Raaziq International Has Developed Significantly Management Essay

Raaziq international is Pakistans leading logistic and ancillary service provider. It was established in 1974. Raaziq specialize in flexible delivery solutions that get the goods of its clients on time, safely and in the most cost efficient manner. With the network of 13 branches in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Raaziq has become on of the most trusted full service supply chain firm in the region.

Vision:

Raaziq international strives to become the most trusted leader of logistics in Pakistan by exceeding customer’s expectations in the delivery of complete world class logistics solutions.

Mission:

Raaziq international goals rest on the implementation of following core principals.

Promises to listen closely to all clients so that they are able to understand the basis needs

To become flexible, quick, reliable, robust and honest

Aims to constantly enhance the network of supply chain assets and cultivating the team of experts

Commitment to enriching our communities through becoming environmentally and socially responsible.

Product Range:

In ever changing international trade scenario, Raaziq International has adopted a reactive approach to withstand current and future needs of its clients. Raaziq closely monitors the carrier operational and financial needs related to the new regulations, country economic conditions and route security. All decisions regarding investment in infrastructure such as warehousing, terminals and new ships are done scientifically to provide value to the customers.

Raaziq international has developed significantly since its inception. Raaziq international continues to expand its services solution so that its clients have a competitive advantage and they are able to meet their ongoing performance at global and local basis.

Raaziq provides full range of services including ocean, air freight forwarding, custom brokerage, cold chin process management, warehousing and distributions. Raaziq provides value added services such as Co packing, labeling, updated price stickers and shrink wrapping. It also provides e- services to its customers like tracking devises which will help customers to access basic information and receiving updates on significant steps and procedures such as receipts of goods, international departure and delivery. With the help of Raaziq Warehousing Management systems RWD customers are provided with of automated reports so that they can easily tract down their stock.

Solution Heights at Raaziq international provides customize software solutions and web based technologies to its customers. It provides effective internet, intranet and extranet solutions. Solution heights aim to provide services to ensure that its clients are getting not only value for money but also services of international standard.

Other than this company also handles all sorts of projects for which they provide technical guidance and services, from feasibility to the commissioning stage. They also provide services to major industrial projects. The range of services for special projects includes:

• Assisting with the on-site construction of prefab offices

• Supplies boats and helicopters for offshore projects

• Catering services in remote sites

• Provide turnkey solutions for site development

Ware housing and distribution:

Raaziq has 66000 square-foot warehousing facility in Lahore, 28000 square feet of space in Karachi and pipeline projects in Sialkot, Islamabad and Faisalabad has given them the ability to serve your inventory management requirements nationwide. We provide a reliable, extensive and secure dry storage space for keeping your goods, as well as a place to consolidate and deconsolidate your shipments. For the customer convenience, we have a racked and open door space with a computerized inventory control system (Raaziq Warehouse Management System) to manage your valuable merchandise. Combine these strategically located warehouses with the feet of small- and medium sized trucks and your goods can be distributed to any part of any city in Pakistan. Moreover, through seamless process that involves warehousing, transport, customs clearance and freight forwarding services, they can move your products anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice with auto email and SMS alerts from our WMS. Our upcoming projects in Lahore and Karachi measuring 12000 & 14000 pallet locations respectively ensure the strategic augmentation of our company and fulfillment of customer’s trust. These state of the art warehousing facilities will deliver the most advanced infrastructure latest warehousing techniques resulting in a win-win situation. There in house developed WMS is customizable and adaptable to meet all requirements of their value client within a short span of time.

Corporative Objective:

The objective of Raaziq international is to become renowned trusted freight forwarding company that provides complete supply chain solutions to its customers, so that they are able to create a competitive advantage. Such proficiencies are gained with the help and efforts of employees in conjunction with the management of the company.

Financial Objective:

The financial objective is to maintain and expand client portfolio and to sustain market share.

Marketing Objective:

To serve this objective Raaziq international has divided is marketing department. On is called as Corporate marketing department and other is RMMS (Raaziq marketing and management services). The basic purpose to separate these both divisions is that both department woks on separate line. Corporate marketing division basic goal is to retain customers and to keep a record of the current clients. Where as the goal of RMMS department is to look for the prospect customers and to approach them. This department is also responsible for the development of new business plans and projects and marketing of these projects.

Industry Analysis:

Currently Pakistan fright forwarding industry consists of 450 companies. Out of which 380 entities are registered with the industry’s trade body and the balances freight forwarders without formal membership. Most of the freight forwarding companies is located with Karachi while rests of them are clustered within Lahore and Sialkot.

