From government-run companies to private logistics service providers

In a trend driven by Anglo-Saxon countries, processes of deregulation and liberalization have been initiated since the 1980s around the world in an effort to increase commercial efficiency. Within academia, the idea of far-reaching liberalization was prompted in particular by Milton Friedman (USA). The elimination of government-controlled prices and access rights increased streamlining pressures in the liberalized sectors and, subsequently, triggered a revolution in the markets. The effects of deregulation were felt especially by the transport sector and by postal and telecommunications services.

The end of government-run communications and transport services

The past two decades in the logistics sector have been primarily shaped by the global trend to deregulate former public or government activities such as communications and transport services.
Previously, modern thinking about business and the role of the state included the expectation that all citizens and companies in a country would be offered such services at the same quality level and at the same price - just like the provision of water, electricity, hospitals and security services like the police and armed forces. Here, the state was either an owner or a monopolist - e.g., of postal services, railroads or air-traffic systems - or, at a minimum, regulated rates, access rights and conveyance obligations through the issuance of concessions and licenses.

The revolution among service sectors

Even the Treaty of Rome, the agreement that set up the European Community in 1958, said that such regulations should not be retained in a modern economy. Since the 1980s, American and British governments under leaders such as Carter, Reagan and Thatcher have taken energetic steps to introduce processes of deregulation and liberalization. Many other countries - not least of all Germany - followed slowly. The subsequent elimination of government-set prices and access rights in the area of transport and postal and telecommunications services unleashed a revolution in the service sectors.
Significant rate cuts for parcel and goods shipping have produced intense streamlining pressures in these markets. Traditional providers had to undergo restructuring, create new quality products and launch aggressive marketing campaigns in order to survive. Such activities resulted from the fact that more and more providers, armed with new ideas, rushed into the marketplace.
Today, new business models and provider structures like contract logistics Contract logistics and "3PL 3PL /4PL 4PL " services have taken hold. They are creating new approaches to streamlining, quality improvement and flexibility in industrial and trade companies. In this process, modern logistics is not just reacting to the changing needs of the global economy. Rather, it is becoming a driving force of innovation.

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