JIT and Corporate Transport: An International Comparison

A comparison of the impact of Just‐in‐Time (JIT) manufacturing programmes on corporate transport requirements between American and French firms is provided. Five major areas were addressed: (1) changes in carrier portfolios; (2) carrier selection and evaluation criteria; (3) internal and external information flows; (4) impediments encountered; and, (5) financial implications. The results indicate that the implementation of JIT manufacturing programmes introduce major changes for the logistics function in both countries. Responses from both groups were very similar in terms of the types of changes required. However, the manner in which firms in the two groups reacted to these changes differed in many cases due to country‐specific factors. While the findings of the survey question‐naire must be considered tentative, due to the size of the samples, they provide further evidence that JIT programmes can be applied in transport/ logistics across different cultures wherever firms develop and maintain the necessary commitment.