logistics management and barriers to … papers/logistics and supply... · logistics management and...

LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT AND BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENT INTEGRATED LOGISTICS MANGEMENT

IN THAI AUTOMOTIVE PARTS MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

by

Piyachai SuthichamInternational Graduate School of Business

Division of Business University of South Australia

Tel: +668 1836-5225Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Logistics management is concerned with all activities that move product and link up information to, from, and between the members of a supply chain. Supply chain provides a framework for businesses and their suppliers which include bringing goods, services, and information efficiently and effectively to an end customer. Supply chain management includes the collaborative planning of physical flow and information flow. The literature survey illustrates the current management practices and postulates a conceptual model. This conceptual model incorporates logistics and supply chain management, the collaborative planning flow and the inter-organizational integration that underlies the effectiveness and efficiency of physical and information flow throughout the supply chain. The main objectives of this research study are: 1) To survey the opinions of the managers of various automotive parts manufacturing companies in Thailand on their perceived internal barriers to implement an integrated logistics management within their organization, 2) To compare the opinions of managers on the 10 perceived internal barriers both as a whole (10 barriers) and individually (one barrier at a time) when taking their differences opinions in educational background, job position, functional responsibilities, years of work experience, and experience in logistics training into consideration, 3)To find an association between the manager’s opinions and their perceptions on the benefits of having integrated logistics management. and 4) To survey the general knowledge of managers on integrated logistics management. The subjects in the study included 121 managers randomly selected from a population of 436. A set of posted mail questionnaires with a reliability coefficient of 0.86 was instrumental to the data collection for this study. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA tests, Scheffe tests, chi-squared tests, and contingency coefficients were also used for data analysis.

KEYWORDSLogistics, Supply Chain, Integrated Logistics

INTRODUCTION

The economy in the late 1970s and early 1980s changed markedly as the 1990s turned out to be a decade of economic prosperity not only for the United States, but also for other industrialized countries (Russell & Taylor 2003; Lambert, Stock & Ellram 1998). Many experts in the management of business logistics noted that more changes have taken place in the 1990s than the previous nine decades. In the 1990s, managers witnessed a period unparalleled in the history of the business world in the terms of advances in technology, globalization of markets, and threats from fierce competition (Kamel & Hussein 2002; Gunasekaran, Patel & Tirtiroglu 2001; Bhatnagar, Sohal & Millen 1999). With the increasing number of both domestic and international, world-class competitors, organizations were forced to run their internal processes efficiently, responding to the forces of change and to effectively reposition their company to stay competitive (Russell & Taylor 2003; Coyle, Bardi & Langley 2003). Intense business competition and global trading have compelled firms to find ways to create and deliver value to customers (Lau & Lee 2000; Christopher 1998). Customers can choose a wide range of options to fulfill their unique requirements (Englehardt & Simmons 2002; Weber & Kantamneni 2002). Reduced prices, superior product quality, excellent customer service, expanded variety, and exceptional value are examples of the ever-increasing demands being placed on businesses by customers. Customers’ requests have been shifted from passive acceptance to active involvement in the design and delivery of specific products and services (Bowersox, Closs & Cooper 2002). Customers in the emerging global markets now demand higher quality products at lower cost in a shorter time span. As a result, firms have been forced to reorganize their manufacturing activities and realign their global strategies in order to survive.

To reorganize the manufacturing activities and realign the global strategies, “logistics” is one of the important strategies to sustain growth being employed for strategic battles in a business environment. In a business environment, logistics is the art of moving the product or service where and when the customer needs it. To win the customer’s business, this ought to be fast enough and flexible enough. The same fundamental concept that governs war, may also govern businesses. Therefore, without an efficient supply chain victory is nearly impossible. An army without effective supplies cannot win a war, just as a business that fails to deliver its product on time cannot win customer satisfaction. Therefore, the economics of speed and cost of logistics are very important issues to be considered by businesses.Currently, companies are concentrating intensively on logistics activities of value chain distribution systems that can link them closer to their customers (Chan, Burns & Yung 2000; Pelagagge 1997). Organizations believe that applying good management throughout the supply chain could gain a sustainable advantage over competitors (Lummus & Vokurka 1999; Sundaram & Mehta 2002). It is conceivable that logistics and supply chain management should be the option for a firm to build and sustain competitive advantage (Sundaram & Mehta 2002; Skjoett-Larsen 2000; Correa & Miranda 1998; Goh & Pinaikul 1998). Therefore, this research study proposes a model of integrated logistics that serves as a framework in sustaining competitive advantage. The primary objective of this paper is to review related literature on logistics management and supply chain management. We examine existing external environments and internal barriers in implementing integrated logistics management for various industries. Some of the expected benefits of integrated logistics management are also identified.

LITERATURE REVIEW

All logistics activities discussed in the previous section are independent activities and must be managed to achieve consistency. Logistics management is, hence, a strategic management tool used to enhance overall customer satisfaction that fosters an improvement of a firm's competitiveness and profitability (Giunipero and Brand 1996). CEOs of knowledgeable companies have fostered the drive to apply logistics management with a dimension that is necessary to go beyond the logistics function, and to focus on making business processes more effective and efficient. Nevertheless, no matter how varied, each logistics activity shares one common, key ingredient. The purpose is to develop continuous and uninterrupted flow of information and materials. It is apparent that all logistics activities must work together. Therefore, there is a need for integrated logistics. Bloombert et al (2002) defined integrated logistics as “the process of anticipating customer needs and wants; acquiring the capital, materials, people, technologies, and information necessary to meet those needs and wants; optimizing the goods or service producing a network to fulfill customer requests; and utilizing the network to fulfill customer requests in a timely way.”

By using the above definitions as a guideline, the author defines integrated logistics as “an integration of inbound logistics, conversion operations support, and outbound logistics.” Integrated logistics management (ILM) can be then referred to as “managing inbound logistics, conversion operations support, and outbound logistics that need to be integrated in order to develop continuous and uninterrupted flow of information and materials so that customer requirement can be fulfilled”. Integrated logistics then becomes the mainstream of all logistics activities to relate and interface one functional area to another functional area. Integrated logistics is found to be a service-oriented process which incorporates actions that help move the product from the raw material source to the final customer. It supports marketing and operations in selling and producing goods (Bloomberg, Lemay & Hanna 2002). The need for this integration is necessary to facilitate many logistics activities--most notably, inventory control. Unlike longer range, broader-based marketing or financial forecasts, inventory control forecasts must be at the location-item-month level, which represents a much more refined level of aggregation (Mentzer, and Schroeter, 1994). The most recent stage in the evolution of integrated logistics began when firms realized the need for a seamless pipeline to control the flow of goods and services to end customers (Bloomberg, Lemay and Hanna 2002). The recognition of logistics implications in conversion operations led to the concept of integrated logistics. Conversion operations deal with the logistics relationships between and among the facilities of the firm. It addresses how goods and materials move among workstations within operations (Bloomberg, Lemay and Hanna 2002). Conversion operations support includes planning, scheduling, supporting manufacturing operations, warehouse planning, warehouse management, work-in-process storage, material handling, transportation, and packaging. Its operations involve the movement of products within a plant and/or warehouse facility. Integrated logistics also includes inbound logistics that was derived from materials management. Inbound logistics, defined by Bloomberg, Lemay and Hanna (2002), is the movement of products into a firm that may comprise of inbound traffic, carrier selection, mode selection, public vs. private carriage, purchasing, raw materials inventory, demand forecasts, and production scheduling. On the other hand, outbound logistics is the movement of products out of the plant to the customer (Bloomberg, Lemay & Hanna 2002). Outbound logistics may consist of outbound traffic, international traffic, finished goods inventory, parts/service support, reverse logistics/salvage/scrap disposal, order processing, and customer service. Integrated logistics is therefore a combination of inbound logistics, conversion operations support, and outbound logistics.