The freight industry is highly affected by the volatile environment. The industry is negatively impacted by sever infrastructure constraints. Ports are notoriously inefficient. Exporter suffers losses due to the delays in the shipments, changes in rules and regulations, careless handling by the dock labors and lack of covered storage facilities. In such scenarios the fright forwarding companies are the best solution that the company can have. It helps them to forget about the freight, distribution and transport worries and focus on the core product.

Literature Review

In the changing business world now the competition has shifted from organizations verses organizations to supply chain verses supply chain. Now companies have realized the growing importance of managing the supply chain. The basic purpose of the study is to find out the difference between the idea structure and associated structure and how this difference manipulates the perception of logistic service provider. With the help of value chain model (Porter 198) the authors explains the difference between the idea structure and associated structure.

“The basis of the idea structure is a set of principles and technologies and idea structure refers to a pattern of different logic, includes knowledge of different technological possibilities as well as different actors, problem, goals and ambitions. The idea structure can be more or less in accordance with an active structure. The development of the idea structure take place in close relationship to the activated structure and the expression of idea structure take place in close relationship to the activated structure and the expression of the idea structure can occur in manual, pictures and drawing included a set of principals. The core issue is the combination of value configuration analysis and industrial networks. The basic purpose of the logistic service provider is to serve the manufacturers and retailers, therefore understanding the structure and recourses of the clients is essential. Logistic service providers may use an alternative idea structure as their guidance, a structure that regard them as actors on their own terms.” [1] 

Over the years the supply chain process has evolved. Value chain provides an extensive view of supply chain. But in some cases the mangers feel that the traditional supply chain was better than the advanced one as they found that the difference in the business model of the logistic service provider was causing problem. The research suggests that the better understanding of business model of the clients by the logistic service provider will help them to bring value to the clients.

Logistics is now one of the most important factors for the companies to keep pace in the changing market conditions. Supply chain management and logistics are developing because of the external changes and in order to cater to these external changes companies now incorporating the internal environment. The external factors include the increased competition, customer awareness and technological advancement. In order to accommodate to these external changes companies are changing their internal operations such as implementation of decision support system and making their internal supply chain process more efficient.

Coordination among the functions of supply chain is important. Now companies incorporate strategy, structure and performance to make the supply chain process proactive rather than reactive. This improvement explains how organization’s focus has improved from the internal forces to other functions such as effective production process and cycle time compression to decrease their inventory costs.

The paper illustrates different models to decrease complexity by evaluating the different logistic strategies. The analytical model focuses on the one strategy which is static in nature. This model helps to pin point those factors that affects the customer preference.

“The organization needs to determine what type of supply chain strategy will help an organization achieve its greatest competitive advantage. Even at the supply chain strategy level a dynamic environment with various choices exist. Supply chain strategies include a continuum extending from commodity providers to virtual enterprise membership. Commodity, partnering, strategic alliances and virtual enterprises form a spectrum of relationships that may exist among enterprises, with the relations of the inter-enterprise business processes becoming more united and integrated along this spectrum. The supply chain environment in which the enterprise exists will determine what type of inter-enterprise relationship is necessary to maintain a competitive position in a particular industry. The strategic alignment of an organization’s logistics network needs to be synchronized with the demands of the competitive environment. As a system, an enterprise that fails to respond to environmental demands is placed at a disadvantage relative to competing firms. Some of the characteristics of the supply chain relationship spectrum are defined below. This spectrum comprises the strategic dynamic environment elements in the strategic analysis model.” [2] 

Further to clearly understand the logistic process it is really important to understand the two types of relationship. First is the commodity relationship and the other is the Virtual Relationship.

Commodity relationship focuses on the customers based on the three factors that are price for the product, quality perceived by the customers and the reliability of the brand. The other type of the relationship is the virtual relationship. This basically measures the satisfaction that the customers perceive on maintaining the relationship among the supply chain entities.

Three areas that are affected by the principles of logistics are inbound, material management and outbound logistics. These principal logistics are selection risk, information selectivity, information substitute, transaction simplification, variance reduction, inventory velocity, postponement and share shifted risk.

The two different types of intermediaries in the logistic industry are the property broker and the other is the freight forwarder. To understand difference between the both the types is important because they have different roles, regulatory aspects, obligations as it relates to freight charge payments, transportation intermediary and statutory duties.

In the statutory term broker is the person other than the carrier that offers for the sale or providing the transportation. The brokers keep track of the records. In order to track down the records author has proposed a tracking system on wireless sensor system. This system will help clients to locate their products and also to check timely delivery. Poor infrastructure and regulatory policies in Pakistan our hurdle in the progress of the logistic industry, through wireless sensor network companies can make sure that their cargo has reached safely. Now logistic industry has become an integral part in the production and delivery of the products thus the logistic transportation system is an important part in the logistics provider.

