The impact of logistics platforms and location on logistics resource integration and operational performance

• Date: 13 May 2019
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-02-2018-0048
• Pages: 549-568
• Published date: 13 May 2019
• Author: Gaoyan Lyu,Lihua Chen,Baofeng Huo
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations

The impact of logistics platforms

and location on logistics

resource integration and

operational performance

Gaoyan Lyu and Lihua Chen

Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing, China, and

Baofeng Huo

School of Management, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between logistics park platforms,

logistics location and operational performance. Relationship analysis helps managers respond to the changes

that today’s logistics companies face, which include limited resources and facilities, market uncertainties and

financial instabilities.

Design/methodology/approach –A structured questionnaire is developed based on the resource-based

view. Qualitative data collected from 273 companies in China are used in a structural equation model to test

the conceptual model.

Findings –In logistics parks, logistics park platforms and location positively influence companies’resource

integration, which is positively related to operational performance. While logistics park platforms can

improve operational performance directly, logistics location cannot. Resource integration is thus a full

mediator between logistics location and operational performance, while it is a partial mediator between

logistics park platforms and operational performance.

Originality/value –This study fills a gap in the literature on logistics parks, particularly on the relationships

among operational performance, resource integration, logistics park platforms and the location of logistics parks in

China. The authors provide guidelines for logistics park managers to organize their resources and develop

capabilities for improving the operational performance of companies in logistics parks.

Keywords China, Survey, Logistics industry, Logistics competences, Logistics clusters

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

During the past decade, increasing numbers of logistics parks have been established in China

with the support of the government and large companies. According to a survey by the China

Federation of Logistics and Purchasing there were 472 logistics parks in China in 2016

(http://field.10jqka.com.cn/20170613/c598854550.shtml). The average investment in each

logistics park was RMB 1.1bn, compared with the average investment in public platforms

of RMB 73m, while 63 percent of the logistic parks cover between 25 and 125 acres. In terms of

location, 70 percent of the logistics parks were located near two or three highways, 37 percent

near special railway lines and 15 percent within 5 kilometers of a harbor. The logistics handling

capacity of logistics parks was 3,780 thousand tons per square kilometer per year. Their

average income was RMB 570m, and 12 percent of them had an income over RMB 1.5bn. The

average number of employees was 5,900. The total tax paid by all logistics parks in 2014 was

RMB 320m (www.chinawuliu.com.cn/wlyq/201508/11/304096.shtml).

A burgeoning body of literature has examined a variety of issues relating to the

logistics park layout problem (Tu et al., 2010; Chen et al., 2015) and logistics parks The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 30 No. 2, 2019

pp. 549-568

© Emerald PublishingLimited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-02-2018-0048

Received 26 February 2018

Revised 18 July 2018

6 October 2018

26 November 2018

Accepted 26 December 2018

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-4093.htm

This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos 71525005,

71673011, 71821002). It is also supported by Liantai Supply Chain System Research and Development

Center at Peking University.

549

The impact of

logistics

platforms

investment (Sheffi, 2012). A number of important challenges need further investigation,

including the planning and finance operations of logistics parks and the factors related to

operational performance. Today, many companies in logistics parks establish platforms to

organize their products, warehouses, vehicles and related infrastructure (Ladier et al.,

2014; Pan et al., 2017; Krysiński and Miller, 2017; Kong et al., 2017). These platforms

effectively improve the efficiency (Puertas et al., 2014) and integration level (Qi and Liu,

2015; Wang et al., 2016; Cai, 2017) of logistics systems. Further, due to increasingly

advanced technologies and economics of transportation, location is more important for

logistics parks than for many other types of industrial parks (Rivera et al., 2016).

Moreover, valuable resources such as specific supplies, government agencies, unique

labor skills and network opportunities help companies to enhance their operational

performance (Freeman and Styles, 2014; Wen and Wu, 2017).

Although some scholars have addressed the issue of logistics parks in relation to

resources, research in this area has focused exclusively on single resources (Freeman and

Styles, 2014; Sheffi, 2012). Given logistics parks’recent balance between varied platforms,

employment and location choice, there is a notable lack of understanding about how

different logistics resources influence companies’resource integration capabilities and

operational performance. We aim to address this gap by analyzing resource integration as a

media to investigate these relationships.

We focus on two types of resources –platforms and location –to examine logistics

parks in China and their influence on company resource integration capacity and

operational performance. Logistics park platforms are the internal infrastructure of

logistics companies: they are tangible resources involving explicit knowledge. We define

logistics platforms as public information platforms, management platforms, technical

services and financial services. Although today’s IT infrastructures are often modular and

standardized, they provide a company with a valuable and inimitable system of automatic

routines shaped by previous experiences and choices, and influence most organizational

processes including technical, information, management and financial processes and

platforms. The efficient implementation of these unique platforms usually enhances the

reputation of IT functions, which results in better collaboration between IT and other

functions, both within and beyond a company (Zardini et al., 2016). Logistics location

specificity refers to access to unique supply sources, government agencies, services, labor

skills and network opportunities (Freeman and Styles, 2014). From this perspective,

logistics location is an intangible resource that involves more implicit knowledge. High-

level regional economic development introduces sustainable technology, and the

government provides favorable policies and investments to accelerate logistics park

development. These added-value advantages make high-quality location resources rare

and inimitable. For instance, eastern coastal areas possess advantages in terms of logistics

parks that can reduce the cost of doing business, such as access to a larger and more

educated pool of human resources.

Resource integration is a critical process for companies to allocate resources and maximize

resource function, as resources alone cannot improve performance. Tangible resources require

intangible resources to connect them, while intangible resources require tangible resources to

support and transfer goods to customers. In this way, companies can improve their operational

performance and obtain competitive advantages. Building on the resource-based view (RBV),

this study proposes a conceptual model that addresses three research questions:

RQ1. How do logistics park platforms influence resource integration and the operational

performance of companies in logistics parks?

RQ2. How does logistics location influence resource integration and the operational

performance of companies in logistics parks?

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