The recent stage of integrated logistics evolution has led to the realization of a seamless pipeline to control the flow of goods and services. Therefore, the integration of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers constitutes a supply chain. Lummus, Krumwiede and Vokurka (2001); and Bowersox, Closs and Cooper (2002) also described that the above logistics activities are essentially a subset that occurs within the broader framework of supply chain. Bowersox, Closs, and Cooper (2002) mentioned that to study logistics, one must have a basic understanding of supply chain management. Pfohl and Buse (2000), mentioned that “in the field of logistics, the recent popularity of production networks has its counterpart in the strong interest in the concept of supply chain management.” In the same vein, it may be concluded that supply chain management is somewhat larger than logistics (Johnson and Wood 1996). Therefore, the integrated logistics concept requires a simultaneous perspective encompassing all of the activities relating to the movement of products and information. A systems approach mandates both interdepartmental integration as well as intradepartmental integration within the fin in order to achieve overall firm objectives (Gustin, Craig, 1995). Williams et, al. (1997) mentioned that integrating logistics into corporate strategy is widely recognized as a means to reducing costs, entering markets and creating customer service. Integrated logistics concept was therefore conceptualized in a way that it covers a concept of logistics including inbound logistics, conversion operations support, and outbound logistics. This research study will also adopt the concept of integrated logistics to relate to a concept of supply chain management. It is assumed that integrated logistics is thought to be a part of supply chain owing to the supply chain covering all activities from upstream to downstream. The concept of supply chain management is presented in the following section.

CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR INTEGRATED LOGISTICS

The previous section illustrates how the definitions of SCM can identify a model of integrated logistics that will be used as a principle for research investigation. For logistics, it has emerged as relating essentially to the movement and transmittal of goods, services and information. As mentioned earlier, integrated logistics therefore serves to link and synchronize the overall supply chain as a continuous process and is essential for effective supply chain connectivity (Lau and Lee, 2000). Another factor that is relevant to ILM is the role of information. In this connection, the transformation, storage and communication of information about the inventory of the stock points and of the intermediate processes across the network are highly complex (Lau and Lee 2000). Daugherty and Pittman (1995) found that information systems have enhanced productivity, flexibility, operations and business competitiveness. Not only is real time information needed, but also collaborative relationships might become an integral facet of ILM strategies (Simatupang, Wright and Sridharan 2002; Spekman, Kamauff and Myhr 1998). This research assumes that collaborative relationships are therefore becoming an integral facet of ILM strategies. Collaborative behavior engages partners in joint planning and processes beyond levels reached in less intense trading relationships (Sundaram and Mehta 2002; Kolluru and Meredith 2001; Wong, Tjosvold, Wong & Liu 1999). In conclusion, to achieve the most efficient and effective product flows within the supply chain, it is necessary to integrate the key business processes across firms in the supply chain network (Stock and Lambert 2001). The application of SCM is essential to achieve ILM; that is, the integration of materials and information flows from point-of-origin to point-of-consumption. Information is an important enabler for both logistics and SCM that bring firms to face the challenges of the future.

The central theme of our discussion points to the critical area where the integrated logistics is the integration of all activities or functions concerned with the movement and storage of materials and finished products such as transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling and packaging, and other activities to move the product smoothly through the channel of distribution to final customers (Bloomberg, Lemay and Hanna 2002, Bowersox, Closs 1996). ILM is illustrated in the shaded area as shown in Figure 5, starting with purchasing and arranging inbound movement of materials and parts from suppliers to assembly plants or warehouses through a conversion operation. Manufacturing processes are supported to formulate a master production schedule and to arrange for a timely availability of materials, component parts, and to manage work-in-process inventory as it flows between the various stages of manufacturing. Then it is finalized when a manufactured product is delivered through physical distribution to a customer. The conceptual model presented in Figure 1 focuses on combining ILM into SCM with the integrated collaborative planning and the inter-organizational network. The purpose is to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of physical and information flow throughout all downstream and upstream pipelines (Romano and Vinelli 2001; Bowersox, Closs and Cooper 2002; McLaren, Head and Yuan, 2002; Sundaram and Mehta 2002). The model is characterized by integration and collaborative relationships that encompass information and inventory flow throughout the physical supply (inbound logistics), conversion operation, and physical distribution (outbound logistics). Bloomberg et al. (2002) stated that “inbound logistics is the movement of products into a firm. Conversion operations involve the movement of products within a plant and/or warehouse facility. Outbound logistics is the movement of product out of the plant to the customer.” Figure 5 depicts the integrated logistics process. Firstly, goods move physically from suppliers through the distribution channel such as transportation, facility structure, inventory, material handling, and communication of information. Once the goods are moved into the plant or warehouse facility, they will be moved to the production line until becoming finished goods. The goods will be then moved out of the plant to the end customer. During the goods’ movement, two-

Managers’personal background

way directional flows of inventory and information are incurred to assure that the integration and collaborative relationships among supplier, production, distribution center, wholesaler, retailer, and customer.

Source: Developed from Donald J. Bowersox , David J.Closs, P. (1996), pp.34

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research was conducted to determine manager opinions on their perceived internal barriers hindering integrated logistics management in their organizations, and how their different backgrounds may have an impact on their opinions.

FIGURE 1 CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF INTEGRATED LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT

Physical Supply

or Inbound Logistics

Conversion Operation Support

Physical Distribution

or Outbound Logistics

Information Flow

Inventory Flow

Supplier

Collaborative Relationships

Information Flow

Customer

Managers’ opinions about the perceived

internal barriers holistically and individually to

implement the integrated logistics management

Existence of logistics

departments in their companies Benefits of

implementing the logistics management

and some of its benefits

FIGURE 2 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK OF SURVEY

In this study, a number of perceived internal barriers derived from related literature shown in Paper 1 and from a pilot study were used, in order to make sure all major perceived barriers are taken into consideration in the context of Thailand. This research paper uses the research framework based on found literature survey to develop hypotheses shown in the next section.

HYPOTHESES

In order to answer research questions 2 and 3 mentioned previously, we forward 15 hypotheses:

H0 1: The managers with different educational background have no significant difference in opinion on the perceived overall internal barriers to implement logistics management in their companies.

H0 2: The managers with different positions have no significant difference in opinion on the perceived overall internal barriers to implement logistics management.

H0 3: The managers with different functional responsibilities have no significant difference in opinion on the perceived overall internal barriers to implement logistics management.

H0 4: The managers with different years of work experience have no significant difference in opinion on the perceived overall internal barriers to implement logistics management.

H0 5: The managers with or without experience in logistics training have no significant difference in opinion on the perceived overall internal barriers to implement logistics management.