For the country like Pakistan where we have poor road structure, climate conditions and highly multifarious geographical environment, timely access to obtain relevant information to make sure that cargo has reached final destination is really important. For this the author has proposed Logistics Transportation Vehicle monitoring system structure.

“A large number of sensor nodes self-organize to form WSN by wireless communication technology (Wang and Zhang 2006). WSN can realize data acquisition quantization, processing integration and transmission application. Zig Bee is a WSN technology, which ranges from wireless markup and Bluetooth technology, mainly used in the near distance wireless connection (Wang et al. 2006), it has its own wireless standard, and can inter-coordinate thousands of small sensors and realize communication. Network node (including 1, 2) uses Atmel’s microcontroller named CC2430, and is shown Fig.1.combines Zig Bee protocol software, with RF transceiver and enhancing performance 8051MCU, 8KBrandom access memory (RAM) and other parts.

FFigure 1. System Structure

The system uses star topology structure of WSN. As ZigBee terminal device, 1 is cargo package module in Fig.1; as ZigBee coordinator, 2 is vehicle module. There is one vehicle module placed in cab to be watched by workers; there are some cargo package modules placed in each package unit. Environment data (temperature, humidity and vibration) is collected one time every three minutes by terminal module, sent to coordinator by RF transceiver. If coordinator has information to be sent to terminal, communication is processing in the reverse order. Then bidirectional signal transmission between vehicle module and cargo package module, the real-time monitoring of the environment information of transporter cargo, are realized. A Logistics Transportation Vehicle system for information acquisition based on WSN is proposed.

The monitoring for the environment information of temperature, humidity, vibration in the transportation process is realized. The topology structure of WSN, the system composition and the software and hardware design of vehicle module and cargo package module are given. The communication experiments are doing. The results prove that the system runs well, has the very strong practical value, and can be widely used in the logistics transportation system. ” [3] 

In order to gain comparative advantage companies outsource logistic service to deliver products to their customers. This outsourcing can be effective but it also makes supply chain process more complex, because companies are now dependent on logistic service provider. Uncertainty in economic conditions, political instability, poor infrastructure and other uncontrollable factors has made supply chain more vulnerable to various types of distraction.

This paper focuses on how the uncontrollable factors can cause disruptions in supply chain and thus can have a huge impact on financial statements. To mitigate supply chain vulnerability many researcher came up with the theories and model to reduce the risk of uncertainty. Author only discusses quantitative model that is unified framework for classifying supply chain risk management. “In preparation, let us define two terms: supply chain management, and

supply chain risk management. First, ”the management of material, information and financial flows through a network of organizations (i.e., suppliers, manufacturers, logistics providers, wholesalers/distributors, retailers) that aims to produce and deliver products or services for the consumers. It includes the coordination and collaboration of processes and activities across different functions such as marketing, sales, production, product design, procurement, logistics, finance, and information technology within the network of organizations.” Based on the definitions of supply chain management and SCRM, it appears that one can address the issue of SCRM along two dimensions:

1. Supply Chain Risk-operational risks or disruption risks.

2. Mitigation Approach-supply management, demand management, product management, or information management.

The first dimension addresses the risk level of certain events. Operational risks are referred to the inherent uncertainties such as uncertain customer demand, uncertain supply, and uncertain cost. Disruption risks are referred to the major disruptions caused by natural and man-made disasters such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, terrorist attacks, etc., or economic crises such as currency evaluation or strikes. In most cases, the business impact associated disruption risks is much greater than that of the operational risks. To mitigate the impact of supply chain risks, four basic approaches (supply management, demand management, product management, and information management) that a firm could deploy through a coordinated/collaborative mechanism. Each of these four basic approaches is intended to improve supply chain operations via coordination or collaboration as follows. First, a firm can coordinate or collaborate with upstream partners to ensure efficient supply of materials along the supply chain. Second, a firm can coordinate or collaborate with downstream partners to influence demand in a beneficial manner. Third, a firm can modify the product or process design that will make it is easier to make supply meet demand. Fourth, the supply chain partners can improve their coordinated or collaborative effort if they can access various types of private information that is available to individual supply chain partners..” [4] 

Transportation delay in reverse logistics

Over the years companies have now evolved and are more proactive in making decision in where they are going to produce their product, at what time they are going to order raw material and deliver the product to the retailer. Theses all decisions directly affect availability of the company’s product. In the research paper author has categories supply chain into four distinct sub-systems

