The New Logistics in Latin America: An Overview of Current Status and Opportunities

Latin America is undergoing significant changes in its business environment. As a general rule, trade is liberalized, inflation is significantly reduced, and firms are free to import technology. As a result, competition among firms in most industries has become intense. The initial objective of this paper is to review the notable impact of these environmental changes on the logistics function of firms competing in Latin America. Second, seven rules designed to help firms making logistics related decisions in the current Latin American environment are distilled from the review. The third objective is to present five logistics strategies representing growth opportunities for the near future. These strategies were chosen because the economic and technological foundations needed for their development are now in place.