The Role and Value of Collaboration in the Logistics Industry: An Empirical Study in Australia

This paper explores the role and value of collaboration through telephone interviews with 32 senior managers in the Australian logistics industry. Key findings from this elite sample include collaboration being a significant strategy which has been successfully utilised to grow business over the past three years by the majority of the sample. Their strong commitment to collaboration as a strategy demonstrates its perceived value to their organisations. The interviewees anticipate that the number of collaborations will continue to grow in the industry over the next decade, indicating that managing collaboration's key enablers, such as business facilitation skills, is important to ongoing success. Reinforcing collaboration enablers may benefit organisations collaborating in Australian and Asian logistics systems.