Purpose

Typically the size
of the logistics market is estimated through national accounting and market
data. This data, however, neglects some of the in-house logistics services
and most likely underestimates the true size of the logistics market. The
purpose of this paper is to develop a systematic methodology for the
estimation of logistics market size comprising the overall logistics
expenditure through a combination of multiple data sources to also account
for the in-house services. 

Design/methodology/approach

This research
approaches the size of the logistics market by combining longitudinal
industry and firm level turnover data, and survey data from Finland on
logistics outsourcing and logistics costs and calculating the yearly
logistics expenditure and market demand of logistics services. Descriptive
statistics, weighted arithmetic means and analysis of variance are employed
in the analysis

Findings

The research
provides an improved and more rigorous methodology of estimating the size of
the logistics market, including both the market based demand and in-house
services.

Research
limitations/implications

The empirical data
used in illustrating the result is limited to a single country. The
methodology should be further validated with data from other countries. The
quality of the survey data could be improved by targeting multiple informants
form a single firm.  

Social
implications

For the policy
makers, the research will provide improved estimate on the size of the
logistics market on a national level. For the logistics service providers,
the results provide additional information on the market potential of
logistics services.

Original/value

The novelty of the
research is in combining multiple data sources and expanding the estimate of
the logistics market to include also services provided in house.