Financing capital-constrained third party logistic firms: fourth party logistic driven financing mode vs. private lending driven financing mode
研究了资金受限的第三方物流企业在第四方物流驱动和私人借贷驱动两种融资模式下的选择问题，发现当初始资金低于某阈值时，第四方物流驱动模式对各方更优，且改进模式能提升第四方物流利润。
The accounts payable payment period for transportation costs is usually less than the accounts receivable cycle for transportation fees for a third-party logistic (3PL) firm in China; hence, a capital-constrained 3PL firm has a strong demand to seek credit loans from some competitive lenders (e.g., fourth-party logistic [4PL] firm or private lending [PL] organization). To investigate the attractiveness and effectiveness of different financing modes, two practical financing modes (4PL-driven and PL-driven) and an improved 4PL-driven financing mode are formulated in this work. We present a game-theoretical approach to investigate the equilibria based on the profile functions among 4PL firm (or PL), 3PL firm, supplier and retailer under different financing modes. We find that (1) the practical 4PL-driven financing mode will be the Pareto-dominant financing mode for 3PL firms, suppliers and retailers when the initial budget of the 3PL firm falls below a certain level. (2) The 4PL firm's profit is always higher when using the improved 4PL-driven financing mode. (3) The 4PL firm should use the practical 4PL-driven financing mode for start-up 3PL firms to support their growth; but when they grow to a certain scale, the 4PL firm should use the improved 4PL-driven financing mode to enhance its profit.