Logistics as a strategic role for the creation of Customer Value

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to explain the linkage between logistics and customer value. The focus is on how customer value can be created through logistics services. The thesis also explains how value is created in the internal logistics context. Today, logistics plays an important role in an organization which indirectly contributes to growth and profitability. Logistics service providers are striving to provide outstanding logistics services to their customers. This thesis seeks to identify the elements of logistics services and attempts to analyze and evaluate whether these services can create value to internal customers. The research project is conducted as a single-case study with Electrolux Laundry Systems (ELS). This study aims at explaining the linkage between the Logistics Centre in Ljungby (LCL), the logistics service provider of the company and the value LCL can create for their customers (internal), the Sales Companies. Finding the gap between the perceptions and expectations of the customers is also another objective of this study. Based on the theoretical framework developed for the purpose of explaining the above linkage, a survey with questionnaires was designed to collect empirical data for analysis. 23 respondents from LCL and 4 Sales Companies were interviewed. The key conclusion of this study is that logistics plays a strategic role in an organization when customer value is created through customer accommodation, value co-creation and customer integration. Superior logistics services generate customer value through achieving efficiency, effectiveness and differentiation/relevancy which can lead to competitive advantage for the organization. As a result of the case study, a proposition is made: “If customer value is to be achieved, then customer success has to be attained.”