"The scope of logistics Management is not only optimising transportation cost." Comment on this statement. Also state the role of logistic management in international business.

The scope of logistics management is wider than just optimizing transport costs. Decisions about Logistics have their impact on inventories, on packaging, on material handling and on purchasing and marketing decisions and vice versa. In short, logistics management aims to create time, place, form and price utilities for a product or service thus creating extended and improved value preposition to customers in today's competitive world where as optimizing transportation cost of goods or services is just one elements of logistics function. For instance there is no point in producing small but economic batch quantities when the distribution facility dictates that number of these batches should be accumulated before they can be shipped to the customers. Instead of carrying inventory in the plant, one will carry it outside the warehouse. Logistics in a business aim to the following contributions: Achieve maximum customer service level Ensure high product quality Achieve minimum (possible) cost Be flexible in the constant market changes Transportation provides the flow of materials, products and persons between production facilities, warehouses, distribution centres, terminals and customer locations. Transportation consumes a major proportion of the total logistics costs, so it is very important to plan and implement it intelligently. Transportation Planning generally targets to: Customer Satisfaction (Quality of Service) On-time Delivery Minimum Delays/Damages/Losses Productivity Efficiency Transit Time Reduction Lower Variability of Transit Times Cost Minimization Vehicle Acquisition / Fuel consumption minimization Minimization of Overtimes and excess personnel costs The goal for any business owner is to minimize transportation costs while also meeting demand for products. Transportation costs generally depend upon the distance between the source and the destination, the means of transportation chosen, and the size and quantity of the product to be shipped. In many cases, there are several sources and many destinations for the same product, which adds a significant level of complexity to the problem of minimizing transportation costs. Logistics management, on the other hand, can be prime source of gaining competitive advantages in global markets, any firm with global motivations, should plan, execute and implement the logistics system that is instantaneous, free, readily available with suitable capacity and frequency in order to achieve value and productivity advantages while satisfying the requirements of customers across the globe. The role of Logistics management in international business is ever-increasing as it helps any firm to offer right product, right price, right promotion, right place, right time, right condition and right quantity.