Department, Marketing Department and Customer Services Department are undergoing tremendous changes. This research project is going to study the influences of e-commerce to the freight forwarding industry in-depth by the use of Jardine Logistics Services (HKG) Limited as an example, also it will explain why and how the company applies e-commerce.

Contents

Declaration Acknowledgements Table of Contents Lists of Figures

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Literature Review Chapter 3 Research Methodology and Design ,.. Chapter 4 Case Study Chapter 5 The Impact of E-commerce on the Freight Forwarding Company Chapter 6 Future Development and Conclusions

Bibliography / References

Figures

Figure 1.1 Impact of E-commerce to different industry

3

Figure Electronic commerce and business

16

Figure 2.2 Push-based supply chain versus Pull based supply chain

20

Figure 3.1 Research Framework

28

Figure 4.1 Tracking system of Panalpina

33

Figure Tracking system of M SA S

33

Figure 4.3 Tracking System of Danzas

34

Figure 4.4 Electronic order system of Danzas

34

Figure 4.5 The co-operation between Jardine and Toyxnet

41

Figure 4.6 Jardine，s online rate request form 1

42

Figure 4.7 Jardine，s online rate request form 2

iv

42

Figure 4,8 Front page of the SmarTrack System Figure 4.9 Booking Maintenance of the SmarTrack system Figure 4*10 Booking Maintenance Form of SmarTrack Figure 4.11 Shipping Data Maintenance of SmarTrack system Figure 4.12 Details update of various elements Figure 4.13 Different kinds of report from SmarTrack system Figure 4.14 System workflow of SmarTrack Figure 4,15 E-booking form of A i r shipment 1 Figure 4.16 E-booking form of A i r shipment 2 Figure 4.17 E-booking form of Sea Shipment Figure 4.18 Shipper Declaration Form Figure 4.19 User Maintenance Form (customer database and shipping details) • F^ure 4.20 Booking status inquiiy form

Figure 5.1 Increase demand for fast delivery andfrequentof Shipment Figure 5.2 Reasons lead to the consolidation of Freight Forwarding Company Fig. 6.1 Flow of transactions in a traditionalfi*eighttransportation chain Fig. 6.2 Flow of transactions in freight transportation chain under e-coimnerce

Chapter 1

Introduction

Technologynlriven change is revolutionizing in eveiy industry, from retail distribution to banking，from manufacturing to publishing and education. In face of new technologies together with increasing customer demands and keen competition within the freight forwarding industry, companies have t o redefine their strategies，products and process.

Postal services, telephones and telex used to be the main communication methods before. Recently) companies have adopted high technological communication methods to commimicate with their customers and woridng partners，such as emails，Electronic Data Interchange (E.D.L) and so on. These new communication methods are regarded as the tools of Electronic Commerce, They affect the shipping and warehousing industries m a tremendous way, especially to their operations and management. The aims of introducing high technological communication are to reduce the costs of production and distribution, and to improve the efficiency and quality of services. As a result, Freight forwarding companies are undergoing changes.

The introduction of high technological communication does cause great changes to all industries. In order to maintain a high competitive power, many companies are forced to change. Freight forwarding industry is one of the industries that apply e-commerce in business. Mostly，freight-forwarding companies use it as online booking，tracking and tracing the status of cargo shipment.

B y introducing high technological communication system, companies could gain up-to-date information. They can adjust production and delivery schemes that are immediately responsive to sales and inventory conditions. This requires changes to old or existing patterns of ordering supplies, shipping products and maintaining inventories. These changes also alter the transport requirements of many companies with regard to size and frequency of shipments. Thus，the importance of fast and reliable freight forwarding and delivery become more and more important

In Figure 1.1, it shows the impact of e-commerce t o different types of industry. It is found that Electronic Commerce has a significant impact on the freight forwarding industry especially when it applies Internet into business process. By using e-commerce, buyers and suppliers can develop a direct communication since e-commerce removes the geographical boundaries and time restrictions. According to tlic research from Gartner Group 2000，ecommerce will impact on the strategies of marketing, selling and customer service of the transportation and logistics company. For the retail selling， automotive manufacturing etc, Internet will affect their structure of offering and how the goods be delivered. E-commerce will even restmcture the entire industry of Travel，publishing, banking, stock trading etc. Figure 1.1 has group the industry into three main columns, each column refers to different level of impact，with less impact of the left column and mare impact for the right column. In each colunm，title industry which at the top has greater impact than that at the bottom. Although the level of impact on logistics is law, the need for study is essential. It is because the normal practice of the logistics company is being affected after the introduction of e-commerce.

ArKi Custonsr Service

Figure 1.1

Structure of Offerees And How Tliey Will Be Delrvered

Internet Wii丨 Restructure The Entire tnciiratry

Impact of E-commerce to different industry.

Source: gartner group 2000

According to Foirester Research (2000), today's global online trade is valued to be US$660 billion, which is expected to balloon to US$6，800 billion by 2004. Trends of introducing technology have no sign t o slow down. By using e-commerce is a way to help companies maintain their competitive power in the local and overseas markets，so the freight forwarding companies begin t o spend more concern on this topic, they apply e-commerce t o the business t o enhance their performance. Although e-commerce is still in the infancy level to the freight forwarding company, it begins to affect the dally operation and start to change the ways of doing business in this industry. A s a result e-commerce has to be studied in depth due to its foreseeable consequences to the freight forwarding company.

E-commerce in freight forwarding industry develops continuously. Due to the success in applying e-commerce to business for UPS and Federal Express, many large freight fonvarding companies starts to setup e-commerce logistics department, such as Panalpina World Transport Holdings，Jardine Logistics Services Limited and so on. Therefore, This research is going to focus on: Why and how e-commerce logistics being applied in the freight forwarding company. How the company benefits from it，Constraints of e-commerce to the freight forwarding industry. Then a conclusion on the impact of e-commerce logistics can be drawn.

1.1

Background

1,1.1 Definition of E-commerce Due to the increasing use of Internet in conducting business 5 we can define what e-commerce is in a number of ways.

