台灣的國際物&#63946;業者起步較晚，3PL業者在早期<1960-1950>的20&#63886;間大多是單打獨鬥的局面，一個客戶經常須與&#63847;同功能的3PL業者有&#63895;繫。所以客戶本身須具有整合多種 3PL業者的能&#63882;，才可以順&#63965;處&#63972;每一批進出口貨物，反之如果&#63847;&#63930;解3PL業者各自運作的情形，則貨物的處&#63976;往往&#63994;況百出，問題&#63847;斷，。
造成這樣的情形，實在&#63847;能歸責任於客戶，而是早期3PL業者的功能並沒有適當的整合和規劃，大多&#63849;的業者只關注於如何提供較&#63845;宜的運價，和努&#63882;爭取較多的貨源。於是業者汲汲於從船公司或航空公司爭取低&#63906;的成本，最終的結果卻導致產業間僅重視價格戰而忽&#63862;基本競爭&#63882;的&#63929;性循環問題，壓縮&#63930;原本業者應該獲得的合&#63972;&#63965;潤。有些業者甚至因為極&#64001;&#63929;&#63901;的&#63929;性競爭使得服務品質日漸低&#63768;，形成&#63745;多的延遲,破損，和誤送和喪失產業價值。
本研究中，作者試圖以2 家公司的個案實&#63925;，從外部整合和內部加值功能的展現探討改善上述問題的可&#64008;性。

According to the author’s professional observations of the 3PL industrial situations and problems, the main issue of this paper is to present real cases providing solutions on 3PL industrial pitfalls.
In this paper, the pitfalls of “Third party logistics” industry actually focus on the “NVOCC” services, which indicate the vicious competitions of price for these decades. Due to the low entry barrier and low cost requirements; 3PL industry originally is under a keen competitive environment. Plus, because of the different price structure of underlying carrier during the recent decades, for 3PLs, the vicious cycle of NVOCC becomes more and more serious.
Therefore, in this paper, author analyzes two practical cases based on existing literature review. The main purpose here is finding out the efficient suggestions of solutions on breaking this vicious cycle of competition by improving the core competitiveness from both internal services offering and external logistic network.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1The Introduction of Third Party Industry…………………………………………………12
1.2 Research Background and Research Motivation………………………………………....13
1.3 Problem Statement………………………………………………………………………….14
1.4 Purpose and Objective……………………………………………………………………...16
1.5 Outline of the Thesis………………………………………………………………………..16

Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Academic definitions of Third-Party Logistic…………………………………………….18
2.2 The historical research foundation of 3PL………………………………………………..18
2.3 The trend developing process of 3PL ……………………………………………………..19
2.4 Industry opportunities and problems……………………………………………………..20
2.5 The current state of the 3PL Industry…………………………………………………….20
2.6 The benefits of customized services of 3PL……………………………………………….21
2.7 The domain of 3PLservices ………………………………………………………………..21
2.7.1 Routine 3PL services
2.7.2 Standard 3PL services
2.7.3 Customized 3PL services
2.8 The introduction of VMI …………………………………………………………………..22
2.8.1 3PL Evaluation
2.9 Networks in the freight forwarding industry……………………………………………..22
2.91 Development of new markets
2.92 The relationships of network members
2.93 Customer relationships
2.94 Competition
2.95 Growth and development
2.96 Internal networks and local networks
2.97 Sharing resources and reciprocity
2.98 Mergers and acquisitions in the 3PL industry.

Chapter 3 Conceptual Framework
3.1 The introduction of conceptual framework……………………………………………….34
3.2 To improve internal domain of services…………………………………………………...34
3.1.1 Literature review related to customized services
3.3 To improve external network ……………………………………………………………...35
3.2.1 Literature review related to external network

Chapter 4 Research Methodology
4.1 Choices of Approaches……………………………………...……………………………...38
4.2 Case Study Method…………………………………………………………………………38
4.3 Data Collection……………………………………………………………………………...38
4.4 The Case Study as Research Strategy……………………………………………………..39
4.4.1 Two selected cases
4.4.2 The part of internal design of services
4.5 Research Scope……………………………………………………………………………...42
4.6 Personal interviewed………………………………………………………………………..44

Chapter 5 Case Study
5.1 The Background of selected company A ………………………………………………….45
5.2 Selection of case …………………………………………………………………………….45
5.2.1 VMI model of this Case
5.2.2 Needs of Buyer L
5.2.3 Pitfall faced by "VENDOR D “
5.3 Descriptions of the selected case………………………………………………………….46
5.3.1 The workflow of VMI
5.3.2 Choosing distribution center for such VMI operation
5.3.3 Pitfall of VMI and the corresponsive resolution
5.4 Individual report of case one………………………………………………………………59
5.4.1 Analysis of Company A:
5.5 Description of company B………………………………………………………………….62
5.5.1 Logistics Association
5.5.2 Reasons for participation in Logistics Association and Network
5.5.3 Preparatory works to become a member of Logistics Association
5.6 Individual report of case two………………………………………………………………67
5.6.1 Cost Quantity
5.6.2 Services
5.6.3 Services by item
5.6.4 IT Development
5.6.5 Quality
5.6.6 Global Scope of View
5.6.7 Financial Stability
5.6.8 Personnel & Experience
5.7 Disadvantages of Logistics Association……………………………………………………73
5.7.1 Competition among members
5.7.2 Inquiries Handling
5.7.3 Risks of losing existing business
5.7.4 Lack of consensus
5.75 Interview Findings
5.8 Cross-case report……………………………………………………………………………76
5.8.1 Internal solution: VMI case-to enhance services domain
5.8.2 External solution: Internal logistics network
5.8.3 Combined conclusion linking two case studies
5.8.4 Modified Theory
5.9 Other findings for the model: Improve Quality…………………………………………..82
5.9.1 Improve shortcomings of the supply chain
Chapter 6 Conclusion
6.1 Contribution …………………………………………………………………………. 85
6.2 Further Research Suggestion…………………………………………………………85
6.3 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..86

APPENDIX A: References………………:…………………………………………………….89
APPENDIX B: Interview records……………………………………………………………...92

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