H0 6: The managers with different educational background have no significant difference in opinion on each of the perceived internal barriers.

H0 7: The managers with different positions have no significant difference in opinion on each of the perceived internal barriers.

H0 8: The managers with different functional responsibilities have no significant difference in opinion on each of the perceived internal barriers.

H0 9: The managers with different years of work experience have no significant difference in opinion on each of the perceived internal barriers.

H0 10: The managers with and without logistics training experience have no significant difference in opinion on each of the perceived internal barriers.

H0 11: The managers working in companies with different types of ownerships have no significant difference in opinion on each of the perceived internal barriers.

H0 12: The managers working in companies with and without logistics departments have no significant difference in opinion on each of the perceived internal barriers.

H0 13: There is no significant association between the existence of logistics departments and the managers’ opinions on the benefits of implementing the logistics management.

H0 14: There is no significant association between the existence of the logistics departments and the managers’ opinions on the benefits of implementing information system in the following 5 aspects:

H0 14.1: There is no significant association between the existence of the logistics department and the managers’ opinions on the benefits of recording purchasing orders and sale data.H0 14.2: There is no significant association between the existence of the logistics department and the managers’ opinions on the benefits of monitoring and controlling goods stock and raw materials.

H0 14.3: There is no significant association between the existence of the logistics department and the managers’ opinions on the benefits of using barcode system to assure accuracy.

H0 14.4: There is no significant association between the number of the managers working in a company with and without a logistics department and their opinions on the benefits of providing all basic data for many analyses if the information system is implemented.

H0 14.5: There is no significant association between the existence of the logistics department and the managers’ opinions on the benefits of providing data for planning and decision making.

POPULATIONS AND SUBJECTS

The populations of this study consisted of 436 automotive parts manufacturing companies located in Thailand. These companies appeared in the list of automobile manufacturers registered in 2002 in Thailand Automotive Institutes. With a reliability of 95% and sampling error not more than 5%, we randomly selected 400 companies and distributed research questionnaires to the subjects. Approximately 200 questionnaires were expected to be completed so the number would be sufficient and representative (Krejcie and Morgan, 1970: 608). Unfortunately, only 124 completed questionnaires were returned of which only 121 could be used. Therefore, the subjects in this study were 121 managers from 121 automotive manufacturing companies. Although, this could be considered as research limitations, the number is sufficient for a case study when generalizability is limited.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

In this study, a set of posted mail questionnaires was used, since it is an inexpensive method for data collection. However, the return rate of posted mail questionnaires was low. The return rate was 10 percent or less. A set of questionnaires consists of 3 main parts, (1) background information of the subjects, (2) background of the companies, their general knowledge about the logistics management, and their perceived internal barriers to implement the logistics management in the companies, and (3) their opinions on the implementation of logistics management in their companies. The first 2 parts were formatted as check list, but the last part was in a 5-level Likert scale format ranging from 1 for strongly disagree to 5 for strongly agree. There were 10 main subheadings in section 1, 6 in section 2, and 30 items in section 3, plus one open-ended question for the subjects to fill out their suggestions.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

A list of automotive manufacturing companies from the Thailand Automobile Institution was gathered. Then, permission to send an invitation letter was sought, followed by the mailing of survey questionnaires to the managing directors or the presidents of all 400 selected automotive parts manufacturing companies in Bangkok and suburban areas. They were asked to send the questionnaires filled out by the managers whose responsibilities are directly related to logistics functions. The letter of invitation described the objectives of this study, the techniques used in the study, and the instructions on how to complete the questionnaires. The prospective participants were also informed that their participation was on a voluntary basis. The managers were asked to complete the questionnaires and return back to the author in a self-addressed envelope within six weeks. Follow-up calls and visits were made to ensure an acceptable response rate. On the fifth week, a reminder letter was sent to the managers who did not return their questionnaires. The period of survey was from mid-August to the end of September, 2003. Eventually, 124 completed questionnaires were returned of which only 121 could be used. The data in each set of questionnaires was then coded to prepare for further analysis. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of the returned questionnaires was 0.86. SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) Version 13, a statistical software program, was used for data analysis. Statistical techniques that were used were frequency distribution, percentages, means, standard deviations, one-way analysis of variance tests (ANOVA), Scheffe tests, chi-squared tests and contingency coefficients. The one-way ANOVA test was used to test the differences in opinions because frequency counts in many cells in many cases were much less than 5, making it ill-suited for chi-squared tests (Robson, 1973:176). A confidence interval level at 95%, and statistical significance of 0.05 were used in parallel with an analysis of the various hypotheses stated previously. If a significant difference among means (opinions) of any groups by using ANOVA test were observed, a Scheffe test would then be used for multiple comparisons between means since it is a commonly used test owing to its robustnesses (Glass and Stanley, 1970:388).

FINDINGS

A comparison of manager opinions for difference in educational background and the association between the two variables (aspects)

TABLE 1NUMBERS OF THE MANAGERS WITH DIFFERENT EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND AND

MEANS, STANDARD DEVIATIONS AND STANDARD ERRORS OF THEIR OPINIONS

N MeanStd.

Deviation Std. Error95% Confidence Interval

for Mean

Lower Bound Upper Bound

Second Ed. or Lower 2 3.6333 .14142 .10000 2.3627 4.9040Certificate, Higher Certificate, or Equivalent 3 3.6889 .16777 .09686 3.2721 4.1057

Diploma or Equivalent 10 3.4467 .25638 .08107 3.2633 3.6301Bachelor Degrees or Equivalent

72 3.3171 .37366 .04404 3.2293 3.4049

Master Degrees and Higher

34 3.4627 .30768 .05277 3.3554 3.5701

Total 121 3.3832 .34977 .03180 3.3202 3.4462

Table 1 illustrates that, on average, the managers with lower education than a Diploma or Equivalent -- i.e., those with a certificate, higher certificate or equivalent, and secondary education or lower -- agree that the perceived barriers may be a problem for the implementation (X >3.51), but those who had a higher education (i.e., certificate levels or above) could not decide definitely (X = 2.51-3.50). However, the manager opinions in spite of differing educational backgrounds were similar with each other.

TABLE 2A TEST OF THE DIFFERENCES OF THE OPINIONS OF THE MANAGERS

WITH DIFFERENT EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND ABOUT THEIR PERCEIVED INTERNAL BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENT THE LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups .975 4 .244 2.063 .090Within Groups 13.705 116 .118Total 14.680 120

Table 2 illustrates that, on average, the manager opinions with different educational backgrounds on their perceived internal barriers to implement integrated logistics management in their organizations were very close to each other, ranging between 3.317 and 3.688. When tested by the one-way ANOVA test as shown in Table 20.2, it reveals that the means were not significantly different (p > .05). Therefore, H0 1 was accepted, implying that the managers with different educational backgrounds had no different opinions on their perceived internal barriers.

TABLE 3NUMBERS OF THE MANAGERS WITH DIFFERENT POSITIONS AND MEANS,

STANDARD DEVIATIONS AND STANDARD ERRORS OF THEIR OPINIONS

N MeanStd.