According to Ravi Kalakota and Andrew Whinston (1997) Electronic commerce can be defined as: The buying and selling of information, products, and services via computer networks and a modem business methodology that addresses the needs of organizations, merchants, and consumers to cut costs while improving the quality of goods and services and increasing the speed of service delivery* The term also applies to the use of computer networks to search and retrieve information in support of human and corporate decision-making.

According to Peter Cunningham and Friedrich Froschl (1998), e-commerce is known as： The integration of IT and particularly Internet into business process. It particular affects the interfaces between and among organizational entities and units-

According to Europe Technology Organization (2000), E-commerce is: Electronic commerce can be defined as commercial activities carried out by an electronic network via the Internet goods &. offering services. E-Commerce activities are carried out between 3 main groups: companies, consumers & administrative bodies.

With reference to the above definitions, it is found that the meaning of "e-commerce" can be very broad Due to the continuous technological development，Internet transforms the traditional business foim of a company. Through the electronic network, companies exploit new ways to make business. Therefore，the defmition of e-commerce is not static.

1.1*2

History and development of Internet

Before go further to the function of e-commerce3 it must understand the development of Internet Since witii the development of Intemet，people can commimicate in a faster way and they can obtain lots of information through the Internet, E-commerce was bom because of the popular of Internet.

1.1.2.1

How Internet Begins?

In the early 1970s，Internet was used to send and maintain vital militaiy information in the event of global thermonuclear war. ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency, part of the US Defense Department) was developed to experiment with the linkage between the Department of defense and military research contractors. In case of nuclear war or other military attacks, government and military establishments would use the network t o continue communicate if other connections were interrupted. The system was connected with only four computers at different locations in the United States at that time, (http://www.u-net.com/bereau/net /history, htm)

In 1990，the National Science Foundation (BSFNET) in the United States became the dominant network and this led to the downfall of ARPANET. The NSFNET backbone was the framework for tiie Internet w e know today. (http://www+u-netxom/bcreau/Tiet /history.htm)

The most significant development was the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1992. It is a prototype tool，which allows users to browse through the text， and the graphic files held on remote computers, Internet users did not need to have special knowledge to computer jargons but tiiey could still get the information from the WWW successfully. This further puts forth the growth of Internet-based e-commerce and extends its non-exploited opportunities in applications.

1.1.2*2

The generation of electronic commerce.

Some organizations are revising their original electronic commerce strategies and business critical systems. These companies open markets which allow the enterprise and partners, suppliers and customers to contact without time and geographical limitation. This is known as the generation of electronic commerce. It helps companies to open new markets, and these companies are well supported with high technology and money investment They reflect knowledge of users' needs and expectations.

The generation of e-commerce provides not only products' mformation but also other value-added services, such as 24 hours access. A l l these help the buyers to make decisions and comparisons, for example，Milestone Systems Inc., offers 汪 list of express delivery companies in creating a virtual mailroom that allows customers to compare the deliver rates and schedules. This service needs a from deliveiy services' Web site. The challenge lies i n aggregating data from the entire vendors and agency inventory，ordering and pricing systems.

However, the generation of electronic commerce only accounts fox less than 5% of the marketplace. According to Stan Lepeak (an analyst at Meta Group, Inc-), the difficulty in its application is due to its complexity，such as，data compatibility, transaction process，systems integration and scalability issues, especially for those of large-scale data provision.

1.1.3

The basic elements in E-commerce

In the previous section, it has mentioned the development of Internet and definition of E-commerce. This section. It will further explain what is e-commerce3 what do we have m e-commerce, how e-commerce is being used as well as the pros and cons of it.

With the help of e-commerce, a wide variety of business activities can be conducted electronically. Information is sent directly from the senders to the receivers. Hard copies or printouts of documents become less-

Internet is the backbone in e-commerce. This is because all of the information, software and so on are transmitted through Internet Besides, e-mail, electronic data interclianges (EDI) are significant means to exchange information and Internet supports all these. And it is also important to note that, we must have Electronic Marketplace in e»commerce. The following paragraphs will describe each element in details,

Internet is one of the most important components of e-commerce. Internet provides 24-hour market places to companies and prohibits the time limit of making business. All suppliers and buyers are allowed t o get information or buy products from the n e t Thus，this attracts many companies t o explore their business by using Internet

Internet provides different communication channels. Electronic mail is one of these channels and it is also the most popular one. E-mail helps t o provide a faster but low cost communication between buyers and sellers. After sales

services could be better since sellers can answer customers' questions by using email.

Electronic Marketplace forms the foundation of electronic commerce. They potentially encompass all of the application like electronic advertising, product ordering, deliveiy of products, payment systems and so on. Electronic Market Place is used iatemationally. Sellers can make business globally. Buyers can gain products and prices information from the Internet Those which provide electronic market place can be called as intermediary. This intermediary can be acted by the buyers or sellers themselves or even by a third party and "ebayxom" is a good example.

Economic market place provides an online means to facilitate transactions. In processes of buying and sellingj such as production selections, paying methods and so on, are being processed in the Internet. There would be no direct contact between buyers and sellers or they may contact each other through e-mail only. In fact, the best market place should provide pre_purchase，transaction and after sales services. In recent Hong Kong, however, the most common service which people require is only the pre-purohase services. It is because of two main reasons. The first recent is the high population density and small living space in Hong Kong has made people reluctant to stay at their overcrowded home. Outdoor shopping has become a means to release stress, that habit severely lowers the incentive of Hong Kong people to shop online. The second reason is the security problems; customers do not want to disclose their information on the Internet as they afraid the information will be stolen for other purpose. The security

problems also restrict the development of payment online.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) which is defined as the electronic exchange of business transactions between companies from one computer to another. This communication method is different from others such as electronic mail. This is because in EDI data has to be transmitted from one system to another without manual intervention. That means two computers can transmit information automatically.

The EDI has grown rapidly. Senn (1992) estimated that by 1995, one half of the all inter-organization business documents for example order forms or invoice would be transmitted among companies by means of electronic data interchange. Companies are forced to adopt the system otherwise they would face the danger to lose their clients. A s mentioned by Seim, EDI is commonly applied in nowadays. EDI has high capability since i n the process of data transmission, it is much faster to use EDI rather than print out documents. More importantly, the system would investigate and oiganize itself. Without EDI，the process of doing business is slow. Companies have to send the ordering forms to the buyers and have to wait for their reply. Thus EDI enhances the efficiency of the companies.

