The impacts of logistics services on short life cycle products in a global supply chain

In this study, we construct a three-echelon supply chain consisting of one global supplier, one local seller and one logistics service provider for products with short life cycles. We study the trade-off between transportation time and cost in a global supply chain. We find that the global supplier should decide the transportation mode when selling relatively short life cycle products, and the local seller should always decide the transportation mode when selling relatively long life cycle products. Our results provide important insights into how to manage logistics service leadership, enhance consumer surplus and social welfare in a global supply chain.