Deviation Std. Error95% Confidence Interval for Mean

Lower Bound

Upper Bound

Department Managers 71 3.3596 .34360 .04078 3.2783 3.4410Senior Managers 31 3.3978 .35983 .06463 3.2659 3.5298Vice-Presidents or Presidents

7 3.3286 .31354 .11851 3.0386 3.6185

Company-Owners 12 3.5167 .38860 .11218 3.2698 3.7636Total 121 3.3832 .34977 .03180 3.3202 3.4462

The means in Table 3 illustrate that most managers could decide definitely, except the company-owners, if the perceived barriers pose a problem (X = 2.51-3.50). Only the company-owners; however, think that they could be a threat.

TABLE 4A TEST OF THE DIFFERENCES OF THE OPINIONS OF THE MANAGERS WITH DIFFERENT POSITIONS ABOUT THEIR PERCEIVED INTERNAL

BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENT THE LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT


Between Groups .281 3 .094 .760 .518Within Groups 14.400 117 .123Total 14.680 120

Table 4 illustrates that, on average, manager opinions in spite of differing positions within the company on perceived internal barriers to implement the integrated logistics management in their organizations were very close to each other, ranging between 3.328 and 3.516. When tested by the one-way ANOVA test as shown in Table 21.2, the means were not significantly different (p > .05). Therefore, H0 2 was accepted, implying that the managers with different positions had no significant differences in opinion on their perceived internal barriers.

TABLE 5NUMBER OF THE MANAGERS WITH DIFFERENT FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

AND MEANS, STANDARD DEVIATIONS AND STANDARD ERRORS OF THEIR OPINIONS

N MeanStd.

DeviationStd.

Error95% Confidence Interval for Mean

Lower Bound

Upper Bound

Warehouse,Purchase, and Transport

37 3.3685 .37051 .06091 3.2449 3.4920

R&D,Engineer, and Production 60 3.4094 .31420 .04056 3.3283 3.4906

Finance & Marketing 19 3.3140 .39398 .09039 3.1241 3.5039IT 5 3.4400 .49069 .21944 2.8307 4.0493Total 121 3.3832 .34977 .03180 3.3202 3.4462

On average, manager opinion was very similar with each other and fell into the same category, no matter what the functional responsibility. The managers appeared uncertain if the perceived barriers could become a problem in implementing the integrated logistics management within their companies (X = 2.51-3.50).

TABLE 6A TEST OF THE DIFFERENCES OF THE OPINIONS OF THE MANAGERS

WITH DIFFERENT FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES ABOUT THEIR PERCEIVED INTERNAL BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENT LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT

Sum of Squares df

Mean Square F Sig.


Table 6 illustrates that, on average, manager opinions on perceived internal barriers to integrated logisticsmanagement were very close to each other, ranging between 3.314 and 3.440, no matter what the functional responsibility. The one-way ANOVA test reveals that the means were not significantly different (p > .05). Therefore, H0 3

was accepted, implying that managers with different functional responsibilities have no difference in opinions on perceived internal barriers.

TABLE 7NUMBER OF MANAGERS WITH DIFFERENT YEARS OF WORK EXPERIENCE


N MeanStd.

Deviation Std. Error95% Confidence Interval for Mean

Lower Bound

Upper Bound

< 6 Yrs 20 3.4117 .29918 .06690 3.2716 3.55176-10 Yrs 19 3.5474 .37783 .08668 3.3653 3.7295

11-20 Yrs 53 3.3113 .35799 .04917 3.2126 3.410021-30 Yrs 22 3.3348 .33006 .07037 3.1885 3.4812> 30 Yrs 7 3.5524 .25953 .09809 3.3124 3.7924

Total 121 3.3832 .34977 .03180 3.3202 3.4462

On average, the means of the manager opinions could be divided into 2 main categories: “undecided” and “agree” that the perceived barriers could hinder the implementation of integrated logistics management. Only those with a working experience of over 30 years and between 6 to 10 years think that this may be a problem, whereas the rest were skeptical.

TABLE 8A TEST OF THE DIFFERENCES IN OPINION OF THE MANAGERS WITH

DIFFERENT YEARS OF WORK EXPERIENCE ABOUT THEIR PERCEIVED INTERNAL BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENT THE LOGISTICS MANAGEMENTS

Sum of Squares df

Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 1.054 4 .263 2.243 .069Within Groups 13.626 116 .117Total 14.680 120

Table 8 illustrates that, on average, the manager opinions on the perceived internal barriers to implement integrated logistics management in their organizations were very close to each other, ranging between 3.311 and 3.547, irrespective of their years of work experience. When being tested by the one-way ANOVA test as shown in Table 23.2, it reveals that the means were not significantly different (p > .05). Therefore, H0 4 was accepted, implying that managers with different years of work experience had no significant difference in opinion on their perceived internal barriers.

TABLE 9 NUMBER OF THE MANAGERS WITH AND WITHOUT LOGISTICS TRAINING EXPERIENCE


With training N Mean

Std. Deviation Std. Error

95% Confidence Interval for Mean

Lower Bound

Upper Bound

Yes 61 3.3934 .38944 .04986 3.2937 3.4932No 60 3.3728 .30720 .03966 3.2934 3.4521Total 121 3.3832 .34977 .03180 3.3202 3.4462

Tables 9 illustrates that the means of the managers with and without training experience had similar opinions. They all were skeptical whether the perceived barriers would affect implementation.

TABLE 10A TEST OF THE DIFFERENCES IN OPINION OF THE MANAGERS WITH AND WITHOUT LOGISTICS TRAINING EXPERIENCE ABOUT THEIR PERCEIVED

INTERNAL BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENT THE LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT

Sum of Squares df

Mean Square F Sig.


Table 10 illustrates that, on average, manager opinions on internal barriers to implementing integrated logistics management were very close to each other, ranging between 3.372 and 3.393, irrespective of their logistics training experience. The one-way ANOVA test reveals that the means were not significantly different (p > .05). Therefore, H0 5

was accepted, implying that the managers with and without logistics training experience had no different opinions on perceived internal barriers.

THE OPINION OF THE MANAGERS WITH DIFFERENT BACKGROUND ON EACH PERCEIVED INTERNAL BARRIERS

Due to limited space in the following tables, the terms ASP01 (VM) to ASP10 (MeS) carry the meanings of the 10 aspects or 10 perceived internal barriers as follows:

ASP01 = Vision of managers (VM) ASP06 = Capital investment (CI)ASP02 = Corporate culture (CC) ASP07 = Inventory management (IM)ASP03 = Organization structure (OS) ASP08 = Knowledge transfer capability (KT)ASP04 = Knowledge and skills of employees (KS) ASP09 = Management styles (MS)ASP05 = Information technology (IT) ASP10 = Measurement systems (MeS)

TABLE 11TESTS OF DIFFERENCES IN OPINION ON EACH ASPECT OF

THE MANAGERS WITH DIFFERENT EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.Between Groups 1.801 4 .450 1.492 .209Within Groups 34.993 116 .302

ASP01 (VM)

Total 36.793 120Between Groups 2.333 4 .583 1.077 .371Within Groups 62.824 116 .542

ASP02 (CC)


ASP03 (OS)

Total53.785 120

Between Groups 5.844 4 1.461 1.999 .099Within Groups 84.784 116 .731

ASP04 (KS)


ASP05 (IT)

Total 62.050 120Between Groups 1.437 4 .359 .863 .488Within Groups 48.282 116 .416

ASP06 (CI)

Total 49.719 120Between Groups .407 4 .102 .314 .868Within Groups 37.593 116 .324

ASP07 (IM)

Total 38.000 120Between Groups 4.148 4 1.037 2.367 .057

Within Groups 50.827 116 .438

ASP08 (KT)


ASP09 (MS)

Total 47.322 120Between Groups 5.152 4 1.288 3.058 .019 *


ASP10 (MeS)

Total 54.000 120

* p < 0.05(Note: ASP01 (VM) ASP10 (MES) Stands for the 10 Internal Barriers)

Table 11 illustrates that managers with different educational background had opinions that were not significantly different in 9 aspects, except in aspect 10, “Measurement Systems” (p < 0.05). Therefore, part of H0 11 was rejected. This means that the managers with different educational backgrounds had different opinions on the measurement systems as their perceived internal barrier in implementing logistics management.

