Imagine that you are in charge of logistics for a small exporting business such as Honeyland. What are the difficulties you need to think about?
Efficient logistics is important for businesses especially when they involve in exporting products to reach their market. For a small exporting business such as Honeyland, there will be difficulties in managing logistics. Leading supply chain practices and processes commonly reside with large retailers and manufacturers. They have and driven various economies of scale. They usually utilize technologies and large staffs of people and therefore, small businesses might have to compete with these large companies to get container space. As small businesses might need to export in smaller quantities such as one container load, whereby larger companies need more containers, these small businesses would have to compete with them to get the container space. This is because larger companies would have already established relationship with the shipping company. Cost is also another difficulty in logistics for small exporting business. As one of the strategic logistics functions is to lower cost, therefore small businesses should have the best mode of transportation that could reach to its distance on time that is cost effective. If the company employs freight forwarder, it will be costly though it has the advantage that professional logistics services take care of all the formalities. This includes the customs declaration and the documentation of the bio-security requirement. On the other hand, if the company chooses to use shipment, there is a risk of the products to arrive safely to customers. This is because it will take time for ships to reach its destination from one point to another. Other than that, geographical distance is another difficulty in logistics for small businesses. This is because; production and logistics share is to increase product quality by eliminating defective products from both