1,2 Something changes in Freight forwarding industry With the development of advance technology, the adoption of e-commerce has become popular among the freight forwarding company. E-commerce begins to change the practice of the operation, marketing and customer service. The use of e-commerce will enhance the working process

automation，no matter in the inquiry stage, booking stage or the after sales stage，the computer system can do all the jobs which are previously done manually. The automation process may result in the change of daily routine work of employees, it may also affect the number of employees needed and even the function of department. Since e-commerce will b e matured in this industry within a shot period because of the fast development of advanced technology and advantages that e-commerce could bring t o the company，so it is the right time to conduct a study of this topic.

1 *3 Obj ective of the Study The term of e-commerce is not new nowadays, every company is trying to improve the company's performance by introducing e-commerce. For the freight forwarding company，they are led by the successful experience from UPS and Federal Express and begin to apply e-comnierce t o their company. Although e-commerce is in the infancy stage, its impact cannot be neglected Take Federal and UPS as examples, 2-3 years ago，they spent a lot t o concentrate on the development of e-cotnmerce, now their e-commerce business are well developed and very successful, most of their work process can b e done through the Internet or some specialized computer system，such as inquiiy, ordering, tracking and tracing, invoicing and customer service etc. Their pioneer practices have resulted in some fimdamental changes in freight forwarding company^ operation, it is worth to study what have really happened m freight forwarder. The objectives of this study is to find out: •

The freight forwarding company introducing e-commerce

•

E-commerce services tiiat are used among this industry

•

The advantages and constraints

•

Most important is the impact of e-commerce to this industry.

1.4 Outline of the Study This Study will be divided into six chapters. The first part is the introduction^ with the content of the definitions and elements of e-commerce, also the objective of the study. The second part is the Literature review, it examines the studies conducted by other researchers. The third part is the research methodology, it will explain the research framework and research method of this study. The fourth part is the main body of the study. After reviewing the general picture of the whole freight forwarding industry，it will b e a case study concentrate on one company - Jardine Logistics (HK) Services, to study what the company is currently doing in e-commerce, how e-commerce benefit to that company and the impact to the company. The fifth part of the study will be the discussion of the impact of the e-commerce development on the freight forwarding company. Finally, it will b e the discussion of the future role of e-commerce in this industry and the conclusion.

12

Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1 Scopes and types of e-commerce applications as a business tool Many articles and journals have investigated the extensive capabilities of electronic commerce. By operating with the digital information in electronic networks, e-commerce rings with it much new opportunism for conducting coinmercial activities. (Kosiur, D. 1997)

Regarding the scopes and types of applications, they are scrutinized in the way companies use the Internet both internally and externally.

2.1*1

Internal use

Companies may use Internet internally in three main areas and they are as the followings: 1. Intra-business interactions. 2. Human Resources Management. 3. Obtaining business intelligence.

Accessing information rapidly and accurately is regarded, as a key to sustain a company's competitive in business. Internet or Intranet is used to gain rapid access to huge amount of information. The application of web-based technology like Intranet improves and transfonns internal business communications.

Intranet can be used in four main ways. (Commerce Net, 1998) First，intonal coirmmnication via internal web sites, electronic mail, videoconference and 13

so on are commonly used to make infonnation accessible to all staff. It creates a shared communication environment that facilitates information sharing on internal issues, such as, company's new policies, visions and missions，new activities and meeting minutes and so on. Besides, co-operative work teams can be formed via web technology. For example, the inter-department can share information by using Intranet This may help to make better understandings of customers' needs. Furthermore, Intranet simplifies “knowledge management". Different departments can have a knowledge-sharing environment, thus they may have better understanding t o the other departments or the company itself Last but not the least，Intranet aids to redesign some inefficient processes and practices.

In the field of Human Resources Management, Intranet and web are served as common platforms to deliver solution，for example，training program and, materials for t t e staff, the development trend，the recruitment, performance appraisal and so on. With the help of the Web，employers and employees are able to gain information directly since strategies programs and services can be delivered more effectively. (Kalakota & Whinston 1997)

With the help of internet or Intranet which can enhance the core competencies of a company's intra business transactions and Human Resources Management. However, in this competitive environment, there are greater needs for effectiveness and efficiency, so information of other companies is requited for strategic decisions. (Pawar & Sharda 1997) In fact information can be provided by advanced technologies like Internet which helps to locate and retrieve external information. 14

2*1*2

E-commerce is generally regarded as a key way to make business. The following areas are which e-commerce mostly applies to:

1. Public release of cooperate information electronically 2. Advertising and promotion of company's products, services and image 3. Online selling of products and services 4. Provision of pre- of after sales customer services 5. Enabling feedback mechanism 6. Extend communication and co-ordination with strategic partners 7. Collaboration and sharing of expertise, professional knowledge S. Supply Chain Management 9. Enable global market expansion

The first five applications can be applied to a model as shown in Figure 2.1* They are activities dealing with customers and shareholders. In other words, that is the business-to customer e-conimerce (B2C). Companies w i l l use the Internet and web or other electronic mediums, for example e-mail to release their annual reports, company profiles，and investment opportunities. Some companies may even use the networked communities to foster discussion so as to maintain public relations with other companies and their clients.

15

91

Ss9ssnqpuB

為

^ m ^ s M

bAIlfIP3m-3

lloddntzl

5pio

§PEUUoJIq 3T3P\DJ£

SSOJSnu

110^目03

召id

Jslllus

Cooperate Database

lla:-¾¾¾

与§

U.

