Logistic services in the Caribbean region: An analysis of collaboration, innovation capabilities and process improvement

In: Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administración, Band 31, Heft 3, S. 534-552

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the relationships between the capabilities and performance characteristics of logistic service providers (LSPs) in the Caribbean region. The study considers the organization's process improvement (PI) performance as it relates to their innovation capabilities, their efforts into information sharing and collaboration with customers, their planning for contingencies and considering the uncertainty of their customer's technology.


Design/methodology/approach
A survey was applied to 88 LSP firms with operations in the Caribbean region. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the hypothesized relationships.


Findings
The results indicate that the PI performance of LSPs is significantly related to their innovation capabilities, and that these capabilities are positively related to collaboration and exchange of relevant information. Furthermore, they indicate that information sharing between LSPs and their customers significantly improves the quality of contingency planning. However, the study showed that innovation capabilities are not directly related to the LSPs' focus on contingency planning and that customers' technology uncertainty does not have a significant effect on the LSPs' innovation capabilities.


Research limitations/implications
The sample of LSP firms is limited to three countries of the Caribbean region. Further examination of the model in additional countries and across multiple industrial contexts would increase the validity of the findings and expand to settings such as manufacturing and services.


Originality/value
This study measures operational performance of LSPs from a different perspective: its PI performance, and considers how multiple factors affect this performance.