TABLE 12THE DIFFERENCES IN MANAGER OPINIONS WITH DIFFERENT EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND ON MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS

Subset for alpha = .05

Educational Background N 1 2Secondary Ed and Lower 2 3.00Bachelor Degree or Equivalent 72 3.61Diplomas 10 3.70Master Degrees and Higher 34 3.97Certificates/Higher Certificate or Equivalent 3 4.33

Sig. .228 .532

Moreover, Table 12 reveals that the managers with a higher education than secondary education had more or less the same opinion on measurement systems being an internal barrier. On average, their opinions were not significantly different, but significantly higher or more positive than that of the ones who had lower than secondary education. Therefore, we conclude that the higher education the managers had, the higher and more positive their opinions on the measurement system.

TABLE 13TESTS OF DIFFERENCES OF THE OPINIONS ON EACH

ASPECT OF THE MANAGERS WITH DIFFERENT POSITIONS

Sum of Squares df

Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups .882 3 .294 .958 .415Within Groups 35.911 117 .307

ASP01 (VM)


ASP02 (CC)


ASP03 (OS)


ASP04 (KS)


ASP05 (IT)


ASP06 (CI)


ASP07 (IM)


ASP08 (KT)

Total 54.975 120


ASP09 (MS)


ASP10 (MeS)

Total 54.000 120

Table 13 illustrates that the manager with different positions had opinions that were not significantly different in any of the 10 aspects. Therefore, H0 12 was accepted, implying that managers with different positions had more or less the same opinion on each of the 10 aspects as their perceived internal barriers for the implementation.

TABLE 14TESTS OF DIFFERENCES IN OPINION ON EACH ASPECT OF

THE MANAGERS WITH DIFFERENT FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Sum of Squares df

Mean Square F Sig.


ASP01 (VM)


ASP02 (CC)

Total 65.157 120Between Groups 3.397 3 1.132 2.629 .053Within Groups 50.389 117 .431

ASP03 (OS)


ASP04 (KS)


ASP05 (IT)


ASP06 (CI)


ASP07 (IM)


ASP08 (KT)


ASP09 (MS)


ASP10 (MeS)

Total 54.000 120

Table 14 also illustrates that manager with different functional responsibilities had opinions that were not significantly different in any of the 10 aspects. Therefore, H0 13 was accepted. This means that the managers with different functional responsibilities had more or less the same opinions on each of the 10 aspects as their perceived internal barriers in implementing integrated logistics management.

TABLE 15TESTS OF DIFFERENCE IN OPINION ON EACH ASPECT OF

THE MANAGERS WITH DIFFERENT YEARS OF WORK EXPERIENCE

Sum of Squares df

Mean Square F Sig.


ASP01 (VM)


ASP02(CC)


ASP03 (OS)



ASP04 (KS)


ASP05 (IT)


ASP06 (CI)


ASP07 (IM)


ASP08 (KT)


ASP09 (MS)


ASP10 (MeS)

Total54.000 120

* p < 0.05

Table 15 illustrates that manager opinions were not significantly different regardless of their years of work experience in 9 aspects, except in aspect number 4, “Knowledge and Skills of Employees’’ (p < 0.05). Therefore, part of H0 14 was rejected. This means that the managers with different years of work experiences had different opinions on the knowledge and skills of their employees as their perceived internal barriers.

TABLE 16THE DIFFERENCES IN MANAGER OPINION WITH DIFFERENT YEARS

OF WORK EXPERIENCE ABOUT KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS OF EMPLOYEES

Subset for alpha = .05

Years of Work Experience N 1 221-30 Yrs 22 2.5011-20 Yrs 53 2.606-10 Yrs 19 3.11< 6 Yrs 20 3.15> 30 Yrs 7 3.57

Sig. .288 .628

In addition, Table 16 reveals that fewer managers who worked in companies between 11 and 30 years than those who had less work experience, even fewer than those who have worked for over 30 years, believe that knowledge and skills of their employees is an internal barrier. On average, the opinions of the managers who had work experience between 11 and 30 are more or less the same whereas those of the ones with less than 6 to 10 and more than 30 years of experience were not significantly different. The former perceives the knowledge and skills of employees as an internal barrier in a lower degree than the latter. Therefore, it could be concluded that managers with 11 to 30 years of work experience did not consider the 4 aspects to be a problem, while managers with below 11 years and above 30 years of experience did consider them to be a problem.

TABLE 17TESTS OF DIFFERENCE IN OPINION ON EACH ASPECT OF THE

MANAGERS WITH AND WITHOUT LOGISTICS TRAINING EXPERIENCE

Sum of Squares df

Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 1.388 1 1.388 4.665 .033 *Within Groups 35.405 119 .298

ASP01 (VM)


ASP02 (CC)

Total 65.157 120Between Groups 1.970 1 1.970 4.524 .035 *Within Groups 51.815 119 .435

ASP03 (OS)


ASP04 (KS)


ASP05 (IT)


ASP06 (CI)


ASP07 (IM)

Total 38.000 120Between Groups .431 1 .431 .941 .334ASP08

(KT) Within Groups 54.544 119 .458


ASP09 (MS)



ASP10 (MeS)

Total 54.000 120

* p < 0.05

Table 17 illustrates that manager opinion experience were not significantly different in 5 aspects regardless of logistics training experience, except in aspects 1, 3, 7, 9 and 10 (“Vision of Management”, “Organization Structure”, “Inventory management”, “Management Styles” and “Measurement Systems”) with p < 0.05. Therefore, part of H0 14

was rejected. This means that logistics training experience had an influence on 5 aspects of manager opinion on their perceived internal barriers, and had more or less the same opinion in the remaining 5 aspects.

TABLE 18THE MEANS OF THE MANAGER OPINIONS WITH AND

WITHOUT LOGISTICS TRAINING EXPERIENCE

n MeanStd.

