United Express It was early in 2020 when Jeff Carr, CEO of United Express, was considering a strategic move to better serve some of the company's important customers. At that point in time, United had established itself as a capable manager of logistics services and was considered to be one of the best 3PLs in the industry. Basically, the company provided expert management of mostly trucking-based transportation services, and also managed customer facilities such as warehouses and distribution centers. Thus, the company's basic services were focused on providing freight management and contract logistics. United was a non-asset owning 3PL, meaning that the services it managed were actually provided by other commercial providers. According to Carr, the core competencies of United were its people, technologies, innova-tion, and ability to successfully manage relationships with customers and suppliers. The move being considered by Jeff Carr was to expand the scope of the business to offer 4PL services to some of its select customers. While there are a wide range of services that characteristically may be associated with 4PLs, Carr's thinking was primarily focused on the provision of supply chain planning services. These would be in addition to the more traditional, 3PL-based services relating to transportation and contract logistics. According to Carr, "considering how effective we have been at operating our customers' supply chains, the opportunity to provide advisory and planning services would be a logical next step." To launch this new strategy, Jeff Carr suggested that initial conversations commence with Family Depot, one of its long-term customers. Family Depot operated a national network of home improvement stores that were served directly from vendors and suppliers that were located throughout the world. To facilitate operation of the overall supply chain, Fam-ily Depot maintained a network of "cross-docking centers" to accommodate deliveries of needed items to individual stores. While the company contracted with several 3PLs to man-age its freight flows and manage its facilities, United was their provider of choice and thus had the largest portion of the business. To get the ball rolling, Carr contacted Dave Feather, SVP Supply Chain for Family Depot. Feather's initial response was "sounds like an interest-ing idea, but I am concerned how United could be both a 3PL and 4PL to our organization." So, the critical question is whether United Express should approach Family Depot to pitch the idea of adding 4PL-based advisory and planning services to the current range of 3PL services that are provided.

CASE QuESTiOnS

1. Do you agree or disagree with Jeff Carr's idea about engaging in 4PL-based advisory and planning services to Family Depot?

2. If you were Dave Feather, what do you think would be some of the advantages to hav-ing United become involved in an advisory and planning capacity with Family Depot? Disadvantages?

3. Assuming that this expansion of involvement by United is acceptable to Family Depot, what are some of the potential future issues that may be helpful to address regarding freight management and contract logistics at Family Depot?