^f

•

Kml

dnoJSSJVLa^

oai 1

« s n

JgAIPQ

tgiij

4l>3BnlBAa

uapi

8ms ptlE

IB 智

昏

fo

！

_ —

Jsmcnsno

S •1 I 3 J

service & support I 1 payment FulfiUment I Orderi^ „ lufomialion Sharing I

We may also say, B2C refers to customers using the Internet as a medium of exchange for purchasing products and services. In addition，the companies can also use the Web to advertise and to promote the company^ products and services so as to make the existing and potential customers aware of them. Companies will provide products' periodic notices, services updates and news to the interested parties by e-mail or web site if customers have filled in request forms on the web. Many companies will link their web site to some popular search engines, like Yahoo or AOL so as to expose themselves to Internet users,

Fedex is an example which sell their services in the web and which accepts orders via e-mail and Internet. Customers can review service and price system within the Fedex web page. Customers and Fedex's staffs can even bargain the price with tiie help of electronic communication. Fedex could get information from the customers electronically when a parcel was ready for pick up and they could track the progress and delivery of their parcel. Fedex could gain mutual benefits of saving the customers' time and effort and saved Fedex money. It made the customers more convenient and reduced the staff numbers for receiving and answering phone or fax, thus reducing administrative costs. Business stages of placing order and fulfillmg orders by delivery can be done m the Internet It is important to note that, by fulfilling orders，the company can further generate its customer database.

However, this is not tiie end of the story. The purchase of products or services does not mean the end of the B2C transaction process. More important, good customer services are the key to gain customer's retention 17

and loyalty in long-term business.

Mr. Gunjan Shinlia, president and cofounder of eGain said： "1999 and beyond is about Customer Service: With the flood of online visitors, this year is about converting online visitor into satisfied buyers. Offering them the highest grade of customer service, so that, they do not switch o competing the services. It s the year of building a 'sticky' relationship t o ensure repeat buys and strengthen customer loyalty." (http ://www. electronicmarkets. com) His point of view is reinforced by Nigel Piercy in 1997, h e said: "Gains in profitability from customer retention come because:

acquiring new

customers to replace those we have lost costs five times m o r e than the cost of maintaining existing customers."

Because of the importance of customer services, customer support is equipped with pre-sales customer services via e-mail, w e b site t o track the availability of goods. For example, in the Ainazon.com w e can find whether the company has the book, CDs or other products or not. Some companies provide after-sales customer services as well. For example, the Federal Express established the Web or e-mail which allow customers t o track the order status and to provide technical support services. Web servers are maintained to accept questions from customers by using a Web browse or it will direct quires to the technical staff or to the FAQ section. Companies may also use form based surveys, email or newsgroup o n t h e Web to track customer's feedback on product and services for further improvements. It is found that actively seeking customer opinion is one part of the customer support that a company should not overlook. (Kosiur, D. 1997) 18

At

the

same

time

Internet

(Extranet)

is

also

applied

to

the

Business-to-Business e-commerce (B2B). It is found that B2B e-commerce grows much faster than B2C e-commerce. (Edouard & White 1999) The Extranet makes business partners as part of the company's information system to facilitate external communication and to establish global partnership. Moreover, the computer network allows knowledge to be easily shared throughout the cooperation, its strategic partners and even academic field. Companies can work together to design new products and to provide services via infonnation and collaboration.

Internet can also be applied to the B2B e-commerce i n the supply chain management. The use of a single medium, which is electronic network, can link the suppliers, vendors, distributors and company itself up in a single information sharing system. This makes the knowledge become truly visible and the market correspondingly more efficient. As Kalakota & Whinston mentioned that technology enables customer need-based model which shifts the business model from a traditional manufactming push-based model (build to stock) to a pull-based model (build to order). Figure 2.2

19

Manufacturer

Consumers Purchase Merchandise

•

Financial/Marketing driven forecast

_

Master scheduling

•

Replenishment based o n distribution center inventory (preset safely stock

•

level)

Retail Store/ (Online store)

Manual purchase order and

•

Point-of-scale data collection

inventory

•

Perpetual inventoiy checks

•

Automatic replenishment u s i n g E D I service

Retail distribution center •

Order point based o n ivarehouse inventory (safety stock level) and historical forecasts

•

Deals, promotions, a n d forward buying

•

Retail distribution center *

Automatic replenishment

•

Shipping cootitainer marking

•

Cross-dock receiving

*

E D I services

Mamial purchase orders， information entry a n d output

Manufacturer

Retail store •

•

Order point based o n shelf inventory ( s a f e ^ stock level) and

D e m a n d driven forecast based o n P O S data a n d product m o v e m e n t

•

Short cycle maniifactuimg

•

Advanced shipping notice a n d

Promotion

E D I services

Manual Entry o f items t o b e

•

B a r c o d e scanners a n d U P C ticketing

Consumers Purchase Merchandise

Figure 2.2

Push-based supply chain versus Pull based Supply chain

Source: Kalckota,

& Whinston, Andrew B. (1997) Electronic Commerce; A

Manager Guide, pp289 20

2.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of E-commerce as a vehicle of business in Freight forwarding Company 2.2.1

Advantages

To compare with the traditional ways of doing business? e-commerce application does create and sustain competitive advantages for companies. The significant advantages include，cost reduction and cost efficiency, operation efficiency shorten and improve business cycle5 convenience and globalization as well as enhance customer loyalty.

2.2.1.1

Cost reduction, cost efficiency and flexibility:

Cost efficient is considered as one of the bases on which an organization^ core competencies can be built (Johnson & Scholes 1997) Cost efficiency can be gained through integration by information sharing, advertising electronically, lower cost and accurate electronic transactions with suppliers, customers and strategic partners via the Internet and web site. (Kalokota & Whinston 1997)

In addition，by electronically linking supply chain model

witii the international distributor and sellers' networks, companies can eliminate many labor hours and consequently reduce the cost of operation.

Moreover，Internet provides greater flexibility. This is because company will b e much easier to change their agent, which makes the strategic partners placing more emphasis on maintaining its competitiveness by offer a value-added service. (Edouard & White 1999)

By applying e-commerce, the freight forward company can set up branch

21

offices in untested markets without having to make a huge itiyestment in dedicated facilities. Most importantly, the introduction i f Internet and computer system can improve inventory management process in the warehouse, it also provide comprehensive performance measures for control purposes，improve the service quality to the customer and help them to eliminates the occurrences of out of stock.