Manufacturing

Physical Distribution

Consumption

Recycling

At each and every step there is a value attached and very stage has a capacity that affects every type of cost. Inventory basically provides company a cushion in case of shortage but as there is a cost attached to have an additional inventory. Inventory is limited by each stage capacity of the chain. Manager has to basic objective. One is to keep inventory level low as possible and reducing inventory costs by balancing inventory cost with ordering cost. Three important factors that are to be considered will making supply chain decisions are timings, inventory level and lead time. One way is that the organizations purchase the raw material, send it to the warehouse department, then to the sub assemblies, transfer to the semi finish goods, final product storage and then to the distributor or retail outlet. The other option that the organizations have is the reverse logistics. Companies manufacture their product and hire a logistic company to distribute the product or to send it to the final destination. In the process of globalization now the distance between manufacturing unit and distribution point have increased. These changes have forced companies to take reverse logistic services.

The paper has suggested following future research:

a) “To consider uncertainty and risks within the reverse activities sub-system, such as has begun in (Bogataj D. and Bogataj, 2010)

b) To introduce a multi-criteria evaluation of the consequences of the model, in which conflicts between NPV maximization and environmental consequences could be made visible for all sub-systems of the model, and in which decisions could be evaluated from economic and environmental perspectives also along a long-term time horizon,

c) For each sub-system to develop equations for supply and demand functions as functions of supposed prices by means of maximizing the individual sub-system NPV (or utility, for the consumer) and studying optimization conditions

d) Thereby to derive economic equilibrium conditions for the system as a whole, in particular for establishing equilibrium prices based on parameters of the system structure and the optimizations conditions

e) To develop and study comparative-static relationships for the effects of parameter changes on the equilibrium state

f) And finally, to include the condition of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to consider mutual consequences for subsystems 1 and 4, when these sub-systems jointly share economic consequences.” [5] 

Competitors Analysis:

Agility is global logistic service provider with total asset of 1,429.36 Million and Net Income of 7.8 Million. Agility is the biggest competitor for Raaziq international especially in cold storage and export. Cold storage retail solution has huge growth potential in the Pakistani market because of the weather conditions. Companies now pay a lot of attention to the hygiene and quality of the product at time of the delivery. With the huge potential there are some limitation and challenges for the companies that are operating in cold storage. The limitation includes huge capital investment, poor infrastructure and lack of technical skills in human capital. But agility has invested in its human capital and has gained technical expertise and also has fleet of reefer vehicles that makes Agility the best cold chain service provider of Pakistan. Agility’s prominent feature is temperature controlled facilities such as temperature control trucking system and proven IT system.

The competitive edge that agility has in cold storage over Raaziq is that they provide customize cold storage solution to its customers. They have more advanced multi temperature zones in vehicles, vehicle equipped with tracking devices, freezer facility range from 4°C to -30°C and temperature controlled trucking system that deliver food, chemicals and health care products to its customer’s door step. Agility has made an impression in the market that they provide tailored solutions and it also specializes in controlling cost and spoilage.

Agility started its operations in Pakistan in 2001. Within eleven years they have shown a remarkable growth. With 700 human capital, eight offices across the country and 1 million Sqft of warehouse facility has made it a leading logistic provider of Pakistan. Customer portfolio of Agility ranges from Chemicals, Petroleum, Retail and Pharmaceutical. Agility is also known for its specialties for organizing events and exhibitions. Agility has also made its mark in dealing with turnkey transportation and project management in a quit smaller period of time.

Million KD

Q2 2012

Q1 2012

FY 2011

FY 2010

FY 2009

Revenue

348.81

321.82

1,330.90

1,605.70

1,705.44

Net Revenue

92.47

87.02

375.08

487.95

627.17

Net Revenue Margin

26.51%

27.04%

28.18%

30.39%

36.77%

EBITDA

18.88

16.05

74.43

80.18

216.28

EBITDA Margin

5.41%

4.99%

5.59%

4.99%

12.68%

Net Income

7.82

7.08

27.04

25.11

15.43

Net Income Margin

2.24%

2.20%

2.03%

1.56%

9.17%

Total Assets

1,429.36

1,410.19

1,402.42

1,494.60

1,784.17

Total Liabilities

531.19

498.30

503.33

572.73

831.24

ROA

2.19%

2.01%

1.93%

1.68%

8.77%

ROE

3.59%

3.14%

3.03%

2.75%

16.62%

Source: Agility Financial Statement 2012

Quarterly Result

Q2 2012

(Million KD)

Q2 2011

(Million KD)

Variance

Q2 2012 v Q2 2011 (%)

Revenue

348.8

330.6

6%

Adjusted EBITDA

20.3

12.5

63%

Net profit

7.8

7.8

0%

EPS (fils)

7.9

7.8

0%

Source: Agility Financial Statement 2012

Recapping Financial Performance

– Net profit was KD 7.8 million for the second quarter of 2012, vs. KD 7.8 million for Q2 2011. EPS were 7.9 fils, vs. EPS of 7.8 fils in Q2 2011.

