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Research Article

A Study on Shared Logistics Centers of Manufacturing Firms

Park, Myeongseop · Kim, Seonhui · Park, Byeongin

Published: January 2000 · Vol. 29, No. 1 · pp. 1-18
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Abstract

Since the 1990s, Korean firms have devoted considerable effort to improving their high-cost logistics systems, yet logistics costs have continued to increase. Despite these improvement efforts, the persistent rise in logistics costs is judged to be due in part to problems in the direction of logistics improvement. Specifically, most Korean firms pursued the construction of their own logistics centers independently to reduce logistics costs; however, at the individual firm level, logistics volumes failed to reach an adequate scale, and due to the shortage of personnel capable of effectively planning and operating logistics, the costs from constructing and operating logistics centers were outweighed by increases in total inventory, long-term dead stock, and logistics management personnel, resulting in inefficient logistics management. In particular, the rapid increase in logistics centers in the Seoul metropolitan area since the mid-1990s has caused numerous problems in terms of inefficient utilization of corporate investment resources and land. To propose improvements for these problems, this study conducted an economic benefit analysis of logistics centers using the hedonic technique. Using the results of the analysis, desirable directions for the joint operation (consolidation) of logistics centers were proposed as a means to enhance the operational efficiency of individual firms' inefficiently managed logistics centers.