Deviation

With 61 4.15 .573ASP01 (VM) Without 60 3.93 .516

With 61 3.41 .761ASP02(CC) Without 60 3.40 .718

With 61 3.69 .696ASP03 (OS) Without 60 3.43 .621

With 61 2.54 .808ASP04 (KS) Without 60 3.08 .850

With 61 3.26 .772ASP05 (IT)

Without 60 3.22 .666With 61 3.31 .672ASP06

(CI) Without 60 3.40 .616With 61 3.82 .563ASP07

(IM) Without 60 3.63 .551With 61 3.16 .711ASP08

(KT) Without 60 3.28 .640With 61 4.03 .632ASP09

(MS) Without 60 3.67 .572With 61 3.85 .654ASP10

(MeS) Without 60 3.60 .669

In addition, Table 18 reveals that the managers who have attended logistics training courses more strongly agreed than those without such experience, holding views that the vision of management, organization structure, management styles and measurement systems could be internal barriers. However, very interestingly, those who had no training experience more strongly agreed than those with training that the knowledge and skills of their employees could be an internal barrier. Therefore, we observe that the manager’s logistics training experience had a significant influence on their perceived internal barriers. It was interesting to find that the managers with training experience tend to agree more strongly on the presence of five particular barriers (ASP01 (VM), ASP03 (OS), ASP07 (IM), ASP09 (MS) and ASP10 (MES)) than those without training.

The opinions of the managers with different background on each of the perceived internal barriers

TABLE 19TESTS OF DIFFERENCES IN OPINION ON EACH ASPECT OF BARRIERS

OF THE MANAGERS WORKING IN COMPANIES WITH DIFFERENT TYPES OF OWNERSHIP


Between Groups

.185 2 .093 .401 .670

Within Groups

27.234 118 .231

ASP01 (VM)

Total 27.420 120Between Groups

1.967 2 .983 2.132 .123

Within Groups

54.414 118 .461

ASP02 (CC)


.053 2 .027 .061 .941

Within Groups

51.216 118 .434

ASP03 (OS)


1.974 2 .987 1.832 .165

Within Groups

63.583 118 .539

ASP04 (KS)


.933 2 .466 1.179 .311

Within Groups

46.685 118 .396

ASP05 (IT)


1.263 2 .631 1.873 .158

Within Groups

39.773 118 .337

ASP06 (CI)


.688 2 .344 1.289 .279

Within Groups

31.481 118 .267

ASP07 (IM)


1.605 2 .802 2.008 .139

Within Groups

47.145 118 .400

ASP08(KT)


.386 2 .193 .577 .563

Within Groups

39.420 118 .334

ASP0 (MS)


.377 2 .189 .527 .592

Within Groups

42.210 118 .358

ASP10 (MES)

Total 42.588 120

The findings from Table 19 reveal that, on average, the managers working in companies with different types of ownerships have no significantly different opinions on each of the 10 perceived internal barriers (p > 0.05). In other words, we conclude that by working in Thai-owned, foreigner-owned, or joint venture companies, the managers did not have different opinions on each of the 10 perceived internal barriers.

The opinions of the managers working in companies with and without a logistics departments on each of the 10 perceived internal barriers

TABLE 20TESTS OF DIFFERENCES IN MANAGER OPINION ON EACH ASPECT

OF BARRIERS FOR COMPANIES WITH AND WITHOUT A LOGISTICS DEPARTMENTS


Between Groups

.024 1 .024 .105 .746

Within Groups

27.395 119 .230

ASP01 (VM)


.043 1 .043 .090 .765

Within Groups

56.338 119 .473

ASP02 (CC)


7.119 1 7.119 19.187 .000 *

Within Groups

44.150 119 .371

ASP03 (OS)


.178 1 .178 .324 .571

Within Groups

65.380 119 .549

ASP04 (KS)


.010 1 .010 .024 .876

Within Groups

47.608 119 .400

ASP05(IT)


.008 1 .008 .023 .880

Within Groups

41.028 119 .345

ASP06(CI)


.157 1 .157 .582 .447

Within Groups

32.012 119 .269

ASP07 (IM)


.008 1 .008 .019 .892

Within Groups

48.742 119 .410

ASP08 (KT)


2.219 1 2.219 7.026 .009 *ASP09 (MS)

Within Groups

37.586 119 .316


.755 1 .755 2.149 .145

Within Groups

41.832 119 .352

ASP10 (MES)

Total 42.588 120

* p < 0.05

The figures in Table 20 reveal that, on average, the managers working in companies with or without logistics departments had no significantly different opinions on 8 perceived internal barriers (p > 0.05), except aspects 3 (Organization Structure) and 9 (Management Styles). In other words, it was concluded that the presence of a logistics department within the company did not have a significant effect on manager opinion on 8 internal barriers, but it did have a significant effect on their opinions on 2 internal barriers (Organization Structure and Management Styles).

TABLE 21THE DIFFERENCES IN OPINION OF THE MANAGERS WORKING IN COMPANIES

WITH OR WITHOUT A LOGISTICS DEPARTMENT ON ASPECTS 3 AND 9

Existence of logistics dpt. n Mean Std. Deviation

ASP03 yes 50 3.8400 .58414 (OS) no 71 3.3474 .62599ASP09 yes 50 3.9933 .51942 (MS) no 71 3.7183 .58999

The figures from Table 21 illustrate that, on average, the managers working in companies that have a logistics department have a higher, more positive opinion on the influence of organization structures and management styles as internal barriers for the implementation. Those with a logistics department strongly agreed (X = 3.840 and 3.993) that the 2 aspects were internal barriers, while those without one agreed less in the “moderate” to “rather strong” levels (X = 3.347 and 3.718). Therefore, H0 12 was partially accepted or rejected, and this reveals that having a logistics department in the company can significantly influence manager opinion in only 2 aspects.

The association between the presence (existence and nonexistence) of logistics departments and the managers’ opinions about the benefits of implementing logistics management

TABLE 22THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE EXISTENCE OF A LOGISTICS DEPARTMENTS

AND MANAGER OPINIONS ON THE BENEFITS OF IMPLEMENTING LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT

Is logistics management beneficial to the company Total

yes noExisting of logist.dpt

Yes40 10 50

No 42 29 71Total 82 39 121

Chi-squared (0.05, 1) = 5.836 (p<.05)Phi = 0.220 (p<.05)

The chi-squared critical values at p = 0.05 and df. = 1 from the data in Table 22 illustrates that H0 13 was rejected. In other words, it shows a significant association between the presence (existence and nonexistence) of a logistics department in a company and manager opinions on the benefits of implementing logistics management. However, according to the phi correlation coefficient (phi = 0.220), it shows that the association between the 2 mentioned dimensions is low despite its significance. This also means that the opinion of the managers on the benefits of logistics management depends on the presence of a logistics department within their company. If they have such a department, they tend to have a positive view on logistics management. On the other hand, if they do not have a logistics department, they tend to have a negative view about it.

The association between the presence of a logistics department and manager opinion on the benefits of implementing logistics management

TABLE 23THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE PRESENCE OF A

LOGISTICS DEPARTMENT AND MANAGER OPINIONS ON THE BENEFITS OF RECORDING PURCHASING ORDERS AND SALE DATA

Can record purchasing orders and sales data Total

no yesExisting of logist.dpt

yes11 39 50

no 16 55 71Total 27 94 121

Chi-squared (0.05, 1) = 0.005 (p >.05)Phi = 0.006 (p>.05)

The chi-squared critical values at p = 0.05 and df. = 1 from the data in Table 23 shows that H0 14.1 was accepted. In other words, it shows that there is no significant association between the presence of a logistics department and manager opinions on the benefits of recording purchasing orders and sale data if implementing the information system. Moreover, the phi correlation coefficient (phi = 0.006), shows that the association between the 2 mentioned dimensions is very low and insignificant.