In addition，Internet enables the companies to present updated information electronically with tiie company events，the company's products and services via the Web+ Electronic publishing can also reduce the cost of printing, distributing documentation, fast delivery of information and reduction of outdated information, Internet allows companies with greater flexibility in revising the contents of publication frequently and nmking information and product provided more versatile as new opportunities arise. (Kosiur, D. 1997) Consequently, reducing substantial cost and serves as another farm t o promote the business as well.

2.2.1.2

Operating Efficieiicy:

Comparing with the traditional business model where many complicated procedures are found, e-commerce implementation gains production and operation effidency by accelerating the business processes and enJiancing greater accuracy due to the elimination of handling paperwork. It even streamlines the business processes so that redundant staff can b e reduced to minimum. Employees can concentrate on important tasks; therefore the business can reap tiie benefits of reduced costs and increased revenue together with increased employee's productivity. This can be achieved by 22

internal integration of company's operations via e-commerce application. (Kalakota & Whinston 1997) The web is also an effective economical public relations tool. Since it can immediately transmit messages with multimedia features to stakeholders without relying on intermediaries，such as newspaper and TV, to redistribute messages. It aids to create and sustain the company's image,

2*2.1.3

Convenience & Globalisatioii:

Convenience is another advantage of Internet to e-commerce application. There is no time zone and geographic limitation. Companies can operate 2 4 hours and 7 days a week. Even the disabled, sick or elderly people can go for virtual shopping. It also avoids mconveniences such as，late reply，unknown cargo status and pushy salespeople. In addition，it removes the physical constraints that orders for services can be accept on anytime, anywhere basis" (Kosiur, D. 1997)

E-commerce application can help to make business globally. Companies are able to perform global marketing and receive orders from around the world through the use of Web. Moreover, buyers and sellers can contact each other directly, potentially eliminating some of the market cost and constraints imposed by such interactions in the terrestrial world. The time to complete business transactions is shortened, and adds values to efficiencies for the company.

2.2.1.4

Better marketing strategic and customer service

Not only a wide range of products or services via Internet can create wide 23

choice advantage, but also a marketing channel (advertising, promotion and online selling) allows companies to target small customer. Internet enhances a company greater and accessibility to market intelligence, competitor information and to monitor the organization fiznctioning by integrating the network with the organizational activities, thus making strategic decision. Moreover，it creates opportunities for the formation of business alliances and the expansion of supply chain management. It leads to more transient and interactive relationships between business partners and suppliers in the supply chain througii interactive cormnunication.

In addition to improve marketing strategic, Internet gains advantage through building relationship with customers by providing services and feedbacks. Address ability is another characteristic of Intemet-based e-commerce, which helps to develop a closer relationship with the customers b y addressing the customers directly and personally. By improving the relationship between the company and the customer，this may increase the customers' loyalty to the company and reduce their chance to compare the services and price with other companies.

2,2,2

Constraints and Disadvantages

According to the previous section, it is apparent that e-commerce can b e highly beneficial in reducing operating costs and increasing opportunities for new or improved customer services. However, e-cotmnerce still has its constraints and disadvantages. Security is one of the main constraints. Besides, chaos information, lack of shopping experience, shopper may have hewer impulse to purchase and so OIL 24

2.2*2,1

Security concern:

The electronic systems and infrastructures that support e-commerce are susceptible to abuse, misuse and failure in many ways. These concerns prevent suppliers from using the system to conduct business and customers from providing their suppliers with data on their demographics information, buying patterns or product needs. Even no one can prove that purchasing products or services via the Internet is insecure, customers' perceptions of safety of the credit card information and personal data always hinder the development of e-commerce.

When information is being misused and abused，companies many result in direct financial loss, stolen of valuable confidential information, loss of customer confident or respect, loss of business opportunities through disruption of services and even unauthorized use of resources. As a result, security issues must be concerned; otherwise，e-commerce cannot function efficiently.

2,2.2,2

Chaos Informatioii:

Internet provides vast amount of information through its utilities, however, too many web sites together witii lots of infonnation provided make customers frustrating’ confusing and time consuming. Some of the sites are even unnoticed or cannot catch customer's attention. This unsystematic use of information and chaos information will lower people's interest to surf in the Web, (Pawar & Sharda, 1997)

25

2.2.2-3

Lack of shopping experience:

Unlike the physical shopping, there is a lack of shopping experience via online virtual shopping. This is considered as another disadvantage for consumers. However, it is greatly depending on the product itself, service or the market retailed,

2.2.2.4

Shopper may have fewer impulse purchases:

Virtual shopping involves some risks which deter the shopper's impulse purchase. Electronic transactions, like mail orders, mvolve risks in payments may deter consumers to purchase on Web. These risks include economic risk, performance risk and personal risk. Economic risks refer to the possibility on monetary loss associated with buying a product Performance risk means the consumers5 perception that a product or service may fail to meet expectation. Personal risk relates to the harm to the consumer resulting from either a product or shopping process. A l l these risks hinder the virtual shoppers' purchase impulses, which is another disadvantage of e-commerce adoption.

2.2.2.5

No guarantee of the virtue information exchange:

Internet is supposed to be an efficient medium in information exchange， however, contents of the infonnation cannot be guaranteed.

2.3 Sunmiary Even though there were many studies about e-commerce，but it is only a little focus on the impact of e-commerce. The impact of impact of e-commerce cannot be neglected Thus it is time to conduct an impact study.

26

Chapter 3

Research Methodology and Design

3.1 Data Collection Since the e-commerce logistics is newly adapted by the freight forwarding industry, we do not have much printed references. Thus texts，infonnation from the Internet, web pages of Freight forwarding companies and so on, are the main sources of data for this research project.

Besides，I will interview

the business development Manager of E-commerce department and General Manager of Air freight department from Jardine Logistics (HK) Limited in order to gain first hand information.

