What's the difference between third-party logistics and traditional logistics?

Modern logistics is produced and developed with the process of socialized mass production. With the progress of science and technology and the expansion of trade scope, its functions are also expanding, and the service field is also expanding. Therefore, the development of modern logistics presents the trend of integration, networking, intelligence, specialization, socialization and internationalization. Because most of these trends also appear in the development track of many other industries, and there are many works in these areas by predecessors, I won't go into details in this article.

Modern logistics industry exists in the national economic system, but it has unique industrial characteristics different from other industries. It is a compound industry, which is attached to other industries and has obvious externalities. These industrial characteristics inevitably make the development of logistics industry unique and personalized. With the development and changes of industrial environment, service objects and industry itself, modern logistics is showing many new development trends.

1. Industrial layout: The new logistics center will flourish with industrial transfer.

Modern logistics, an advanced management model, first developed from economically developed areas. In these areas, with the expansion of industrial scale and the refinement of division of labor, materials are required to flow more smoothly between production, circulation and consumption. Under the guidance of demand, modern logistics has gradually matured, and some large-scale logistics centers have gradually formed in these areas.

However, the agglomeration of industries also makes the production costs of land, raw materials and labor in these areas continue to rise, and the resource constraints are increasingly prominent. As a result, a large number of industries, especially manufacturing industries, which are heavily invested in raw materials and labor, have begun to move out of these areas, and the areas that undertake these industries are basically relatively underdeveloped economies with a large number of cheap raw materials and labor.

These manufacturing-oriented transfer industries generate a huge amount of logistics and have a strong demand for logistics services. Therefore, industrial transfer will inevitably lead to the transfer of logistics center. Shipping is the most important carrier of international logistics. Before the 1990s, the world's major ports were mainly concentrated in Europe and North America, but in recent years, Asian ports have grown at an alarming rate. At present, the busiest container ports and ocean liner routes in the world are concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, and most of these ports are third-generation ports with integrated logistics functions. These areas take ports as the core, integrate other modes of transportation, expand various logistics service functions, and become emerging international logistics centers; These logistics centers have built a global logistics network through the extension of international routes and the intersection of information.

Because international industrial transfer occurs between countries, the industries transferred from developed countries first settle in areas with relatively good location conditions and relatively perfect logistics environment in developing countries, and these areas will accelerate economic development because of undertaking the transferred industries, and local industries will also grow rapidly because of the injection of foreign capital and technology. Therefore, the time for industries in economically developed areas of developing countries to reach saturation is generally shorter than that in developed countries, which also accelerates the process of secondary industrial transfer, that is, from economically developed areas of developing countries to relatively backward areas. With the secondary transfer of industry, new logistics centers will rise in areas that undertake the secondary transfer of industry.

Second, industrial division of labor: the logistics industry has changed from horizontal division to vertical division.

Logistics industry is a compound industry developed on the basis of the integration of many traditional industries such as transportation, warehousing, packaging and processing. Therefore, in the past, the internal division of labor in the logistics industry was generally horizontal, that is, it was divided according to functions. Logistics suppliers were also traditional logistics enterprises with single functions, such as transportation enterprises, warehousing enterprises, distribution enterprises and loading and unloading companies. However, with the development of modern logistics concept, a modern logistics service mode which integrates various logistics service functions came into being, and gradually replaced the main position of traditional logistics service mode. Logistics service subjects have also developed from traditional logistics enterprises with single functions such as transportation and warehousing to comprehensive logistics enterprises with multiple service functions such as transportation, warehousing, distribution and processing. The boundary of horizontal division of labor in logistics industry has become increasingly blurred.

