The Critical Factors for Korean Freight Forwarders' Purchasing Negotiation in International Logistics

The roles of freight forwarders as intermediaries continue to expand and become significant in international logistics. Purchasing negotiation is considered an important business process for freight forwarders and achieving a successful negotiation outcome should help forwarders to manage their business more effectively. This study used the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach to identify the critical factors for successful purchasing negotiation for freight forwarders in Korea. A three-level AHP structure was constructed to examine the successful purchasing negotiation. The findings indicate that information (specifically quality of information) is the most critical factor for a successful negotiation outcome for freight forwarders. This result turned out to be the same as the result found from the literature review. Literature review also indicated information as the most important factor.