There are several reasons of selecting Jardine Logistics Services (HK) Ltd. t o be the study object Firstly, Jardine is one of the biggest freight forwarding company in HK, they have representativeness in this industry. Secondly， Jardine has offices and agents all over the world, thus they can make use of e-commerce internationally to improve the efficiency. Thirdly, Jardine set up their E-commerce department last year3 it may be now a good time to review the practice of e-commerce logistics for the company,

3.2 What is Impact Study Impact study is to analyse what will be changed when putting one new element (e-commerce) to the original situation. In order t o understand the impact of e-commerce，it must find out to what extent and how e-commerce will apply to the company. After that，it can move further t o analyse how this new element will affect the original situation and cause new form of practice-

27

3.3 Research Framework The research framework will base on a top-down approach. There are five stages in the tentative researchframework as shown below.

Stage

Description

1. Defining goal, objective

-Definition of goal, objective and

and methodology

methodology of the project

2. Element of e-commerce and its application

3. Case Studies

4.

Impact of E-commerce

-

explain the componeat i n E-commerce

-

How is it applied to business

-

General picture of die Slight forwarder

-

What is Jardine doii^：?

-

H o w w i l l E-commerce impact t h e fieighl forwarding company

5. Future of E-commerce and conclusion

Figure 3.1

-

The future o f E-commerce i a t h e freight forwaiding company

Research Framework

28

3.4 Interview design and structure In this study, an interview will be conducted The following are the interview questions

1. When did the company acknowledge the importance of e-commerce logistics? 2. Why did the company start to think about the e-commerce logistics 3. How does tiie company apply e-comtnerce to its business (both internally and externally)? 4. What e-commerce services does the company provide? 5. What are the advantages and benefits of applying e-commerce 6. What are the impacts of the development of e-commerce to the company? Hint:

_ Impact to different departments: A i r & Sea Freight, Marketing, General planning - B o t h internally & externally - I n different aspect, operation, sales, customer relation, deliveiy

7. Does the company find any critical issues when adopting e-comrnerce? 8. How does the company see its fUture in e-commerce?

The design of the interview question is based on a sequence top down approach. The first two questions try to find out the motivation of introducing e-commerce. The following questions 3 & 4 explore current situation of e-commerce in Jardine Logistics. After that，the focus is on what impacts of the e-commerce on the company. Finally, it will b e the future trend of e-commerce in freight forwarding company.

29

3.5 Limitation of the research study There are some limitations of this research study as identified. Firstly, There are not much past data and studies in this field yet, so most of the information is based on the interviewee of Jardine. Second，because of commercial secrets, it is difficult to arrange for interviews with other freight forwarding companies, this may limit the representativeness of this study.

30

Chapter 4

Case Studies

4,1 Introduction "E-commerce is certain to be a key strategic area. Though we shall be concentrating our efforts on client-oriented products, work will also be undertaken on instruments to facilitate collaboration with our partners. Further development will also be carried out on Internet applications for supply chain management 一 both in the field of distribution and process management" (MonikaRibar, Chief Information Officer of Panalpina)

Like other industries, IT application has penetrated into the freight forwarding industry. From mail, manual application, EDI, e-mail to IT application. The daily operations are undergoing change. Logistics services and systems are driven by complex IT applications. Despite the efforts to standardize these applications, it is clear that the market is entirely committed to the development of IT solutions and focuses on e-commerce.

In the freight forwarding industry, tiie main trend i n the market is to develop complex supply chain maiutgemeat solutions entail sophisticated IT systemsj standardized processes and complete transparency between customer and service provider. However’ this is limited to those with close partnership, long-term contractual arrangements and common IT platforms.

It is recognized that，although e-commerce is very new to the industry, it becomes part of the marketing and business strategies to the logistics

31

industry. Hence it is worth to study how the freight forwarding company applies e-commerce and how e-commerce causes changes in companies' operation. In this case study, it "will explain a general picture of the entire industry, then it focuses on Jardine Logistics Services (HK) Ltd,

4.2 General picture of the Fre^ht forwarding Company It is widely known that E-commerce can generate imniense business opportunities and reduce operation costs. Freight forwarding companies begin to think about e-commerce, especially the large company is with strong financial background. Those forwarding companies have their own web pages, such as MS AS，Panalpina, Geo-logistics etc. Through these web pages， the visitors can know more infonnation about the companies, the companies can explain all the services through the web sites and to promote ihe companies, the web sites become another channel for marketing.

According to the web site of MSAS flittp://www,insasglobalxom), you can find mformation of the companies, such as their global network, the supply chain solutions they provide and the companies' news. Customers can ask for online quotations, tracking and tracing for the status of the shipment. (Figure 4.1, 427 4.3, 4,4) Even the annual reports can b e downloaded from the web sites，so the customers and the strategic partners can have better understanding of the performance of the companies.

32

(•IHOeUOTSft etiRVTOCS

n e t s

e[oMPANv S f| cflftttsso ].:nt&s o') f^c'HCX ！

a>on.Loairnr

PgnTrace T uA youi dlitftlgM 昜nts wy ifrMI nwmb* fil ettfn l«vtyour

咖邮叫邐ju-mb •咖p谓lUirta .

.

：

：

：

:

•««« mtpibw

： .: 丨 k 舰 L H l: 只 纖 願

Figure 4A

Tracking system of Panalpina

j ht^//ww,mta3gkibal.corri/£>IL/shipfnen(stahjft/ndsx,html • - ' '

G x e l ^ >

: . ‘: .

