Phases of the Development of Logistics Service Providers: The Case of Bulgaria
Phases of the Development of Logistics Service Providers: The Case of Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: This paper describes the phases of the development of a sample of logistics service providers (LSPs) based upon their service capabilities. Data was collected from 136 Bulgarian LSPs. Scores of 40 service capabilities were subjected to hierarchical cluster analysis using Ward’s method, and as a result, three distinct clusters of service capabilities were derived. On the basis of the differences in service capabilities the resulting groupings were labelled as: Typical transport providers, Transport providers in development, True third-party logistics providers. The clusters were characterised in terms of the LSPs’ resources and some aspects of the customer service provided by the LSPs. The use of cluster analysis for understanding the phases of the development of LSPs will be useful for researchers who want to test the existence of these phases in their countries and for managers who could formulate a strategy based on their companies’ level of development.

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