TABLE 24THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE PRESENCE OF A LOGISTICS DEPARTMENT AND MANAGER OPINIONS ON THE BENEFITS OF

MONITORING AND CONTROLLING GOODS STOCK AND RAW MATERIALS

Can monitor and control goods stock and raw

materials Total

no YesExisting of logist.dpt

yes9 41 50

no 11 60 71Total 20 101 121


The chi-squared critical values at p = 0.05 and df. = 1 from the data in Table 24 shows that H0 14.2 was accepted. In other words, it shows that there is no significant association between the presence of a logistics department and manager opinions on the benefits of monitoring and controlling goods stock and raw materials if implementing the information system. Moreover, the phi correlation coefficient (phi = 0.033) shows that the association between the 2 mentioned dimensions is very low and insignificant.

TABLE 25THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE PRESENCE OF A LOGISTICS DEPARTMENT AND

MANAGER OPINIONS ON THE BENEFITS OF USING BARCODE SYSTEM TO ASSURE ACCURACY

Can use barcode system to assure accuracy Total

no YesExisting of logist.dpt

yes21 29 50

no 36 35 71Total 57 64 121


The chi-squared critical values at p = 0.05 and df. = 1 from the data in Table 25 shows that H0 14.3 was accepted. In other words, it shows that there is no significant association between the presence of a logistics department and manager opinions on the benefits of using barcode system to assure accuracy if implementing the information system. Moreover, the phi correlation coefficient (phi = 0.086) shows that the association between the 2 mentioned dimensions is very low and insignificant.

TABLE 26THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE PRESENCE OF A LOGISTICS DEPARTMENT AND

MANAGER OPINIONS ON THE BENEFITS OF PROVIDING ALL BASIC DATA FOR MANY ANALYSES

Can provide all basic data for many analyses Total


yes14 36 50

no 21 50 71Total 35 86 121


The chi-squared critical values at p = 0.05 and df. = 1 from the data in Table 26 shows that H0 14.4 was accepted. In other words, it shows that there is no significant association between the presence of a logistics department and manager opinions on the benefits of providing all basic data for many analyses if implementing the information system. Moreover, the phi correlation coefficient (phi = 0.017) shows that the association between the 2 mentioned dimensions is very low and insignificant.

TABLE 27THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE PRESENCE OF A LOGISTICS DEPARTMENT AND MANAGER

OPINIONS ON THE BENEFITS OF PROVIDING DATA FOR PLANNING AND DECISION MAKING

Can provide data for planning and decision

making Total


yes8 42 50

no 12 59 71Total 20 101 121


The chi-squared critical values at p = 0.05 and df. = 1 from the data in Table 27 shows that H0 14.5 was accepted. In other words, it shows that there is no significant association between the presence of a logistics department and manager opinions on the benefits of providing data for planning and decision making if implementing the information system. Moreover, the phi correlation coefficient (phi = 0.012) shows that the association between the 2 mentioned dimensions is very low and insignificant.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Based on the findings mentioned above, there are some very interesting points worth discussion such as “Knowledge and Skills of Employees”, “Vision of Management”, and “ Management styles.” These three important points are viewed as important internal barriers that must be overcome to successfully implement integrated logistics management and gain a competitive edge. Firstly, logistics is perceived as involving multiple skills of the employees since it spans many disciplines within a company (i.e., purchasing, warehousing, transportation, etc.). Based on a number of related studies, it was found that employees skillful and knowledgeable in logistics are essential to the survival of a firm in a highly competitive environment to gain an edge (Sahay, Cavale & Mohan 2003; Sum, Teo & Ng 2001). Skillful and knowledgeable employees in logistics are a key determinant strategy to applying integrated logistics management (Murphy & Poist 1998). Also the implementation of logistics will be successful in practice if employees, who work intheir functions, can understand that their daily work involves logistics activities. Very surprisingly, based on an article written by an authority in the field of logistics in Thailand, it was found that not many have sufficient knowledge in logistics. In fact the country is seriously lacking such persons (NEDB 2004). This clearly implies that very few people working in a company have sufficient background knowledge in logistics management. Moreover, not many people in Thailand graduate with a degree in the field of logistics, and very limited courses are offered to the students or interested persons in this field (NESDB 2004). Therefore, the number of qualified logisticians, especially in Thailand, is very limited by nature (NESDB 2004).

Secondly, at all levels, the “vision” is absolutely essential to the process. The leader must take a generation’s worth of perspective to get an insight into the past, present, and future condition to have vision for a better way. Understanding the vision statement clearly will allow the staff to use individual initiatives to create a new and efficient process. Therefore, the company vision must also be clear, concise, easily understood, and accessible to those outside the organization who interact with it. According to Gerald M Blair (2006), one key role of the manager is of the planner, who has to take a long-term view. While a team member will be working towards known and established goals, the manager must look further ahead so that these goals are selected wisely. He must ensure that work is not repeated nor problems tackled too late, and that the necessary sources are allocated and arranged. He also has to cost it in terms of time so as not to set the impossible deadline. Lastly, management styles can play a key role on how to implement integrated logistics. At the managerial level, the attribute of manager should be flexible and versatile because they are to learn to adjust their styles to suit different situations (Low Sui Pheng & Christopher H. Y. Leong). For example, in a time of crisis the measures must be taken to strategically help tide the company over the crisis. It should be noted that managers have to manage and control all activities and people in every function to achieve the desired action for the organization’s overall goal. This effort must to have the people’s willingness to participate. In term of logistics, a manager must possess and exhibit desirable characteristics because he or she will have to interact with different people from different departments. As stated, logistics is a complex discipline because it involves many branches from various disciplines.

Thereby, an effective leader needs to possess the ability to manage and control group members towards the achievement of the company’s goals.

The top 3 aspects that managers perceive as internal barriers to implement integrated logistics management in companies are: (1) knowledge and skills of employees, (2) vision of management, and (3) management styles. The lowest ranked 3 aspects are (1) capital investment, (2) information technology, and (3) knowledge transfer capability. On average, the majority of managers, irrespective of educational background, positions, functional responsibilities, years of work experience, and with/without the logistics training experience, have more or less the same opinion level on the internal barriers as a whole. When taking each of the 10 perceived internal barriers into consideration, on average, the managers with different background mentioned above still have more or less the same opinion levels on the internal barriers, except in a few cases. For example, the managers with different educational background had significantly different opinions on the measurement system as a barrier, and those with different years of work experience had different opinions about the influence of employee knowledge and skills. Exposure to logistics training seems to have a great effect on manager opinions on the 10 internal barriers. For instance, it made managers have significantly different opinions in 5 aspects, namely:, “vision of management”, “organization structure”, “knowledge and sills of employees”, “management styles” and “measurement systems.” On average, the managers working in the company with different types of ownerships had no significantly different opinions on each of the 10 internal barriers.