1

mi

七

ii：!：: ；35；

Shipment Tracking intemat.onal freight MSAS Global Logistics 二 Shipment traddnci forwarding

Time critical egress us

domestic freight

forwardinq

Marken - T丨critical tracing MSAS North American Logistics - Shipment tracking

•‘



N » i i ®

-

Tracking System of Danzas

t m c m m m a i i i B i B N B B a i i H B i .

dansa „

£>A^ ，ZA

WorWv^

一

她 ， I

I K.P -

IC - I

‘-I -

I

1 . Business-to-business t r a n s a c t i o n s w i l l a c c o u n t foi percento f thisfigure.T a k i n g early a d v a n t a g eo fthe considerable opporliinitye -

Mimfl and lasma

b u s i n e s s o f f e r s ,t h e l o g i s t i c s f i e l d will contrlbulesignificantlyto this development.D a n z a s .a s a l e a d i n g g l o b a l p r o v i d e r o f IT-

Loglstxci

s u p p o r l e d logistics solutions,i s

S^vlt«S t«atkinft

t a k i n ga n a c t i v e r o l ew o i

D e u t s c h eP o s t -

efficient ciislomeroriented e -

b u s i n e s sp a r t n e r

businesssolutions f o r t h e entire

D e u t s c h eP o s t , t o o . d e v e l o p s

supplychain.

a n dr u n s efficiente - b u s i n e s s : : s o l u t i o n sa n d o f f e r s f o r

A n y o n ew h o h a s s u r f e d t h e n e t t o b u y a b o o k , o r d e r t a k e - a w a y f o o do r

gCommerce Sewcos

b o o k a flighth a s b e e n involved i n cuslomer-ohentede - c o m m e r c e • t o d a ym o r e c o m m o n l yk n o w na s e b u s i n e s s . E - b u s i n e s si n t h e

-|

b u e i n e s s - l o - b u s m e s s w o r l d ,h o w e v e

^

Start 秃

l

•

i 截

Figure 4.4

泣

U

. -., & 明 、 f e b o r i w

--.

ha.:.丨義“哪a™: i etiWi；«(•：'

'

,

-

t 2&

： I

Electronic order system of Danzas

34

The application of e-commerce can mainly be divided into three areas： Intranet，Extranet and Internet. It is common for the forwarders to apply e-commerce within the companies, the working staffs will communicate by the use of e-mails, and the HR department will deliver training materials to the staffs through either use e-mails or Internet. The big freight forwarding companies will have their own systems to store their customers' information and the freight rate for each customer. The staffs from different departments can enter this system to search for the information, this can enhance the operation efficiency and reduce the chance of making faults.

Extranet is mainly the business-to-busmess e-commerce application. Freight forwarding companies start to cooperate with some e-market places. Through the market place，the companies will have chances to make new businesses, they can list all the services they provided and their price in the market place， customer will tiiea choose the one that tbey think is suitable to them. Electronics market place has become more and more popular because of the increase in application of e〜commerce. The Extranet then becomes an additional channel of sales and marketing.

Internet company to do the business in a new ways. By setting up a w e b page in the Internet, tiie customer can request for the quotation from the Internet, also the customer can tracking the status of their cargo, whether it have been uplift or not, and when will it arrive' Through the Internet, the company can provide better customer services and value added services t o the customer.

35

The above is the general e-commerce that thefi*eightforwarding companies provide iecently+ It seems that most of e-commerce services provided are similar.

4.3 Jardine Logistics Services (HK) Ltd. - Company Background Jardine Freight Services Ltd. was founded in 1989, It was renamed as Jardine Logistics Services (HK) L t d in 1997 because of the rise of total logistics solution. Jardine Logistics offers innovative and effective supply chain management solutions to many companies in Asia. It also offers comprehensive third party supply chain management to and from Asian countries，from handling one aspect of different distributions t o outsourcing tiie entire supply chain operation, and provides tailor-made after sales services, all these help to meet the customers' demand.

Jardine offers the following services in total logistics solutions: 1.

Global integrated forwarding (Air freight, Sea freiglu and Multi Modal)

2.

Special freight

3.

Warehousing and distributions

4.

Supply chain management

Jardine Logistics has good business network throughout the world. It has more than 53 offices in 12 countries or regions： HKSAR, China, Taiwan, Singapore，Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, The Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Africa, UK and U.S.A. Jardine has more tiaan 1,400 staffs and managed warehouse. Other tiian the above offices which are owned by the Jardine Logistics, its global network is backed-up by the strong international 36

agency network with more than 100 overseas agents in 266 cities in almost 56 countries.

The company believes that infoniiation technology is one of the main ways to maintain its competitive power in the supply chain management industry. Thus，Jardine Logistics decided to let customer，business partners and workers to have greater access to information in all the offices throughout the world. Their systems for forwarding，container managemenl; warehousing and distribution are integrated to provide up-to-date and accurate data flow throughout the supply chain. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Internet allow the company to contact the customers and external organizations directly more efficiently.

4.4 Jardine Logistics，E-commerce Application To do the study, two interviews were conducted on 20/4 and 23/4 respectively. The interviews were held in the conference room of Jardine Logistics. The interviewees were Mr. Simon Woag? Business Development Manager of E-commerce Logistics Department, and Mr, Cliff Sullivan, Vice President of Air Freight Department

This section will first introduce the services provided by the Jardine Logistics and some general background of the company. Then an interview section is followed. In the interview section, it explores the reasons why Jardine logistics emphasizes the importance of e-business when tiiey start to adopt e-commerce into their business，and what e-commerce services the company provides or will provide. It will come to die pros and cons of 37

e-commerce after adopting it. Last but not the least, it concludes the importance of e-business to Jardine Logistics as well as the role played by e-commerce to the company,

4.4-1

When and why did Jardine emphasize the importance of E-commerce?

The e-commerce department was set up in June 2000+ Before the establishment of this department, Jardine has

already gained some

experiences in e-business. The company applied the application of E D I for several years as well as the tracking and tracing system for two years. It started to plan the setting up of the new department as early as year 2000, After several months planning, the new department was established.

The idea was triggered by the recognition and popularity of e-commerce. With the help of advanced IT Technology，online-shopping becomes more popular，ebayxom was considered as a very successful example. E-commerce seems to be a good way to expand company's business. Then^ some freight forwarding and logistics companies began their e-business. During that time，a company called E-Commerce Logiscics.com is established and considered

the pioneer of the industry. Tliis company

focused their services on local warehousing and distribution. It allows customers to manage their inventory through Internet.

The company was also encouraged by watching at tbe success of UPS，which started its e-business in 1997, ]JI 2 years time，they gained U S dollar one million profits from e-commerce. Due to the above reasons, Jardine decided 3S

to develop e-conunerce as an additional was to make business and to improve the company's efficiency. Thus, the Jardine Logistics also wants to explore its business by applying e-commerce.

4.4.2

What E-service does Jardine Logistics provide?