– EBITDA was KD 18.9 million for Q2 2012, adjusting for one-off events; EBITDA grew 63%, from KD 12.5 million to KD 20.3 million.

– Staff costs decreased 11%, reaching KD 45.9 million in Q2 2012 compared to KD 51.5 million in Q2 2011.

– Agility’s revenue in Q2 2012 reached at KD 348.8 million, a 6% increase over Q2 2011.

– Agility GIL revenue in Q2 2012 was KD 295 million, a 1% increase from same period a year ago.

– Agility’s Infrastructure group contributed KD 58.4 million to total revenue in Q2 2012.

– Operating cash flow was KD 17.6 million for the first six months of 2012. [6] 

Aries Logistics:

Aries logistics is another competitor for Raaziq international. It entered the Pakistani market in 2000. Aries logistics have global presence in Air, Sea, Land and it also provides warehousing facility. Company follows strike quality management rules. These rules include flexible logistic service to improve efficiency. Aries is proving its expertise in three different areas. Logistics solutions, freight forwarding and project handling. They have performed really well for the past years and have taken a huge share especially in exports. Aries is known for providing customizes solution, they give special attention to their clients, tries to understand the nature of the business where their clients conduct its operations. Another specialty that Aries has is that they are known for project handling.

Financial Analysis:

Balance Sheet

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Total fixed assets

142

229,489

3,431,932

3,545,705

3,253,436

Total current assets

1,352,615

5,575,374

2,545,649

4,219,902

7,505,683

Inventory

35,615

1,047,284

235,785

87,383

87,383

Cash and deposits

661,636

2,400,368

856,674

1,710,714

4,758,131

Total receivables

655,364

2,127,722

1,453,190

2,421,805

2,660,169

Total capital

429,369

3,096,439

4,232,701

5,979,998

7,539,014

Paid-in capital

200

200

200

200

200

Loss provisions

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Total debt

923,388

2,720,563

1,747,932

1,818,504

3,244,584

Source: IFC Annual Report

Profit and Loss

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Annual turnover

4,283,555

15,575,012

6,195,708

13,006,002

20,751,982

Total revenues

4,384,235

15,950,625

6,785,994

13,725,570

21,036,625

Total expenses

3,873,196

12,774,104

5,342,926

11,102,109

18,641,718

Profit before tax

511,039

3,176,521

1,443,068

2,623,461

2,394,907

Net profit

429,169

2,667,070

1,202,848

2,176,427

1,996,633

No of employees

2

10

10

9

9

Source: IFC Annual Report

Balance Sheet Ratios

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Debt to equity ratio

2.1506

0.8786

0.4130

0.3041

0.4304

Total debt to total assets

6,502.7324

11.8549

0.5093

0.5129

0.9973

Shareholder’s equity to total assets

3,023.7254

13.4928

1.2333

1.6865

2.3172

Profitability Ratios

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Profit before tax margin (%)

11.9303

20.3950

23.2914

20.1712

11.5406

Net profit margin (%)

10.0190

17.1240

19.4142

16.7340

9.6214

Before tax ROE (Return On Equity)

119.0209

102.9900

34.1179

44.1133

31.8703

After tax ROE (Return On Equity)

99.9534

86.4725

28.4385

36.5964

26.5703

Operating Ratios

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Inventory turnover (days)

3.0347

24.5431

13.8905

2.4523

1.5370

Receivables turnover (days; VAT adjusted)

46.9271

41.9018

71.9411

57.1138

39.3184

Total assets turnover (times)

6,502.7324

11.8549

0.5093

0.5129

0.997

Source: IFC Annual Report [7] 

Research Objective:

This paper investigates the effect of slow and nonpayment of carrier fright bills on the operations of Raaziq international. Plus it also identifies how the client relationship affects the service and performance provided by the logistic company. Because of the changing trends towards the concept of hiring third party logistics has made logistic industry an important part in the growth of the economy. How the performance has a huge impact on the global supply change is surprising.

Through this research we also tried to find out what are the factors that play an important role while selecting logistic company. The paper also address to the fact that whether the competitiveness or the brand name of the logistic service provider determines the ability to add value to the bottom line of its clients. The main finding of the paper which address to the entire research question is that with Demand-side economies of scale is characteristics of value network services (Katz &Shapiro, 1985) and the value to the existing customer’s increases with the addition to each new customer that is added in the business. Thus if a company has an extensive portfolio it reduces the cost for the company and also they have a capital to cushion the gap between the delays and nonpayment of its clients.

