CAN QMS ENHANCE COMPETITIVENESS OF LOGISTICS SERVICE PROVIDERS IN ECONOMIC RECESSION?

The paper answers the question of whether logistics service providers (LSPs) can improve their competitive position by implementing a Quality Management System (QMS), especially under intensified competitive pressure induced by the economic crisis. We postulated a hypothesis that the 2008-2009 economic crisis led to an increase in the count of businesses that required their LSPs to have QMS implemented. Our findings show that the customer's preferences for a QMS application were steadily increasing across the long post-crisis horizon. The ascertainments obtained on basis of the past period are also discussed toward the post-COVID-19 economic recession and converted into the form of practicable recommendations on formulating their quality management policy, which have important implications for their business practices. Providing a deeper insight into the LSPs selection process, the paper reacts to the shortage of research studies on the long-term effects of intensified competition on the application of QMS.