Generally speaking, the managers working in the company with or without the logistics department had no significantly different opinions on the 8 internal barriers, except “Organization Structure” and “Management Styles.” The managers working in a company with a logistics department had higher and more positive opinions on 2 internal barriers than those working in a company without a logistics department. There was a significant association between the presence of a logistics department in the company and a manager’s opinion about the pros. and cons. of logistics management. The contingency coefficient between the 2 variables was 0.220 (p<0.05). There was also no significant association between the presence of a logistics department in the company and a manager’s opinion about the various benefits of information systems if implemented within the company. Generally speaking, the managers had positive opinions in various aspects on implementing the integrated logistics management within their companies. As mentioned earlier, there are three major limitations in this study due to the small sample size, the coverage of the questionnaires and their single items asking each aspect.. They may have some effects on the internal and external validity as well as the reliability of the study. Therefore, the findings in items 1 to 8 mentioned above, should be interpreted with care.

There should be a similar study with a much larger sample size, covering the automotive parts manufacturing companies that register and do not register with the Thailand Automotive Institute. The questionnaire used in this study should be modified and improved, especially the parts that ask the subjects to choose what they think would be their internal barriers and to rate their opinions. The results from the 2 studies can be compared to see whether or not they are significantly different. There should be an explorative study on reasons behind the managers’ opinions about different aspects as their internal barriers to implement integrated logistics management within their organizations. Instead of using a set of questionnaires as a research tool, in-depth interviews should be used to collect data either from a small or large sample size. In such a study, more variables related to the manager’s background should be added; for example, their major fields of education, the length of time attending logistics training, product types of automotive parts such as engines, tooling and others, capital investment, annual sales revenue, and operating costs. It would be worth studying the effects of some factors affecting the decision-making process of the managers, factory owners and management to implement the integrated logistics management in their organizations. In this case, a path analysis should be used with a large sample size and there should be several prospective variables in the study. Besides, a well-known computer program like LISREL should be used to analyze the data in the study. The results presented in this study have some important implications in so far as they reflect perceptions of practicing management. These perceptions should be explicitly taken into account when the integrated logistics management is being designed. The research must also spell out that perceptions are not an exact measure of reality, but rather they provide a good guide to managerial decision-making processes.

Further research is also required to provide more understanding about the comparative advantages and barriers along with the supply chain within the successful organizations. In recapitulation, the main theme of the findings of the present study centers on the notion that the majority of the sample subjects are of the opinion that applying the integrated logistics management could virtually affect organizational survival and enhance its competitive advantage. Knowing both the comparative advantages and the barriers would be very useful. Besides, although it is found that the majority of the managers have sufficient general knowledge about the integrated logistics management, most of them have not implemented such management in their organizations. This interesting point is worth exploring in a future research. There also should be a future study to assist an organization in planning and developing the logistics systems. The purpose and scope of the future studies would direct its pursuit towards identifying management’ perceptions of barriers to implement the integrated logistics management.

REFERENCES

Arkader, R. (2001), “The respective of suppliers on lean supply in a developing country context”, Integrated Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 87-93.

Ballard, R.L. (1996), “Methods of inventory monitoring and measurement”, Logistics Information Management, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 11-18.

Bowersox, D.J. and Closs, D.J. (1996), Logistical Management, The Integrated Supply Chain Process, 1st Edition, Singapore, McGraw-Hill.

Bowersox, D.J., Closs, D.J., and Cooper, M.B. (2002), Supply Chain Logistics Management, USA, McGraw-Hill.

Colorado State University. (1993-2007), Construct Validity, Retrieved fromhttp://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/relval/com2b4.cfm on November 15, 2007.

Corrêa, H.L. and Miranda, N.G.M. (1997), “Supply network management in the Brazilian automotive industry”, Integrated Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 9/5 pp.261-271.

Donald T. Campbell and Donald W. Fisk, "Convergent and Discriminant Validity by the Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix," Psychological Bulletin 56 (March 1959): 81-105.

Garver, Michael S. and John T. Mentzer, “Logistics Research Methods: Employing Structural Equation Modeling to Test for Construct Validity,” Journal of Business Logistics, 20 (No. 1, 1999), 33-58.

Glass, G.V. and Standley, J.C. (1970), Statistical Methods in Education and Psychology. New Jersey: Prenricw-Hall, Inc

Halhead, R. (1995), “Breaking down the barriers to free information exchange”, Logistics Information Management, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 34-37.

Handfield, R.B. and Nichols, E.L., Jr. (2002), Supply Chain Redesign, Transforming Supply Chains into Integrated Value Systems, USA, Prentice Hall.

Harrison, A. and Hoek, R.V. (2002), Logistics Management and Strategy, Prentice Hall, Great Britain.

Heizer, J. and Render, B. (1995), Production and Operations Management, Strategic and Tactical Decisions, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, USA.

Kahn, K.B. and Mentzer, J.T. (1996), “Logistics and interdepartmental integration”, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 26 No. 8, pp. 6-14.

Kuei, C.H., Madu, C. N., and Lin, C. (2001), “The relationship between supply chain quality management practices and organizational performance”, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol 18 No. 8, pp. 864-872.

Lambert, D.M., Stock, J.R., and Ellram, L.M. (1998), Fundamentals to Logistics Management, USA, McGraw-Hill.

Lewis, J.C., Naim, M.M. and Towill, D.R. (1997), “An integrated approach to re-engineering material and logistics control”, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 27 No. 3/4, pp. 197-209.

Mentzer, John T. and Daniel J. Flint, "Validity in Logistics Research," Journal of Business Logistics, 18 (No. 1, 1997), 199-216.

Mentzer, John T. and Kenneth B. Kahn, "A Framework of Logistics Research," Journal of Business Logistics, 16 (No. 1, 1995), 231-250.

Murphy, P.R. and Poist, Jr., R.F. (1998), “Skill requirements of senior-level logisticians: Practitioner perspectives”, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 284-301.

NESDB, (2004), Strategies for Developing Logistics System in Thailand, Bangkok: National Economic and Social Development Board.

Pfohl, H.C. and Zöllner, W. (1997), “Organization for logistics: the contingency approach”, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 27 No. 5/6, pp. 306-320.

Razzaque, M.A. and Sirat M. S. B. (2001), “Skill requirements: perception of the senior Asian logisticians”, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 31 No. 5, pp. 374-395.

Robson, C. (1973). Experiment Design and Statistics in Psychology, New York: Penguin Books.

Sahay, B.S., Cavale V., and Mohan R. (2003), “The “Indian” Supply chain architecture”, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 93-106.

Schermerhorn, J.R. (1999), Management, 6th Edition, USA, John Wiley & Son.

Sum, C.C., Teo, C.B., and Ng, K.K. (2001), “Strategic logistics management in Singapore”, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 21 No. 9, pp.1239-1260.

Thailand Automotive Industry Directory 2003-2004 (2003), Media Overseas, Bangkok, Thailand.

Thailand Automotive Institute. (2001). “A Master Plan of Thailand Automotive Industry 2001 – 2006”, Office of Industrial Economics, Ministry of Industry.

Thailand Automotive Institute (2004), An Executive Summary of Thailand Automotive Situation in 2003, [Online Available]: www.thaiauto.or.th/Research/document/summary_ Dec%20rev1.pdf, access on 6.June.2004.

Thailand Automotive Institute (2005) , [Online Available]: http://www.thaiauto.or.th/records/records_main.asp

logistics management and barriers to … papers/logistics and supply... · logistics management and...

Documents