Logistical customer service as an element of shaping a company’s competitive advantage

In the current conditions of a dynamically changing global economic situation, companies are forced to seek new strategies to help them survive the crisis. Many companies skillfully manage risk in conditions of uncertainty, take actions to reduce the effects of the global economic crisis, and even use the time of crisis to achieve an increase in market share.

It should be noted that the end of the 20th century marked the end of the industrial era, in which success was achieved by those companies that were able to effectively and efficiently use technical inventions in mass production. The question therefore arises about the elements of building market advantage, ways of survival and development of enterprises in today’s turbulent environment in the 21st century. Shaping competitive advantage is inextricably linked to the need for constant competition between companies for the customer. According to A. Bujak and W. Szot, “in order to gain a competitive advantage, business entities use various strategies to achieve it. One of them is the customer service strategy, which can be considered as: a well-thought-out, long-term action plan aimed at systematic progress until the assumed customer service standard is achieved, which should enable maintaining or occupying a specific position in the market”.

Z. Zymonik states in one of his publications that “since the only constant thing in the social and economic development of humanity is change, the solutions supporting the decisions of company managers must also change”.
The guiding thought of this study is the claim that in the process of enterprise management, it is necessary to realize the importance of logistical customer service as one of the key factors of competitiveness, alongside, for example, low production costs, originality of products, favorable sales conditions for the customer, high product quality, specialized offer, or speed of reaction to changing customer needs and environmental conditions. The aim of the article is an attempt to systematize the existing knowledge on logistical customer service, and in particular to present a multidimensional definition of customer service, identify key attributes and elements of this process, and present a concept of the customer service process integrating the sphere of logistics and marketing. (…)

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