Logistics, Marketing and Knowledge Management in the Community of Consumers

Introduction

This paper relate several fields of knowledge, takes as its starting point the business logistics and from it presents a Marketing and sales manager (M&SM), that additionally facilitates the relationships of the logistics and its environment. Through the functions of this Marketing and sales manager, which are closely related to the logistics, it is discusses the generation and management of knowledge in organizations. As this M&SM is intimately connected with the external communities, in particular the consumers, this generation and knowledge management it involves the consumers community (CC). In summary it will study the generation and knowledge management in an organization, departing from the functions of the Marketing and sales manager of a logistic model, which allows to involve the community of consumers, but always maintaining a logistics environment.

If there is a field of knowledge that relates to virtually all areas of an organization, it is the business logistics. This facilitates the study of organizations, through logistics. But simultaneously it makes difficult learning of the managerial logistics.

To understand the importance of business logistics throughout this chapter, it is necessary to know the close relationship that has the managerial logistics with the rest of the organization.

To visualize this high relation of the enterprise logistics, with different areas of the organization, it will make some brief comments, of their relation with four of these areas:

The Costs. When we talk about the relationship of costs to the logistics, the first thing that must be mentioned are the logistical costs. In relation to the logistical costs Ghodsypour & O’Brien (2001), among other costs, they indicate of transport, of ordering and of storing, that clearly are all logistic costs. Wu & Olson (2008), additionally emphasize the acquisition costs and hidden costs, including there, some costs for inventory management. In any case, these costs of inventories and cost of acquisition, they also come to be logistic costs. With respect to the acquisition cost, Trkman & McKormak (2009) are more specific and analyzed, entering more deeply into the logistics, the costs of procurement and the variation in the prices of raw material. Similarly do Bayraktar et al. (2009), trying to study the ordering cost reduction and in general the reduction of costs in the whole process. It is important to note that for all of these authors, expressly or tacitly, reveal that the costs are usually also related to quality. In particular, can be noted, that the costs, are related to the logistics through the reduction of cost in general, the quality and as pointed Corstens (2013) and Shao (2012) through risk in the supply chain, by interrupting the same.

Expansion and Growth of the Company. While stating Gundlach et al. (2006), that in the eighties the globalization and changes in the regularization of the transport help the expansion of the logistics, the expansion that is of interest is the opposite one, which generates the logistics. In this sense is of greater interest is the expansion of Amazon supported on the Internet and in its physical logistics system that comment Gurau, Ranchhod & Hackney (2001). This does not mean that expansion through the logistics activities is simple. In their work Koudal & Engel (2006), conclude that while companies could use elements of logistics, such as packing, distribution channels, research and development, the flows of materials, of services and of information, and even to the proper clients, however in general tend to work only one of these elements separately. Another interesting case of mention is the raised by Basker (2005) on the effects that can cause the expansion in the creation or destruction of jobs and there could be found that the efficient management of logistics activities could even reduce the jobs rather than increase, at the time to achieve some growth in the company. However, as stated Piriyakul (2011), it must be recognized that the functions of logistics performance and Marketing performance, are very closely linked to the expansion of organizations in both the service sector as in the manufacturing industry.