Increasing competitiveness with intercompany integration of logistics and marketing functions

Abstract

Research of different scientific disciplines, such as management strategies, organizational theories and marketing, has in the past explored relations of mutual influences and the importance of cooperation of different functions in a company. The increased focus towards the logistics function has potential to increase competitiveness. This is especially true for globally focused production companies. In any company, logistics functions cooperate with various related functions such as production, marketing, procurement, engineering or developing new products as well as with financial functions. Each of the aforementioned connections or cooperation among logistics and its complemen-tary functions can have a decisive effect on the company's competitiveness. Using a survey, we determined which activities in the surveyed companies are performed by the logistical function together with the marketing function and which activities they suggest should be per-formed together but are currently not, meaning they are co-dependent. Since interfunctional integration between logistics and marketing increases the success of a company, we also examined the connection of the current joint performance of activities and the suggested joint performance of activities among the before mentioned sectors, connected to the success of the company. To examine these connections among the logistical and marketing functions, Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) were performed.

Keywords

• Integration
• Logistics
• Marketing
• SEM