Redefining “Core Competencies”: Labor Market Intermediation in Outsourced Warehouses

IF 1.7 Q2 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & LABOR
Beth Gutelius, Nik Theodore
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Abstract

For nearly a half century, questions of why and how firms navigate the “make-buy” decision have animated fields as varied as industrial relations and economic geography. The idea of “core competencies” became the dominant explanation of corporate decision-making processes, where any activity deemed outside of the central specializations of the firm is a possible candidate for outsourcing. Coupled with the focus on short-term profit taking, corporate leaders have grown increasingly focused on shedding less-profitable activities and shifting supply-chain risk—leading to high levels of lead-firm influence over subcontracting markets and the cost-based competition that permeates them. This paper examines the role of third-party logistics companies (3pl s) in the warehousing sector. It argues that efforts to contain operational costs increasingly are focused on labor and that the ability to access and deploy low-cost labor is among the “core competencies” touted by many 3pl s in the warehousing sector.
重新定义“核心竞争力”:外包仓库中的劳动力市场中介
近半个世纪以来,关于企业为什么以及如何做出“制造-购买”决策的问题一直活跃在工业关系和经济地理等各个领域。“核心竞争力”的概念成为了企业决策过程的主要解释,在这种过程中,任何被认为是公司核心专业之外的活动都是外包的可能对象。再加上对短期获利了结的关注,企业领导人越来越关注摆脱利润较低的活动和转移供应链风险,这导致了领先公司对分包市场的高度影响力,以及弥漫其中的基于成本的竞争。本文探讨了第三方物流公司(3pl)在仓储领域的作用。它认为,控制运营成本的努力越来越多地集中在劳动力上,而获得和部署低成本劳动力的能力是仓储行业许多第三方物流公司所吹捧的“核心竞争力”之一。
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来源期刊
Journal of Labor and Society
Journal of Labor and Society INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & LABOR-
CiteScore
0.60
自引率
7.70%
发文量
41
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