Supply chain integration and the end- customers’ relationships: : The case of a Scandinavian International Service Provider

Sammanfattning

Background: In recent times, the maritime shipping industry has been facing several challenges due to higher shipping costs caused by delayed deliveries and underperformance damaging the relationship between operating companies and end-customers. Researchers have shown the potential usefulness of an integrated supply chain system as it helps improve business results and end-customer relationships. It has also been shown to have a tremendous impact on operational and financial performance. Purpose: This thesis aims to analyze supply chain integration in the maritime transport sector to improve end-customer relationships and performance. Particularly, the logistics and distribution in terms of preventing delays and increased prices. Method: This thesis is conducted as a case study at a Scandinavian international service provider company. Empirical data is collected through semi-structured interviews with employees within the company and their end-customers. Content analysis is used to create themes that clearly relate to research. Conclusion: The study shows that inefficiencies in the shipping service supply chain are due to lack of integration within logistics and distribution processes. Improvements of the operations to improve the lead time and the pricing in the supply chain are needed to reduce such gaps. As data have been collected from a single company and its end-customers, the analysis shows that all actors in the supply chain must act as a single entity and work for a unified goal, and more studies are needed to confirm the applicability of these results to other cases with similar conditions.