E-logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

E-logistics - Essay Example budge constraint).† Businesses of today in either perspective (business or consumer) markets have realized that in order for them to remain competitive, they need to have an easy access of current information and clear communication. In order for this competitive edge to become stable, steady, and maintained, businesses need to have a support and reverse system that is called the electronic logistics or e-logistics. However, maintaining this system is not easy for this involves billions of dollars, yet they have no other option but to take advantage with the benefits and outweigh the liabilities. Based, on the study of Lambert and Burduroglu (2000), the amount spent for logistics is worth the price because customers’ satisfaction will increase the value added services of companies and they are also rewarded by their customers with a large increase in the volume of demand. The main purpose of this paper is to give an overview of e-logistics, identify its emergence, and di stinguish. Overview of e-logistics According to Sarkis, et al. (2004), â€Å"Organization realizes that a strong supporting logistics or electronic logistics (e-logistics) function is an important organizational offering from both the commercial and the consumer perspective.† A typical supply chain usually involved materials and information that includes operational logistics such as inbound and outbound logistics. In the study of Auramo, et al. (2002, p.528), it is stated that information, supply network and material flows are necessary in order to have a successful implementation of e-logistics. â€Å"The role of logistics in e-commerce has garnered the lion’s share of the focus on the success or failure of Internet-based companies† (Sarkis, et al., 2002, p.35). It is not enough for a business to have an online delivery information portal because what customers want is to have the products or services be delivered in an efficient, timely, and accurate manner. The overview of logistics has something to do with the marketing effort of the business in order to come up with a sound and pleasant decisions and activities (Bowersox, Mentzer, & Speh 1995). Emergence of e-logistics Advancement in information technology and communication are among the important factors that made e-commerce and e-logistics more successful for these are the carriers used in the delivery of information. The increasing number of companies that are now using these advance technologies had made a growth in e-commerce, and as a result, operating costs had also increased. This scenario is brought by globalization and the growing array of logistic options, and in order for companies to remain competitive, they have to focus on the development of physical material flow or physical logistics while continuously amending customer service (Thomas & Griffin, 1996). The traditional logistic functions that involved the activities of transporting, transshipment, and storage are par t of the physical logistic activities which has been changed since the adoption of e-logistics (Alt & Zbornik, 2002, p.723). Improving physical logistics has become complicated and consequently formed a new logistics system called e-logistics. The emergence of e-logistics had changed the virtual image of transporting, transshipment, and storage of information and materials, and it also managed to meet end-users expectations from manufacturers. For example, the emergence had helped Pfizer Pharmaceutical Corporation in the distribution of their medical products or medicines in the global