Born in Reykjavik, Iceland. TPL as a dyadic relationship. Third denotes a firm that appears as a third actor in a dyadic relationship between a customer and its supplier.
Part is synonymous with an actor or a firm.
This view on TPL includes a typical cause-effect view on TPL, but leaves the organization of the diversity of logistics task outside the scope. Seen in a theoretical perspective this way of representing TPL is similar to the thought of the Transaction Cost Theory, where the definition of the most efficient boundaries of the firm are the main issue. The existing knowledge on TPL covers issues such as why firms outsource their logistics activities and what effects they have experienced. However, we know much less of what happens in this inter-organizational relationship after the TPL decision has been made by the shipper, a provider has been chosen and TPL implemented. However, the strategic substance in the inter-organizational relationship itself has not been an object of study.