The impact of innovative telecommunication technologies on the logistics sector (PDF)

Project Report from the year 2007 in the subject Business economics - General, grade: 1,9, European Business School - International University Schloß Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel, language: English, abstract: 1 Introduction

1.1 Nature of the Problem and Objective

The role of international trade has been redefined by the emergence and high pace of
globalization. The effects are among other things that routes of transportation become
longer, product life cycles shorten, and the requisite for the availability of goods and
services increases (Christopher, 2005, pp. 207). Keeping this in mind, the logistics industry
is one of the fastest growing industries world-wide and benefitted in particular of
this shift towards a globalized world. Even though logistics as such has prevailed over a
long time, it has been only recently that the industry has received an enormous boost
due to the global adherence and new technical developments. It was mainly because of
the standardized container that this accretion, and globalization itself, could happen. But
also the 'New Economy' accelerated this growth to a significant extent by introducing
computers and telecommunication media, and thereby established a dynamic, high
competitive and world-spanning market. At the same time, companies demand more
and more premium solutions from logistic service providers1 in order to cope with the
competitive environment. The importance of the innovative and crucial factor of telecommunication
technology (TT) in this specific sector can therefore not be denied.
More importantly, it is of significant matter to have an understanding, as well as knowing
how to implement and take advantage of these technologies, in order to gain or
maintain a competitive edge over rivaling companies. (Christopher, 2005, p. 9).

The objective of this paper is therefore to describe the impact which modern and innovative
TTs can have on the logistics sector. In order to pursue this goal, it is important
to focus on three points: the understanding of several TTs which are of use for commercial
usage, their effects on logistic issues, and the linkage of these two points to practical
examples as they can be found today. Due to the fact that the area of logistics spans a
lot of different modalities and areas, like passenger logistics or document logistics, the
focus will lie on container cargo shipment, exemplary for the drivers of this industry. In
addition, particularly this field of logistics makes already, and has great potential to
make, use of TTs for improvements in its field of activity.