Bundling Strategies in Global Supply Chains
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10-05-2010 10:14 B&T10193_ERIM Omslag Acciaro_10mei10 BUNDLING STRATEGIES IN GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS 197 MICHELE ACCIARO The development of logistics has offered a wide range of new business opportunities for transport operators. Shipping lines have been taking advantage of these opportunities and have expanded their business scope beyond the movement of cargo to include, for example, coordination among transport modes, route rationalisation and even value added Bundling Strategies logistics services. Carriers offer today transportation as part of integrated global supply MICHELE ACCIARO - Bundling Strategies in Global Supply Chains chain solutions in an attempt to provide a better service to their customers as well as in Global Supply Chains improve their bottom lines. This appears to be a winning strategy since an increasing number of industry players are investing in logistics operations and infrastructure. The offering of products and services jointly as a package or bundle is a common mar - keting strategy in a variety of industries and also appears to be a successful strategy for enhancing shipping lines’ competitiveness and profitability. Only limited research is available though to better understand under what conditions such bundled sales are possible; what attitude shippers show towards this industry trend; how bundling strategies could be develop edoptimally; and how they could be priced. This thesis is a contribution to research in this area and provides an analysis of the viability and the benefits of bundling strate - ERIM gies in the container industry, and specifically with reference to the joint provision of ocean transportation and other logistics services. Design & layout: B&T Ontwerp en advies (www.b-en-t.nl) Print: Haveka (www.haveka.nl) Design & layout: B&T Ontwerp en advies (www.b-en-t.nl) ERIM The Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) is the Research School (Onder - zoek school) in the field of management of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The founding participants of ERIM are Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), and the Erasmus School of Econo mics (ESE). ERIM was founded in1999 and is officially accredited by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The research under taken by ERIM is focused on the management of the firm in its environment, its intra- and interfirm relations, and its business processes in their interdependent connections. The objective of ERIM is to carry out first rate research in management, and to offer an ad vanced doctoral pro gramme inResearch in Management. Within ERIM, over three hundred senior researchers and PhD candidates are active in the different research pro- grammes. From a variety of academic backgrounds and expertises, the ERIM community is united in striving for excellence and working at the forefront of creating new business knowledge. Erasmus Research Institute of ManagementErasmus Research - ERIM PhD Series Research in Management Erasmus Research Institute of Management - ERIM Tel. +31 10 408 11 82 ERIM Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) Fax +31 10 408 96 40 Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) E-mail [email protected] P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam Internet www.erim.eur.nl The Netherlands Bundling Strategies in Global Supply Chains Bundling Strategies in Global Supply Chains Strategieën voor het bundelen van logistieke diensten in wereldwijde toevoerketens Thesis to obtain the degree of Doctor from the Erasmus University Rotterdam by command of the rector magnificus Prof.dr. H.G. Schmidt and in accordance with the decision of the Doctorate Board. The public defence shall be held on Thursday, 10th June 2010, 9.30 hours By Michele Acciaro Born in Sassari, Italy Promotor: Prof. dr. H.E.Haralambides Overige leden: Prof. dr. ir. R. Dekker Prof. dr. P.B. Marlow Prof. dr. S.L. Van de Velde Erasmus Research Institute of Management – ERIM Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) Erasmus University Rotterdam Internet: http://www.erim.eur.nl ERIM Electronic Series Portal: http://hdl.handle.net/1765/1 ERIM PhD Series in Research in Management, 197 Reference number ERIM: EPS-2010-197-LIS ISBN 978-90-5892-240-3 © 2010, Michele Acciaro Cover Illustration: Rob Kemerink www.robkemerink.nl Design: B&T Ontwerp en advies www.b-en-t.nl Print: Haveka www.haveka.nl All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. To my Family and Friends, for always believing in me, especially when I could not myself. Like many pieces of research, this thesis is the result a knowledge journey that lasted several years, but that has not ended yet. The nature of this journey brought me to interact with many people. I worked together with some of them on parts of this thesis, or on other publications and projects. Some of these