At the same time, the space-time span of logistics demand is increasing, which promotes the continuous expansion of logistics network and logistics service scope. The emergence of logistics service concepts such as "door-to-door" and "JIT" requires the continuous improvement of the specialization level and operational accuracy of logistics services. In this case, few logistics providers can establish a global logistics network and establish logistics service enterprises with various functions at all outlets. Coupled with the restrictions on the access conditions of logistics markets in various countries, it is difficult for logistics enterprises to establish vertical business chains independently. Therefore, the logistics industry can only rely on the vertical division of labor to integrate and improve the whole system, forming a vertical hierarchical structure of international logistics, regional logistics, domestic logistics and even regional logistics. Nowadays, many multinational logistics groups have established vertical and vertical division of labor with local logistics enterprises. These large groups have laid out a global logistics network, but at many logistics nodes, they use or partially use the way of purchasing services from local logistics enterprises to carry out logistics activities. This vertical industrial division of labor not only reduces the threshold and risk for large groups to explore new markets, but also makes full use of local resources and expands the living space of small enterprises, which is a win-win move and is also conducive to the healthy development of the logistics industry.

Third, the operation mode: logistics management and facilities "soft" and "hard" separation

The most primitive form of logistics is enterprise-owned logistics, that is, production and sales enterprises have logistics facilities and equipment such as transportation tools, warehouses, loading and unloading machinery, and these facilities generally only serve enterprises. With the development of logistics industry, there has been joint distribution among enterprises, followed by third-party logistics, logistics began to socialize, and logistics service providers and service objects gradually separated. However, because all the third-party logistics enterprises have a certain number of logistics hardware facilities and equipment, the logistics industry still maintains the state of integration of hardware facilities and software management at this stage.

The further development of modern logistics has produced the fourth party and the fifth party logistics, that is, enterprises or institutions that specialize in providing logistics solutions and training logistics talents. Although these classification methods are still controversial in academic circles, it should be noted that logistics service providers or participants who do not rely on logistics hardware facilities or equipment have begun to appear in the industry, and their market share is gradually expanding. Such logistics service providers do not have logistics facilities, but will make a complete logistics plan for the enterprises they serve, and then use social logistics resources to realize the plan. Some third-party logistics enterprises are also developing in this direction. While maintaining or even reducing the scale of their own logistics facilities and equipment, they integrate social logistics resources to serve themselves, that is, change "owning" logistics hardware into "controlling" logistics hardware.

The separation of "soft" management and design from "hard" facilities and equipment in the logistics industry makes the division of labor more clear, improves the specialization and service level of services, and accelerates market development and industrial upgrading. This new development trend of logistics industry will be more obvious in the future.

Fourth, industrial driving force: the economic benefits and social and environmental benefits of logistics tend to be -to.

The traditional development model of logistics industry regards logistics as a relatively independent system, which makes logistics have obvious external costs and benefits. Under the traditional development mode, the logistics industry only needs to pay a very low price for resource occupation and energy consumption, and the compensation for environmental pollution is very limited or even unnecessary, which causes the external cost of the logistics industry; Logistics enterprises improve logistics efficiency and service quality by adopting advanced technical means and facilities, which not only saves resources, but also protects the environment. Enterprises increase internal cost input, but benefit from logistics service objects and all members of society. If logistics enterprises are in a state of disorderly competition and cannot get reasonable compensation and return, they will produce external benefits. The cost and income of logistics industry are independent of social and environmental systems, while enterprises are profit-seeking, so they must pursue the maximization of their own economic benefits at the expense of social interests.

However, the modern logistics concept has realized that the logistics industry is a weakly independent industry, and it cannot create value independently, but depends on other industries to create added value. The relationship between logistics service providers and recipients has changed from a competitive relationship to a cooperative relationship, becoming the same interest subject, so logistics service providers must fully consider the needs and interests of service objects. In addition, modern logistics always pursues the maximization of the overall benefit of the system, and this system is not limited to the internal system composed of various functions, but involves the whole supply chain system connected by logistics and its social and natural environment system. With the promotion of the concept of "green logistics" in the world, the development mode of traditional logistics industry with high consumption and high pollution will be restricted or pay a high price. At the same time, logistics enterprises with "better service" rather than "lower price" will gain a more favorable competitive position and a more reasonable return in the market, and the external costs and benefits of the logistics industry will be gradually internalized. The evolution of modern logistics concept promotes the transformation of industrial development mode, and industrial returns and social and environmental benefits will promote the healthy, rapid and sustainable development of modern logistics industry on the basis of consistent interests.