DHL's E-Business Strategies

This assignment examines how DHL leverages e-business practices to meet customer expectations and manage its supply chain effectively. It explores the benefits of e-business for DHL, highlighting key strategies such as plan, source, make technology, forecasting, and utilizing advanced technologies. The analysis demonstrates the significant impact of these strategies on DHL's ability to succeed in the competitive marketplace.

Running head: LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Logistics and Supply chain management
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Chosen organization........................................................................................................................3
A. Analysing the effectiveness of "Logistics management" to improve the competitiveness of
DHL.................................................................................................................................................4
B. Relationship between e-business and e-commerce and benefits obtained from the recent
developments and innovations in e-business/commerce.................................................................6
C. Analysis and implementation of the Best Practice in Logistics and Supply Chain Management
.........................................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The business activities are defined according to the domestic and export sales achieved
and these supply chain management activities include freight management, warehouse
components management and other costs management too. The supply chain management not
only creates an impact on business but also on the customers for enabling growth and success
and furthermore differentiates products and services to survive in the competitive business
environment. The logistics and supply chain activities include the management of companies as a
network to coordinate the business actions and enable successful procurement, distribution,
maintenance and management of inventories (Christopher 2016). The business organisation DHL
is chosen as the case study and it includes the various benefits obtained by enabling the supply
chain management activities along with the innovation in business models and approaches to
communicate. Lastly, the most suitable practices in logistics and supply chain management are
illustrated too.
Chosen organization
DHL is one of the global market leader within the logistics and supply chain management
industry. The company has its skills and expertise in the management of international parcel,
express, air and ocean freight, road and rail freight, etc. The company is located in more than 200
countries all around the world and has more than 350000 employees working currently. The
business organization, with its good quality services delivered has managed to provide solutions
for a huge number of logistics needs (de Lange 2016). It is also considered as one of the leading
postal and logistics company Deutsche Post DHL Group and includes various other areas where

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operations are carried out including DHL Express, DHL E-Commerce, DHL Freight and DHL
supply chain (Dhl.co.uk 2017).
A. Analysing the effectiveness of "Logistics management" to improve the competitiveness
of DHL
DHL is known for its excellence in services, which has helped in connecting people and
improved their lives largely. The international express deliveries of various products and
services, global freight forwarding by air, sea, road and rail along with different types of
warehousing solutions ranging from packaging, repairs, storage, delivery of mails and
customized logistics services. Within the increased global economic business environment, the
products are being sourced from the locations of low cost products to fulfill the needs and
requirements of the consumers at costs that they will be able to afford. The supply chain
management has been excellent for DHL and this has increased the level of satisfaction among
the customers too (Dekker et al. 2013). There are fashion and clothing, consumer electronics,
FMCG, auto parts that are sourced by DHL in many countries and have created a positive impact
on the supply chain management too. The wide range of services provided by DHL included
international supply chain consultancy and designing of solutions, controlling of tower services,
management of operations and enabling visibility of supply chain, consolidating changes,
management of vendor and delivery of value added services too. The freights are managed
across and transported via different ways by air, sea, rail and carrier neutral too. The destinations
are managed properly prior to the delivery of freights from the source and even the by-pass
services have been managed with ease and effectiveness (Fernie and Sparks 2014).

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The expenses are reduced along with the betterment of customers’ services. The raw
materials are accumulated at first during the logistics management and ends with the delivery of
goods to the destination. The management of logistics is done by DHL through selection of
appropriate vendors who could provide enhanced transportation facilities, selecting the most
effective route for transportation, identifying the most effective modes of delivery, i.e., by air,
sea or rail and finally utilize the information technology resources for handling the logistics
processes properly. There are various issues associated with the logistics and supply chain
management including the failure of delivery, damage of products due to carless transportation
and undertaking inaccurate decisions related to the outsourcing or selecting the inappropriate
vendor (Frąś, Scholz and Olsztyńska 2017). Rather than competing with its rivals, DH; has
focused more n implementing the best logistics, supply chain management practices, which
further helped in ensuring collaboration between the buyers, vendors, etc. to reduce the expenses
and provide safe transportation facilities for keeping the product safe, and ensure business
success too.
There are various benefits related to the management of supply chains such as the
improved flow of products or materials and thus the freights are delivered to the customers on
time. The factors that can affect the supply chain management processes include quality of
products, balance in supply and demand and costs of shipments and inventories have been
considered to optimize the speed of business and ensure that the products are delivered to the
customers without any manipulations. The management of logistics and supply chain by DHL
has also facilitated the flow and exchange of data and information, furthermore helping to meet
the constant demands of the customers and provide them easy access to the products and services
delivered (Islam et al. 2013). DHL has managed its supply chain properly, which has prevented

