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International Journal of Logistics Research and

Applications: A Leading Journal of Supply Chain
Management
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Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Strategies for

Reducing Cost and Improving Service (Second Edition)
MARTIN CHRISTOPHER
Published online: 24 Oct 2007.

To cite this article: MARTIN CHRISTOPHER (1999) Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Strategies for Reducing Cost and
Improving Service (Second Edition), International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications: A Leading Journal of Supply
Chain Management, 2:1, 103-104

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 international Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications, Vol. 2 , No. 1,1999 103

Book Review

Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Strategies for Reducing Cost

and Improving Service (Second Edition)
MARTIN CHNSTOPHER
Financial Times: Pitman Publishing. London, 1998
ISBN 0 273 63049 0 (hardback)
294 + ix pp.
Downloaded by [Aston University] at 14:36 25 August 2014

One of the central themes of this excellent book, as the title suggests, is that
firms gain competitive advantage by providing customers with a better
service at lower cost. Christopher and his publisher have taken this message
to heart in producing a second edition which is not only 63 pages longer than
the first but also 30% cheaper. The extension, updating and reformatting of
the book reinforces its position as the most authoritative and readable text on
logistics and supply chain management currently on the market. It provides
as clear an exposition of best practice in logistics management as you will
find in any book or article.
Unlike many logistics textbooks which read like reference works, this
book has a narrative which draws the reader into the subject and sustains
their interest through effective use of conceptual models and case studies.
Christopher eschews the functional approach to the subject widely adopted
in other texts, which have separate chapters on transport, warehousing,
inventory etc, and instead constructs the book around a series of more
holistic themes such as customer service, performance measurement, global-
isation and lead time management. Again he is practising what he preaches
in providing a cross-functional view of the subject, more concerned with the
process of logistics management than the intricacies of individual logistical
activities.
The book begins by exploring the relationship between logistics and
business strategy. This clearly establishes at the outset that logistics can be an
importance source of both value and productivity advantage. The following
two chapters examine in greater detail how firms can add value by raising
standards of customer service and analyse their logistics expenditure to find
potential cost savings. Emphasis is placed on disaggregated accounting
systems which focus on customers and transactions rather than products and
functions. This opens into a wider discussion of the benchmarking of logisti-
cal performance against a range of quality, cost and time criteria.
Roughly a third of the book is devoted to what have arguably been the
two most important pressures on logistics management in recent years:
globalisation and time-compression. The globalisation chapter examines the
logistical challenges created by the move to more focused production, the
centralisation of inventory and the local customisation of global brands.
1367-5567/99/010103-02 O 1999 Taylor & Francis Ltd
 104 Book Reviews

Efforts to cut leadl times and minimise inventory are examined in greater
depth across two chapters. These chapters present, with almost evangelical
zeal, the case for time-compressing the order cycle. The first outlines the
;general framewor:k of strategic lead time management, while the second
:focuses on the methods used to control product flow. The traditional method
of stock control based on the economic order quantity is contrasted with
more modern approaches, involving just-in-time delivery, quick response
and vendor managed inventory. Christopher stresses the key role of IT in
supporting these low-inventory strategies.
The penultimate chapter considers how the management of logistics
departments and s'upply chains shoulld be structured to meet the challenges
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outlined earlier. Christopher strongly encourages companies, internally, to

move to process-based, cross-functional management and, externally, to
strive for greater siupply chain integration, partly through the use of efficient
consumer response, co-makership and supplier development programmes.
The concluding chapter entitled 'Leading-edge Logistics' distils key points
from earlier chapters, speculates on tlhe future development of logistics and
ends with a detailed case study of how the Xerox Corporation implemented
supply chain integration.
Readers familiar with the first edition will note many improvements. A
substantial amount of new material has been added on topics such as
logistics benchmarking, the mapping of supply chain processes, postpone-
ment, vendor managed inventory, ECR, the extended enterprise and the
development of supply chain networks. A series of interesting new case
studies have been added on companies such as Dell, British Steel, Nike and
Whitbread. Each clhapter now begins with a separate contents page and list
of key bullet points, and ends with a well-rounded summary. This second
edition is therefore formatted much more like a student textbook than its
predecessor.
Whle this is undeniably a first-rate text, it has several deficiencies. Some
important topics, such as the Forrester effect and enterprise resource plan-
ning, receive only superficial coverage, while others such as waste recycling
and green logistics are not mentioned at all. Logistics performance is mea-
sured solely in eco:nomic terms with no consideration given to the impact of
logistical activities on the environment. This ignores the growing efforts of
governments, trade associations and individual companies to make distri-
bution operations imore erwironmentally sustainable.
The addition of another 60 pages to the next edition should help to plug
these gaps-hopefidly at an even lower price!

Professor Alan McIGnnon,

School' of Management, Heriot-Watt University