Logistics and Marketing Integration : Enhancing Competitive Advantages

Logistics and marketing are usually concerned with satisfying the customers' needs and wants, respectively through their supply and demand functions in a marketing channel. The interface between logistics and marketing is critical to the delivery of customer service. The major cause of conflict for logistics and marketing interface is related to 5Ps (product, price, place, promotion and packaging) of marketing. Without the successful link of logistics and marketing, the firm may be unable to provide good customer service, resulting in dissatisfied customer or a lost sale. For organizations to be successful in delivering higher customer value, logistics and marketing functions must be integrated because the right product must be at the right price, advertised through proper promotions, provided in right packaging and must be available at the right place. This research works in this direction and develops various frameworks and models such as interactive model of logistics and marketing integration and business value add framework for better integration of logistics and marketing