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issues like inaccurate flow of information, poor relationships between the supplier and
customers. The effective flow of information has reduced the chances of miscommunication that
has improved the visibility of products and been accelerated the supply chain generation with the
help of previous financial reports. With the enhanced supply chain management, the financial
flow has enhanced and prevented occurrence of problems like high day sales outstanding due to
delays in invoice reconciliations, inappropriate empowerment of employees, etc (Jacobs and
Chase 2013). Thus, it could be understood that DHL has maintained a good financial status
through management of supply chains properly and this has contributed hugely to the success of
the organization in United Kingdom.
B. Relationship between e-business and e-commerce and benefits obtained from the recent
developments and innovations in e-business/commerce
Electronic business or E- business includes the email marketing and other marketing
activities that are done electronically to conduct the business and derive good outcomes in
business. It is an online system that helps in tracking the inventories and creates alerts from the
beginning of the delivery process until it has reached the destination. The content management
system is also part of the E-business that has helped in managing the flow of work electronically
and even facilitated the online induction program for the employees who are new to the
company. When compared with E-commerce, it is an online platform that creates ease and
convenience for the customers to order products online and make payments through an online
gateway too. E-commerce includes management of a website where various products and
services are sold to the consumers (Mangan and Lalwani 2016).

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E-business is relatively larger than the e-commerce in terms of size, structure and
management of transactions, which are based on the online activities that have been managed by
DHL, United Kingdom. The E-business allows for better scopes and opportunities and this has
helped DHL to manage its selling of products and services and at the same time, control the other
business activities and delivery of products through the management of logistics and supply
chain. The E-business for DHL has helped in enhancing the efficiency of the business processes
ranging from the production, distribution, procurement, sales, payment, restocking and
marketing of products and services done online. The vertical planning is an important aspect of
the E-business, which has improved the efficiency of logistics and supply chain management and
even ensure successful resource planning with ease and efficiency (Mazzarol 2015). The
customers, suppliers, business partners and other business stakeholders are managed properly
through integration of new technologies and business operations managed by DHL in United
Kingdom.
With the use of various online business models, it has become easier for DHL to manage
the customer relationships and enhanced the consistency of services and customers’ services too.
With the use of information technology system, it has become easier for the company to
communicate with the customers and know their needs. The e-strategy is implemented by DHL
to identify the scopes and opportunities and manage business evolution by driving business
successfully towards the future. The online business models have also helped in managing the
logistics outsourcing and ensure successful management of physical assets and execution of
processes effectively as well (Mohapatra 2013). DHL has used parcel robots, smart sensors, E-
paper, solar powered warehouses, remote vehicle intelligence, E-paper and electric vehicles to
capitalize on the innovation process and meet the demands and preferences of the people across

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multiple industries in UK. The E-business standards such as UN EDIFACT, RosettaNet, OAG,
GS1, IATA, ANSI to provide a supporting community and maintained effective collaboration
too. The transactions are standardized as well, which have leveraged the implementation of
strategies for the major IT providers and even enhanced the performance of the DHL enterprise
internal integration platform (Myerson 2012).
C. Analysis and implementation of the Best Practice in Logistics and Supply Chain
Management
Various business practices are considered by DHL as effective for managing then
logistics and supply chain activities in an effective way. For DHL, it is important to ensure that
all the business practices, from the manufacturing to the production processes are properly
undertaken and most of the benefits are obtained quite easily. The supply chain consists of few
major areas including the ability to plan, source, make and finally deliver. The planning allows
the business organisation DHL to ensure that the demands and preferences of the customers are
forecasted at the earlier stages and then the inventories are managed properly to set the right
prices for the products and services delivered to the customers. The sourcing business practice
allows for managing the purchase, vendors, policies and practices for ensuring proper designing
of the products and services and even manages the facilities and business processes effectively
(Rushton, Croucher and Baker 2014). The delivering is another business practice that helps in
identify the major areas of order management, manage the scheduling of delivery and returns
too. The supply chain management activities enable to optimize the business operations and
processes in the major areas of supply chain such as minimizing the inventories, managing the
reduction of costs, increase the productivity level and finally fulfill the rapid orders that have