Pakistan has gained importance in trade industry because of its strategic location that it has. But current literature on Pakistani logistic industry is inadequate to highlight the importance and to address the problems that this industry is facing because of the poor infrastructure.

Thus in order to meet literature gap, purpose of this research is also to identify the effectiveness of the client relationship and how relationship orientation has an impact on effectiveness and performance. The paper also address role of innovation and technology on performance of the logistic service provider.

This paper will help logistic companies to focus more on the factors that plays a vital role while companies select logistic companies. And it will also highlight the problems that this industry face so that government can make policies for the better meant of this industry. In addition to this the research will also be useful to audiences that are interested in overall improvement of supply chain. This paper will not only help service provider companies but also client in selecting the logistic service provider company. Result of this study is eventually going to provide evidence that were Raaziq international stand and do they have problems of capital when there are delays in the payment by the company. It will also help to identify that were Raaziq international as a brand stand in the market. To what extend entrance of multinational companies like agility and DHL has given a tough time and in what areas. Raaziq international started its operations in 1974 which has given it experience and first mover advantage. But as multinational companies have better technology than Raaziq and also a huge capital to invest they have given Raaziq a tough competition specially in cold chain storage and exports in quite a shorter period of time.

Research Questions:

To what extend poor infrastructure has effected logistic industry

Indentify and analyze good and bad transportation practices and its effect

What is the market structure of the logistic industry and hoe changes in rules and regulations has affected the performance of the logistic industry.

Determine the role of industry in logistic services and its impact on global supply chain

Competitive nature of road, air and sea fright transport, and which one is most effect in economic structure like ours

Define and analyze factors that explain the difference between an efficient industry where the market reflects an optimal balance of supply and demand and the actual circumstances in the sub-regions

Research Methodology:

As lack of literature available on Pakistan’s logistic industry the research type that has been used is quantitative in nature. Primary source is used in order to collect the data. “The design of the questionnaire will affect the response rate and the reliability and validity of the data collected. Response rates, validity and reliability can be maximized by:

â-  Careful design of individual questions

â-  Clear layout of the questionnaire form

â-  Lucid explanation of the purpose of the questionnaire

â-  Pilot testing

â-  carefully planned and executed administration.

Questionnaires can therefore be used for descriptive or explanatory research. Descriptive research, such as that undertaken using attitude and opinion questionnaires and questionnaires of organizational practices, will enable you to identify and describe the variability in different phenomena. In contrast, explanatory or analytical research will enable you to examine and explain relationships between variables, in particular cause and- effect relationships. These two purposes have different research design requirements (Gill and Johnson, 2002), which we shall discuss late). Although questionnaires may be used as the only data collection method, it is usually better to link them with other methods in a multiple-methods research design For example, a questionnaire to discover customers’ attitudes can be complemented by in-depth interviews to explore and understand these attitudes. In addition, questionnaires, if worded correctly, normally require less skill and sensitivity to administer than semi-structured or in-depth interviews).

There are three different ways to collect primary data.

Collecting primary Data through observation

Collecting primary data through interviews

Collecting primary data through questionnaires [8] 

This paper has used the last methodology that is the collection of data through questionnaires. There are two types of questionnaires that have been used. Objective of first questionnaire is to identify that whether Raaziq has procedural problems in receiving Account Payable and what are the external factors that have affected the operations of the company. The other questionnaire particularly addresses to the need assessment of Raaziq clients. The object of this questionnaire is to identify the factor that clients consider important in selecting logistic company.

The survey methodology included a combination of primary data generated through a sample survey, secondary sources of information, intensive interviews with individuals connected to the industry and focus group discussions

Secondary sources

1. “Trade in International Maritime Services: How much does policy matter?”

World Bank Economic

2. “Eliminating excessive tariffs on exports of least developed countries,” World

Bank Economic Review

3. Pakistan Economic Survey

4. State Bank of Pakistan Annual Report

5. Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry

6. Overseas Chamber of Commerce and Industry

7. Director-General, Ports and Shipping

8. Foreign shipping lines and Pakistan National Shipping Corporation

Sampling and Data Collection:

First Questionnaire was distributed to 35 people in total who were currently working at Raaziq. Two were the directors, twelve were senior managers and twenty one were managers.

The other questionnaires were distributed to clients of Raaziq international. As the portfolio of Raaziq is quite diverse we were able to get feedback from the companies that belong to important industrial sector of Pakistan. Some of the important clients that gave us the feedback regarding services of Raaziq were Shan Foods, Metro, Johnsons and Johnsons, Honda and others. The sample size of this questionnaire was 15 representative of company’s client.