The e-services that Jardine Logistics provides can be divided into three main groups: Intranet, Extranet and Internet.

Intranet is regarded as the inside office automation to enhance the efficiency of workflow and workload. Even working staffs are in different department, they are still using the same computer system. Thus, this can enhance the communication among different departments. Take sea freight and air freight department as examples. They are using the same computer system, so both departments can search for the client's infonnation from that system. That mean they will share client's data so as to provide different services to the same customer. Besides, they can update customer information on time and online to share these valuable data to others. For example, i f a customer who had payment problems, the account department can notify the others' by updating this piece of information into Hie system. Then the air freight and sea freight departments will pay more attention when making business to this customer.

Besides the above computer system shared by different departments, Jardine Logistics also applies internal email system. The company delivers every updated news to the -working staffe to all the departments. This will enhance the understanding among departaieats. Furthermore, the training department 39

will also provide online training courses in order to maintain the staffs， service quality. For example, training department will introduce the concept of e-commerce e-mail, at the same time，instruction of using e-commerce service will be attached.

In addition，the company is going to develop an Intranet Tariff which will store all the air freight and sea freight rates as well as the local charges of al coimtries. All the above data will be stored into one database. With this Intranet tarifF3 all the Jardine staffs in all countries and even the overseas agents can be acknowledged witbi the above infonnation everywhere. That is why salesmen do not have to ask for m d answer the transport rates everyday. They can save the time to serve their clients and the working efficiency can b e enhanced. In other words, salesmen do not have to wait for the reply of overseas transport rates, they may gain these rates from the database, so they can answer the customers' inquires immediately and thus improve the services level

Extranet is the e-commerce service system which is used for both outsiders and the Jardme working staff In applying Extranet, Jardine Logistics mainly focus on B2B, it joins with twelve electronic marketplaces to develop and expand the company's business. The most common marketplace it works with are: the Trade-easy, Toyxnet and the Asian Material, (Figure 4.5) These marketplaces have broad customer bases which include shippers, consignee and logistics companies. In these marketplaces，Jardine will list its company profile and tiie service it provides. A t the same time，customers can find Jardine's service charges. It is found that these marketplaces help the 40

company to make business with new customer.

hRpz/wwoywrfttonk'

3 ‘ ：-： . ：-: ： ' ；0： :： : ^:

〒 EXC^lAM”

^^•••••\::;v； ' : ',

r

•

“ • !：

： i"

"

： ： ' • • ； ； • '•

"T''-:v:'r'-:：："'"'

： • • ‘ ‘

:

" " : ‘ ‘ :•'

想 M l M » t « 9 \ ««V»C»t * fK09W t Mi »resoiirces/chap3+7/pg2c7,htrnl Cunningham Peter & Froschl Friedrich,

1999.

Electronic 51

Revolution: Opportunities and Challenges in the 21

Business

Century. New York:

Springer Dale Kutnick, 2000. "The Impact of E-commerce on Logistics Executive". http://www.metagroup.de/metaYiew/mv0204/mv0204.html Danzas AEI (HKG) Ltd, http://www.danzas+c。m "E-Commerce Faces Logistics Nightmare" 1999. http: //cyberatlas. internet, com/markets/retailmg/print/0,1323,6061 190451,00 .html "E Commerce： Myth and Reality" Cargo lines. The cargolux newsmagazine, number 2 2000, httpi//wwwxargolux.com Edouard Nick & White Will 1999, The development of the Internet and the growth of e-commerce. Management Consultancies Association, London, FedEx Corp. http: //www, fedex. com 74

Panalpina World Transport (Holding) Ltd. http://www.panalpma.com Patrick Kasier 2001. Danzas accelerates e-business activities", httpi/Zwww. danzas, com/ngws/d&tails.cftn?id= 167 James E. Ricks. 1997, ''Electronically developed theory and procedure for distribution channel management via electronic data interchange linkage".

Logistics Information Management Jardine Logistics Services (HKG) Ltd. bttp://www t iardme4ogisticsxom Kalakota Ravi & Robinson Marcia. 1999. E-business: Roadmap for success. Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. Kalakota Ravi & Whinston Andrew. 1997, Electronic

Commerce; A

Manager's Guide. Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. Kosiur David. 1997, Understanding electronic commerce. Microsoft Press, Kulwant S. Pawar and Helen Driva, 2000, “Electronic trading in the supply chain:

a holistic implementation framework". Logistics

Information

Management V o l 13，number 1，2000. P 21-32 M L. Emiliani, 2000. "Insight from mdustrys Business to business online auctions: key issues for purchasing process improvement”. Supply Chain Management; an International Journal• Vol. 5，number 4, 2000. P 176-186 Mai one.

2000+

“E-commerce

uptake

in

Freight

Transport",

httpi//www.noie.gov.aii/publicatioiLS/NOIE/trucks/presentatiQn Transport, Martin Kenney and James Curry- 2000. "E-Commerce: Implications for Firm Strategy and Industry Configuration,，. http://hcducdavis • edu/facultv/kcnny/c-commcrcc/html Patrick Fung and Alfred Wong. 1998. “Case study: managing for total quality of logistics in the supply chain". Logistics Information Management Vol. 113 number 5，1998. P 324-329 75

Pawer Badrubarayan Sankar & Sharda Ramesh. 1997. "Obtaining business intelligence on the Internet". 110-121

Piercy Nigel. 1997.

ofgoing to market. Satish Jindel. 2000. "The retail world is in upheaval over e-commerce - can transport carriers be far behind?" littp://www.aircargoworId,com/archived/featui'el mar-htm Theodore Prince. 2000. "E-conmiK-ce: Its Impact on Transportation Logistics, and Supply Chain Management". http://www.ascet.com/documents.asp?d ID=260 Timme Stephen. 2001. "Moving Supply Chain Management from the Backroom to the Boardroom". http: //exel. com/ecommunity/expertcomer. asp?mt articlelD=9 Yusuf Kalindaga. 2000. "Electronic Commerce in Freight Transportation: implications forLDCs". http://www.xmctad.org/ecommerce/conferences/aepa3/uxictad