In today’s positively competitive environment, multiple companies are joining the global

arena to achieve market share and take advantage of more increased production and sourcing
efficiencies. E-Commerce has brought new challenges, as well as possibilities to logistics
management. The cost of logistics and transportation has a large effect on a company’s
profitability. In a global market, outsourcing, and operations place enormous pressure on the
logistics function to return the goods as fast as possible at the lowest cost (Gunasekaran and
Ngai, 2004a). Therefore, a key determinant of business version is the part of the logistics
function in ensuring the soft flow of materials, products, and information throughout a
company’s supply chain (Sum et al., 2001). More lately, logistics has become more apparent
and is recognized as a critical factor in competitive advantage due to the nature of a
physically spread operations environment and global markets.
Logistics can be defined as an operating method that includes inputting, storing, transporting,
and distributing physical goods. E-Logistics is an Internet allowed logistics value chain
created to offer competitive logistics services including public warehousing, contract
warehousing, transportation management, distribution management, and freight
consolidation. Over the years, logistics has evolved from single party logistics (self managed)
to Third party logistics (3PL) using a logistics grid. 3PL is contractual logistics concentrating
on regional operations. The main purposes of outsourcing logistics benefits are to (a) reduce
operating costs, (b) meet demand fluctuations, and (c) reduce capital investment. The general
issues that arise in corporate logistics contain delayed and inaccurate information, incomplete
services, slow and inefficient operations, and high product damage rates. This shows the
importance of proper information exchange among further parties along the logistics value
chain. Under such circumstances, the function of information technologies including the
Internet, World Wide Web (WWW), and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
in delivering shared-information platforms for enhancing logistics performance is
significant (Ngai and Wat, 2002).
The key component in the setting up of an E-Logistics procedure is developing a logistics .
community network with fitting Internet technologies. Leung et al. (2000) present a
framework for such a network, expanding the traditional Business-to-Business (B2B) e-
commerce to e-commerce at the enterprise level. The framework supplies a virtual market for
representatives of the air cargo industry, allowing them to develop and engage in
incorporating their logistics operations. None of the analyses, however, seem to have
examined E-Logistics and its outcome with the help of a case study.
E-logistics (Internet-enabled logistics) and logistics business approach outsourcing are the
subsets of a bigger external logistics market, portion of the supply chain. The supply chain is
an integrated business prototype for logistics management. It shields the flow of goods from
suppliers through manufacturing and dispersal chains to the ending consumer. Schary and
Coakley (1991) point out that Information Technology (IT) is a two-edged sword.
The increasing power of communication systems makes intra-organizational integration
probable to enhance coordination between organizational units. In current years information
systems (IS) have been considered as resources to sustain various business processes
(Alshawi, 2001). Alshawi (2001) underlines the role of the Internet, and Extensible Markup
Language (XML) in improving money flow visibility and supply chain visibility. In the
books, few studies deal with 3PL using a web-based information system in a logistics worth
chain. E-Logistics can be described as an Internet-enabled 3PL worth chain that can provide
the best logistics services to customers.
In this paper, an endeavor has been made to emphasize the importance of logistics in global
competitiveness along with the importance of IT including the Internet technologies (such as
email and www) in 3PLs. A abstract framework for E-Logistics based on a books survey is
developed. A case study achieved with a logistics company in Hong Kong is shown as a tool
for defining the IT framework required for IT integration
and help of the business associates and highlighting the reasons behind the success of E-
Logistics, that is, Internet-enabled logistics value chain operations

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