Research Findings:

Raaziq is one window logistics service provider. At Raaziq they are committed to deliver operational excellence to the customers. They as an integrated team to offer world class supply chain services by providing end to end solutions. Raaziq offers a wide rang of services covering the full spectrum of our customers supply and distribution needs. They provide a range of value added services within warehousing facilities to help clients reduce cost and inventories, increase efficiency and improve customer services. They know that there are many ways to reach one’s destination, but among those there is only one best way, one real solution. We research every project to find that real solution so that they can drive value for their business.

Exceeding the needs of our customers has been the driving motivation behind Raaziq. It is what powers our commitment to continuous improvement and what maintains our expert team’s dedicated to provide the best service to the customers.

Raaziq is one window logistic service provider. Raaziq is the parent company with different sub brands such as Ammiza Transportation, Ammiza logistics and warehouse, Ammiza Aviation, RIL logistics, TS n TS cold chain management. Raaziq also specializes in providing special project handling services. They have done business for Afghanistan as well.

Raaziq started its operations in 1975 and it has been succeeded in building Raaziq as a premium brand and through this image they are able to build quite an attractive portfolio in all the areas of logistics sectors, which includes air, sea and road freight. But over the year due to poor infrastructure and due to entrance of multinational companies entering the market has brought challenges for Raaziq though it still enjoys first mover advantage. Multinational companies have better technology and huge capital than Raaziq. Agility gives Raaziq tough competition in cold chain storage and exports. Agility has better equipped trucking system than Raaziq and thus have better speed delivery.

1st Questionnaire Analysis:

The first questionnaire highlights major factors that have affected the operations of Raaziq international. Most of the factors are external and are not in control of the company. These factors include rule and regulations such as Cabotage Law and increase in diesel and petrol expense. Federal Licensed intermediary plays a vital role in to determine the performance of logistic industry. Further poor road infrastructure and collapse of railway in Pakistan has brought business to logistic industry.

As far as payment problems are concerned Raaziq has very strict payment policies. In order to prevent slow payment and nonpayment highly specialized RFP’s, auditing financial statement, payment house and resource to the shipper on prepaid or collected shipment.

Analysis of Second Questionnaire:

The second questionnaire is designed to access the need assessment of Raaziq’s client. The main purpose was to know where they think Raaziq stands in the market, who are the close competitors they think, are for Raaziq and what are the factors that they consider will selecting Logistic industry. Companies are seeking best quality and brand name while selecting logistic service provider. According to the clients Agilty, DHL and Aries are the closest to Raaziq in providing logistic service.

Recommendations:

Raaziq international is a service based industry. The biggest asset in a service industry is there people. Therefore Raaziq should invest more on training their employees as at the end of the day they are shaping the product that Raaziq is providing. For raaziq slow payments are not a problem. They do have a capital to cushion the payments delay. Raaziq international has recently launched “The enterprise” which is the first business center in Pakistan. Which will provide different companies facility of food court , traing centers, gym, motals and conference center. This is a huge project that Raaziq international has launched and is expected to bring in a large amount of profit to the group. Thus the slow and nonpayment is not an issue for Raaziq international as they follow a strict payment policies. Though Raaziq should adopt proactive polices to maintain its position in logistic industry against new entrants.

Referencing

http://www.ppiaf.org/freighttoolkit/sites/default/files/pdfs/road.pdf

http://www.ato.gov.au/content/18538.htm

http://www.aktransport.pk/books/trrl.pdf

http://www.insourceaudit.com/Whitepapers/Selecting_Freight_Audit_Vendor.asp

www.sciencedirect.com

Lars Humer. (12 June 2011) ” Unchained from the chain: Supply management from a logistics service provider perspective”

2 R.Zhang. (2012), ” Logistics transportation Vehicle System for Information Acquisition Based on

3 Christopher S. Tang. (2005). Perspective in Supply Chain Risk Management

4 R.Zhang. (2012), ” Logistics transportation Vehicle System for Information Acquisition Based on Wireless Sensor Ntework”

5 Marija Bogataj (2007) “Transportation delays in reverse logistics”

6 Agility Financial Results for Q2 2012, (14 August 2012), “http://www.agilitylogistics.com/InvestorRelations/Pages/AgilityAnnouncesFinancialResultsforQ22012.aspx”

7Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis, and Adrian Thornhill. (2011). Research Methods for Business Students. 4th edition

Annexure:

Agility

About Agility

From its roots in emerging markets, Agility brings efficiency to supply chains in

some of the globe’s most challenging environments, offering unmatched

personal service, a global footprint and customized capabilities in developed

countries and emerging economies alike. A publicly traded company, Agility is

one of the world’s leading providers of integrated logistics with close to $6 billion

in annual revenue and more than 22,000 employees in 550 offices across 100

countries.

