It also has its impact directly within companies. It is inevitable to highlight the need to compete with a greater number of companies from different countries of the world, currently placed logistics and physical distribution as the main weapon that have companies to achieve competitive advantages, since against the saturation of the supply of products in certain sectors, these should be differentiated from others using the service. This usually requires more and better transport, warehouses, communications, etc. It should not be forgotten, that the tendency of today’s markets has resulted in the expansion of the geographic boundaries of the markets that companies must meet. This process, which has been favoured by the progressive elimination of trade barriers, and by modern technologies and information networks, have very large implications for the logistics of these companies function, and in particular for its physical distribution activities, since it is necessary to consider the markets with a global perspective. In the field of national economy, physical distribution plays a very important role in industrialized countries, already that the activities related to the movement of materials from point of origin to the point of consumption, represents a significant percentage of the gross domestic product of these countries (for the year 1994 represented 10% of the GDP of the United States). It also happens with investments that made by companies in the area of transport. Physical distribution and activities related to it, to generate a remarkable part of the GDP of countries, has a considerable influence on variables economic as relevant as the inflation rate, the rates of interest, the rate of productivity, costs and availability of energy, etc.
In this function, it is also interesting to consider that the distribution sector consumes an enormous amount of energy resources. Transport (according to data from the Federal Council for science and technology) consumes 25% of all energy and 50% of all U.S. oil production. Recent studies indicate that the transport sector consumes about 30% of the total energy used within countries of the European Union. In the foreseeable future all indications suggest that the distribution sector will continue to use large amounts of energy. CONCLUSION increasingly more becomes evident the need for firms to develop competitive advantages in a global market, where non-economic geographical boundaries no longer exist. It is true that the barriers of distance is no longer an obstacle to the human beings when it comes to your needs.
Advances in technology has managed to overcome any inconvenience and no longer excuses so that enterprises can not meet these needs. The diversity of goods, products and services enable people to have the power of decision on their purchases. The companies have had to adopt a number of theories and strategies such as total quality, reengineering, the benchmarketing, etc. In order to compete faced with a number of companies manufacture the same products or providing the same services. At this point where the logistics and physical distribution appears as the differentiating factor in where companies have the opportunity to develop competitive advantages. The reduction of costs and the best service to the client through the reduction of the time pedido-entrega, are essential to offer the public a product or service at a good price and at your disposal when you need it. * marketing notes. Virtual Classroom, graduate of Faces, University of Carabobo, program quality and productivity management. Original author and source of the article.