Third-Party Warehousing Selection: A Comparison of National and Regional Firms

Warehousing remains the most frequently outsourced logistics activity, but empirical research on the third-party selection process for warehousing remains scarce. The main goals of this research were to identify the most critical factors to customers during third-party warehousing selection and to compare the perceived performance levels of national and regional third-party firms on each of the selection criteria. Surveys were sent to warehousing customers in several industries. Responsiveness to service needs, quality of management, and track record of ethical importance were rated by customers as the most important selection criteria. Results indicate that respondents also rated the performance of the typical regional third-party warehousing firm as significantly better than national firms on six different criteria while national firms were rated significantly higher on only one criterion. It is hoped that this research can provide guidance to logistics managers as they evaluate third-party warehousing options.