Lines Of Business

Agility’s commercial business, Global Integrated Logistics (GIL), is

headquartered in Switzerland. Agility GIL provides supply chain solutions to

meet complex and traditional customer needs. GIL offers air, sea and road

freight forwarding, warehousing, distribution and specialized services in project

logistics, fairs and events, fuels and chemicals.

Agility’s unique collection of portfolio businesses includes Agility Defense &

Government Services, a logistics provider to governments, ministries of defense

and international organizations. Agility’s Infrastructure group of companies

manages commercial and industrial real estate and offers solutions in customs

optimization and clearance, waste management and recycling, aviation services,

remote infrastructure and life support.

Leadership

Tarek Sultan, Chairman and Managing Director

Essa Al-Saleh, President and CEO, Global Integrated Logistics

Dan Mongeon, President and CEO, Defense & Government Services

Employees

22,000 employees spanning over 100 nationalities, cultures, and languages

Location

Agility has more than 550 offices across 100 countries, with a strong and

growing presence in emerging markets.

• Americas: 108 locations, 23 countries

• Asia Pacific: 188 locations, 23 countries

• Europe: 173 locations, 28 countries

• Middle East & Africa: 97 locations, 29 countries

Investors Reltionship

Agility is publicly listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange and Dubai Financial

Market

• Ticker symbol: AGLTY

• 15,000+ shareholders, including institutional investors

Need Assessment Questionnaire:

Q1. How significant in your opinion is the role of an effective Logistics & Supply Chain Management System in the successful execution of a customer order?

Very Significant

Somewhat Significant

Somewhat Insignificant

Very Insignificant

Q2. In your opinion, does one window solution to the logistic needs add any value for the buyer?

YES

NO

Q3. Do you prefer one window solution for your logistic needs?

YES

NO

Q4. If yes, what are the reasons?

One source of information exchange

Time and Cost effective

Hiring one vendor reduces chances of miscommunication

Better control and accountability

Any other ………………………………

Q5. If No, what are the reasons?

Comfortable with hiring multiple vendors

Not comfortable to change the running procedure

You find this more cost and time effective

Any other ………………………………

Q6. Which of the following factors mainly influence your decision to choose a Logistics and Supply Chain Partner? (Please add number according to the order of preference)

Brand Name —–

Relationship —–

Price —–

Quality of Service —–

Comfort Level —–

Credit —–

Q7. Which of the following companies do you consider to be our closest competitor?

Agility Taq Logistics Aries Logistics

Bin Qutab Skyways Seagate

IFS Sea & Sky Logistics Zak Logistics

Max Logistics Trans Marine Hellmann

Any other ………

Q8. Do you seek high level of transparency for your shipments or do you need only basic level of service as you have your own support means?

Transparency Required —–

Basic Level of Service —–

Q9. Do you prefer continuous updates on shipment status from your vendor or on the key milestones only?

Continuous Updates Required ——-

Updates on Key Milestones Only ——-

Q10. What comes to your mind when you think of Raaziq as a Logistics and Supply Chain Management company? (you may choose more than one option)

Big Name

Quality Service

Experienced Option

Reliable

High Rates

Low Credit

Low Option

Any other ………….

Q11. Which is currently your best Logistics and Supply Chain Solution Partner?

…………………

Q12. If possible please give three reasons for choosing it as your best partner?

1.

2.

3.

PERSONAL INFORMATION OF THE RESPONDANT

Name of the Respondent:

Company:

Designation:

Phone #:

Email Address:

Second Questioner

Questionnaire:

Gender Male Female

Age:

Below 20 yrs

20-35 yrs

36-50 yrs

50-above

Rank

Director

Senior Manager

Managers

Other

Raaziq has a positive impact on the entrepreneurial growth, hence the country economy

Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Will improvement in cabotage law attract new business to the logistic sector?

Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Pakistan has gained worldwide recognition as an important regional gateway to international trade. Will this fact increase likelihood of new entrant?

Yes No

Have poor infrastructure in Pakistan affected the quality of service that you provide to your customer?

Highly affected To some extend Has not affected at all

The federally licensed intermediary plays an important role in transportation industry?

Yes No

The role of trucking will increase up to four times with the collapse of rail fright in the country. Will this bring more business to your organization?

Yes No

How has Rising fuel/diesel and electricity coupled with bad infrastructure affected your business?

Positively Negatively No affect

What measures do you take to deal with the non payment problems of carrier fright bill?

Highly specialized RFP’s

Auditing financial statement

Payment houses (Banks)

Resource to the shipper on prepaid or collected shipment