E-business Logistics : case studies of collaborative supply chain management within companies in Hong Kong

Logistics issues have always been a critical fact for companies to streamline business costs. With the help of e-business, companies can make revolutionary changes by integrating database systems with each other. The result will strengthen existing partnerships, increase faster response to market changes, provide information to understand buying patterns, increase collaboration, result in economies of scale, make opportunities to wider a range of available products and services, create possibilities to reduce transaction costs with automation and improve inventory management. The term e-business logistics is frequently used in the world today, but how is it in reality? Do Swedish subsidiaries take advantage of the new technology to benefit oneself? The purpose with this thesis has been to investigate how Swedish subsidiaries in Hong Kong are using e-business logistics to improve its operations. This study is based on a descriptive research with a blend of exploratory characteristics, further on it is a qualitative approach chosen and case study is used as the research strategy. The finding indicated those Swedish companies who are taking benefits of e- business logistics is generally multinational and medium size enterprises, while small enterprises are unenthusiastic due to the doubt of benefits. Intranet is the system that is used to integrate internal suppliers/customers, subsequently part of the intranet information can be reached by external suppliers and customers via the extranet. An alternative solution is to use a web portal, where a total integration occurs between internal and external suppliers and customers.Validerat; 20101217 (root