The Enablers And Effectiveness Of Third-party Logistics Providers’ Responsiveness:In The Context Of Cross-border E-commerce

As one of the most effective forms of international trade,cross-border e-commerce has become a new engine of the foreign trade in China,facilitating by policies like ‘One Belt and Road’ initiative and ‘Internet plus’.Chinese third-party logistics providers,as the ‘bridge’,play a crucial role in cross-border e-commerce.However,the fact is that most third-party logistics providers cannot pursue pace with the fast development of cross-border e-commerce in China.Low response to requirements thus becomes a bottleneck of third-party logistics.In fact,responsiveness has been highly prized by researchers and practitioners.Responding effectively and quickly to market changes and customers’ requirements facilitate third-party logistics providers improve their core competence and create values for organizations and customers.Therefore,it is necessary to explore the enablers and effectiveness of third-party logistics providers’ responsiveness.The paper first analyzes previous researches related to the responsiveness and third-party logistics.Based on literature review,the paper develops a theoretical model of third-party logistics providers’ responsiveness and proposes six research hypotheses.By using SPSS 22 and Amos 22,structural equation modelling is applied to test the data collected from 214 Chinese third-party logistics providers.The fitness of theoretical model and research hypotheses thus are examined.The results show that low uncertainty,assets specificity,internal integration and visibility have positive impacts on third-party logistics providers’ responsiveness.It is noteworthy that internal integration and visibility can extremely improve the responsiveness.Besides,responsiveness can also enhance the performance of third-party logistics providers,especially in the aspect of innovation performance.The research finds that responsiveness is a valuable organizational competence in the context of cross-border e-commerce.Third-party logistics providers should give priority to internal integration and supply chain visibility according to the environments and organizational conditions,responding quickly and effectively to customers’ requirements.Meanwhile,responsiveness can also bring great benefits for organizations,create good environments for innovation,improve core competiveness and bid advantageous places in the fierce global market.In short,the research provides some managerial implications on the improvement of third-party logistics providers’ responsiveness in the context of cross-border e-commerce,and also gives a new insight on the development of ‘One Belt and Road’ initiative.