| Author | Kavin Sopitpongstorn |
| Note | A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Master of Business Administration (Executive)
International Business, Technology Management and Entrepreneurship |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Walking in any factory, warehouse or operation sites, you will definitely see the sign
"Safety First". Unfortunately, the role of safety in an organization is a supporting
function that is usually overlooked by most senior management. Is safety important
to the operation? You may find 'yes' as an answer to this question from the
management however it is difficult for them to actually link safety performance and
how it contributed to the success of the business. Many safety professionals fail to
explain and quantify the importance of safety performance to business performance
then how it can improve the bottom-line numbers in the company's balanced sheet.
Logistics by nature is a labour-intensive industry -warehousing and trucking are all
high-risk operations. Safety is a fundamental yet important factor in these logistics
operations. In terms of marketing, Logistics service is similar to other service
industries in terms of intangibility characteristics. As basic needs of the customers are
service level and costs, hence, it is quite a challenge for Linfox or any logistics
company to positioning its services in unique characteristics thus differentiating its
company and services from other rivals.
Linfox is a company that is 'do-good' in developing safety awareness culture with
their employees. The company has spent a fortune to invest in training infrastructure
and development programme specifically on safe workplace. Not many company put
safety as first priority in the corporate strategy but Linfox did with its 'Vision Zero'
programme. Linfox also conducted a study to track and measure safety performances,
in another word quantify benefits of being safety first into financial terms. Now, the
objectives of this study is to examine a strategy to transform this (safety) strong point
to be a key marketing attribute in order to differentiate / reposition Linfox from other
logistics providers.
The author recommended Linfox to re-launch its successful Vision Zero yet targeting
at tangible benefits for external customers both in terms of management and financial.
Linfox's Vision Zero should be re-interpreted to a proper CSR programme by
focusing on workplace, marketplace, community and environment. Customer
communication plays an important role in this CSR strategy. As the character of
Logistics industry is Business-to-Business (B2B), customers make decision based on
rationale rather than emotional attached to the CSR programme. The CSR
communication therefore is designed to focus on maximizing value of logistics both
service and cost aspects. These value propositions must be measurable and sufficient
to differentiate Linfox from other competitors. A case study of Semen Gresik of
Indonesia presented in this document provides in-depth detail on how Linfox can
propose value of safety culture to the customer. It is a pilot project with an attempt to
utilize its Vision Zero to gain competitive advantage over its rivals. |
| Year | 2010 |
| Type | Project |
| School | School of Management (SOM) |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Examination Committee(s) | Dimmitt, Nicholas J. ;Muller, Logan ;Badir , Yuosre; |