Knowledge management in freight forwarding as a logistics intermediator: model and effectiveness

This paper aims to develop a knowledge management process for freight forwarding logistics companies and to empirically examine its effectiveness. In order for this paper to do so, it identifies the types of freight forwarders’ knowledge and scrutinizes internal and external sources of knowledge possession in companies. This paper also analyses how the freight forwarders’ knowledge assists in improving organisational performance. Research findings show that absorptive capacity and inter-firm cooperative relationships have facilitated greater level of knowledge possessed by freight forwarders. Knowledge possession has helped companies to improve value creation and organisational innovation, in which the knowledge possession has played a mediating role in the interactions among the absorptive capacity, inter-firm cooperative relationship, and organisational performance. This line of research could provide freight forwarding companies with strategic insights into a systematic knowledge management process and its effectiveness by categorically identifying freight forwarding knowledge types, sources of knowledge possession, and usefulness in improving organisational performance.