Evaluation of main factors affecting the choice of a freight forwarder: A Sri Lankan exporter´s perspective

The intermediary role performed by freight forwarders in exportation has become significant in fulfilling businesses´ supply chain needs in this dynamic world. Since the success of exporter´s business is at present, highly reliant on supply chain optimization, cost efficiency, profitability, consistent service and responsiveness, the decision of selecting the most beneficial freight forwarder has become crucial for exporters. In order to identify and prioritize key factors which have affected the exporter´s decision in selecting freight forwarders in Sri Lankan context, Sri Lankan export industry was stratified into 22 sectors based on commodity using stratified sampling technique. One exporter from each sector was then selected using judgmental sampling to have a sample of 22. Factors which were identified through a pilot survey, was organized under 6 main criteria. A questionnaire was basically developed as pairwise comparisons using 9-point semantic differential scale and comparisons were done within main criteria and sub criteria. After a pre-testing, interviews and e-mail questionnaire survey were conducted. Data were analyzed using Analytic Hierarchy Process to determine priority vectors of criteria. Customer service was found to be the most important main criterion for Sri Lankan exporters. It was followed by reliability and operational efficiency respectively. The criterion of the least importance was company background and reputation. While small sized exporters pay more attention to rate, reliability is the major concern among medium and large scale exporters. Irrespective of seniority of the exporter, reliability is given the prominence. Responsiveness is the most important sub criterion among Sri Lankan exporters. Consistency of judgments with respect to main criteria was verified through consistency ratio, which was less than 10%. Being more competitive, freight forwarders should come up with customized marketing strategies based on each target grou- ´s requirements and expectations in offering services to retain existing exporters and attract new exporters.