people contributed to my effort, providing feedback or ideas, confronting my views with new perspec- tives or simply being the source of inspiration. Other people helped me sharing their knowledge and industry experience, providing data and information. Al- though I was never alone during this journey, a large part of it has been consumed on lonely nights at my desk, or long days in the silence of the University library. For this reasons, without the support of my family and friends, to whom this thesis is dedicated, I would have never been able to come so far. This paragraph is the attempt to thank those that have made this journey possible. First I would like to thank Hercules Haralambides for having given me the opportunity to be part of MEL, pursue my doctoral research within it and develop together with MEL as a lecturer and researcher. My past six years at MEL have been the experience of a lifetime and although very demanding in a variety of ways, they have surely contributed in shaping me the way I am now. In particular I would like to thank him not only for his guidance as ‘promotor’ but also for hav- ing offered me the possibility of making use of his extensive network of contacts for my professional and academic development. I would like also to thank the members of the Doctorate Committee: Peter Marlow, Rommert Dekker, Steef van de Velde, René de Koster, Enrico Musso and Bill Sjostrom for their insightful and useful comments and suggestions for im- provement of this thesis. I would like also to thank the Beadle Office, the Dean of the Erasmus School of Economics, Philip-Hans Franses, and his office and the ERIM Offices for their support. I take the opportunity also to thank the various I members of the academic community at Erasmus University Rotterdam and else- where that at different stages have read parts of the manuscript, the publications on which this thesis is based on or have provided feedback and comments during conferences and presentations. In particular I would like to acknowledge the dis- cussion opportunities offered at the International Association of Maritime Econo- mists (IAME) annual conferences where several parts of this thesis have been pre- sented since 2005. Similarly to many pieces of applied research, this thesis owns a lot to the members of the business community that have dedicated me their time to answer questions, fill in questionnaires and discuss, directly with me or indirectly through their lectures at MEL the ideas presented in the thesis. Without these people it would not have been possible to bridge the gap between theory and practice as I have attempted at doing in my research. Needless to say that the responsibility for eventual errors and omissions in the thesis remains mine and that not necessarily those mentioned below endorse the ideas and opinions expressed in the thesis. In particular I would like to mention in no particular order Simon Kirton, Ian Claxton, Long Chu, S. Rajendran and Peter Jongepier of NOL/APL, Yvonne Yeo and Kar Loke Ng of APL Logistics, Tom Boardley of NYK, Junichi Narita of Mitsui O.S.K. Line, Maarten Tromp, Bert van Grieken, Tom Peter Blankestijn, Mark van Zon of Maersk Line, Kirry Mukherji and Fleur van Hellemond of Damco, Albert Thissen of Hapag-Lloyd, Chris Bourne and Kate Townsend of the European Liner Affairs Association, Ferdinand Kranenburg of the Dutch Ship- pers’ Council and Nicolette van der Jagt of the European Shippers’ Council, John Verschelden of APM Terminals, Jan Westerhoud of ECT, all the speakers of the Maersk Line Series in Maritime Economics and of the MEL Distinguished Lecture Series. I would like also to thank Rachael White for allowing me to present in several occasions my ideas at the Terminal Operators Conference (TOC Europe). I would like to thank also the Members of the Hamburg Committee set up for the devel- opment of the CTQI, whose discussions contributed shaping some of concepts presented in the thesis. In particular I am most thankful to Kieran Ring of the Glo- bal Institute of Logistics and Gustaaf de Monie of IPC. Furthermore I would like to acknowledge the support of the NOL Fellowship received in the context of the research project ‘Bundling in the Liner and Logistics Industries’ whose development mirrored those of this thesis. In this context I can- not avoid thanking all the people involved in the project, but in particular Roberto Mariano and Vincent Chua with whom I had the pleasure of working the most. I would like to acknowledge also the support of the Sardinian Region that has funded to some extent this research as part of my scholarship for four years. I want also to thank for their support all my present and past colleagues at MEL and all MEL lecturers: especially and in no particular order Chantal Che- ung-Tam-He, Enzo de Filippi, Andrea Judd, Kasia Kurek, Konstantina Roussou, II Eelco van Asperen, Miaojia Liu, Girish Gujar, Vangelis Gkanatsas, Woo Jong Kyun, Avril Brady, Renée Slater, Kim Kontos, Joppe Bieffies.