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been placed by the customers for DHL. The three major business practices are plan, source,
make and finally deliver (Stadtler 2015).
Plan
The planning stage allows for forecasting, which is useful for creating a framework for
the supply chain planning and ensure that all the business departments work as an u it to achieve
the common goals and objectives with ease and effectiveness. The goals and objectives are
accomplished with the assessment of historical data and information based on the supply and
demands of products and services along with the sales achieved by the company. Various
guidelines are set along with important forecasting methods for receiving the information and
data and finally obtain the result in the form of forecasting number (Waghmare 2012).
The measurement of metrics is also another important business practice that utilizes the
most important performance indicators to know how the business is performing and also allow
for the management of costs and maintain a proper cash-to-cash cycle. The standard indicators re
also used to managing the analysis of supply chains and develop a roadmap to measure the
metrics and determine the areas where improvements are needed.
Source
The logistics operations must be flexible and clear to achieve the competitive
performance by managing the supply chains and even configure the business operations and
processes to meet the changing demands and preferences of the customers (Wymer and Regan
2013). The areas that need operational improvements have been identified too for fulfilling the
orders and enable value added services that can be applied for customization and differentiation
of products and services to gain high level of customer satisfaction. This would also generate

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additional revenue to the bottom line and create enough scopes for becoming successful in the
future too.
Make technology
The Make technology could be used by DHL for automating the warehouse facilities and
satisfy the needs and requirements of the customers effectively. The Warehouse management
system or WMS is used at DHL to make the warehouse less prone to the risks of wasting both
time and money. This would also help in managing the expenses of premium freights, manage
the costs of reverse logistics and decrease the time taken for restocking the components of the
warehouse. As a part of the Make technology, the Order Tracking system is also beneficial for
making the users het informed about the time when the customers made the order and the time
when it would be shipped and finally delivered to the customers (Christopher 2016). This
business practice also helps in enabling more visibility and provides them opportunities to track
the orders made by them online, furthermore understand the time when it would be delivered to
them by DHL.
Conclusion
The management of logistics is considered as one of the major aspect of supply chain
management that has helped in meeting the demands and preferences of the customers and
facilitated the planning, control, implementation, movement and storage of freight related
information starting from the source to its destination. The relationship between the e-commerce
and e-business had been illustrated here, which showed that the e-business proved to be more
beneficial for DH;L to sustain in the marketplace. The various business practices that were
effective included the plan, source and make technology, The forecasting practice helped in

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analyzing the present and future market scenario and make technology allowed for utilizing the
most effective technologies for improving the business efficiency and generate enhanced levels
of profit in business.
References
Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
de Lange, D., 2016. Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability: DHL, the National University
of Singapore, and the Asia Pacific Sustainable Supply Chain Centre.
Dekker, R., Fleischmann, M., Inderfurth, K. and van Wassenhove, L.N. eds., 2013. Reverse
logistics: quantitative models for closed-loop supply chains. Springer Science & Business
Media.
Dhl.co.uk. (2017). DHL | United Kingdom | English. [online] Available at: http://www.dhl.co.uk
[Accessed 13 Nov. 2017].
Fernie, J. and Sparks, L., 2014. Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new
challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan page publishers.
Frąś, J., Scholz, S. and Olsztyńska, I., 2017. Modern information technologies in the logistics of
e-business. Research in Logistics & Production, 7.
Islam, D.M.Z., Meier, J.F., Aditjandra, P.T., Zunder, T.H. and Pace, G., 2013. Logistics and
supply chain management. Research in Transportation Economics, 41(1), pp.3-16.

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Jacobs, R. and Chase, R., 2013. Operations and supply chain management. McGraw-Hill Higher
Education.
Mangan, J. and Lalwani, C., 2016. Global logistics and supply chain management. John Wiley &
Sons.
Mazzarol, T., 2015. SMEs engagement with e-commerce, e-business and e-marketing. Small
enterprise research, 22(1), pp.79-90.
Mohapatra, S., 2013. E-commerce Strategy. In E-Commerce Strategy (pp. 155-171). Springer
US.
Myerson, P., 2012. Lean supply chain and logistics management. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Rushton, A., Croucher, P. and Baker, P., 2014. The handbook of logistics and distribution
management: Understanding the supply chain. Kogan Page Publishers.
Stadtler, H., 2015. Supply chain management: An overview. In Supply chain management and
advanced planning (pp. 3-28). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Waghmare, G.T., 2012. E-commerce; A Business Review And Future Prospects In Indian
Business.
Wymer, S. and Regan, E., 2013. Influential factors in the adoption and use of e-business and e-
commerce information technology (EEIT) by small and medium businesses. E-Commerce for
Organizational Development and Competitive Advantage, 58.