Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The strategic attributes of transnational smuggling: Logistics flexibility and operational stealth in the facilitation of illicit trade

  • Published:
Journal of Transportation Security Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The clandestine transportation of contraband cargo across national borders is commonly known as transnational smuggling. Illicit market actors utilize smuggling as a key strategic operation to get their illegal goods to market. Transaction costs unique to smuggling, such as concealment and evasion costs create specific attributes intrinsic to the operations strategy deployed by professional smugglers. Strategic and logistics flexibility, as well as operational stealth enable smuggling rings to mitigate the risk of detection and apprehension by law enforcement authorities. In recent years, illicit supply chain actors have adopted advanced technologies, alternative currencies, and online distribution channels in order to facilitate illicit trade. This paper explores the key strategic attributes of strategic, logistics flexibility and operational stealth which are characteristic of transnational smuggling operations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aaker D, Mascarenhas B (1984) The need for strategic flexibility. J Bus Strateg 5(2):74–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ackoff R (1977) Towards flexible organizations: a multi-dimensional design. Omega 6(1)

  • Amit R, Zott C (2001) Value creation in e-business. Strateg Manag J 1(2):493–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson N and Farivar C (2013) How the feds took down dread pirate Roberts, ArsTechnica, October 3, 2013 accessed via the internet http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/how-the-feds-took-down-the-dread-pirate-roberts/

  • Andreas P (2013) Smuggler Nation: How illicit trade made America. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bajak F (2010) DEA seized submarine quantum leap for narcos, Associated Press, July 4, 2010

  • Basu G (2013) The role of transnational smuggling operations in illicit supply chains. J Trans Secur 6(4):315–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boulding KE (1947) A note on the theory of the black market. Can J Econ Political Sci 13(1):115–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowersox DJ, Closs DJ, Stank TP (1999) 21st century logistics: making supply chain integration a reality. Council of Logistics Management, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandt R (2011) One click: Jeff Bezos and the rise of amazon.com. Penguin Publishing Group, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Calantone RJ, Vickery SK (2010) Using archival and secondary data sources in supply chain management research. J Supply Chain Manag 46(4):101–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Caulkins JP, Burnett H, Leslie E (2009) How illegal drugs enter an island country: insights from interviews with incarcerated smugglers. Global Crime 10(1):66–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalk P (2011) The Latin American drug trade: scope, dimensions, impact, and response, RAND Project Air Force Report, Santa Monica, CA

  • Chandler AD (1962) Strategy and structure: chapters in the history of the American industrial enterprise. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen MR, Hambrick D (1995) Speed, stealth, and selective attack: how small firms differ from large firms in competitive behavior. Acad Manag J 38(2):453–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chow G, Heaver TD, Henriksson LE (1995) Strategy, structure and performance: a framework for logistics research. Logist Trans Rev 31(2):285–308

    Google Scholar 

  • Christin N (2013) Traveling the silk road: a measurement analysis of a large anonymous online marketplace, conference paper from International Worldwide Web Conference, May13-17, 2013, Rio de Janerio

  • Closs DJ, Mollenkopf DA (2004) A global supply chain framework. Ind Mark Manag 33(1):37–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohn T, Lindberg RA (1974) Survival and growth: management strategies for the small firm. AMACON, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper JT, DeWitt W, Keebler JS, Min S, Nix N, Smith CD, Zacharia ZG (1997) Defining supply chain management. J Bus Logist 22(2):1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Crocker KJ, Masten SE (1988) Mitigating contractual hazards: unilateral options and contractual length. RAND J Econ 19(1):327–344

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis T (1993) Effective supply chain management. Sloan Manag Rev 34(4):35–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Day GS (1994) The capabilities of market driven organizations. J Mark 58(2):37–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Decker SH, Townsend Chapman M (2008) Drug smugglers on drug smuggling: lessons from the inside. Temple University Press, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunn JF (2013) Hackers planted remote devices to smuggle drugs through Antwerp port, Europol reveals, TechWorld, accessed via the internet http://news.techworld.com/security/3474018/hackers-planted-remote-devices-to-smuggle-drugs-through-antwerp-port-europol-reveals/

  • Felson M (2003) The process of co-offending, Theory for practice in situational crime prevention. Criminal Justice Press, Monsey

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman RB (1999) The economics of crime: chapter 52, Handbook of Labor Economics, vol. 3, Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, NL

  • Friedersdorf C (2013) Did shutting down Silk Road make the world a more dangerous place?, The Atlantic, accessed via the internet, http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/did-shutting-down-silk-road-make-the-world-a-more-dangerous-place/280270/

  • Galbraith JR, Nathanson DA (1978) Strategy implementation: the role of structure and process (2nd edition). West Publishing Company, St. Paul, MN

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordijn J, Akkermans JM (2001) Designing and evaluating e-business models. IEEE Syst 16(4):11–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grillo I (2012) El Narco: the bloody rise of Mexican drug cartels. Bloomsbury Publishing, London

  • Hammer M, Champy JA (1993) Re-engineering the corporation: a manifesto for business revolution. Harper Business Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrigan K (1980) The effect of exit barriers upon strategic flexibility. Strateg Manag J 1(2):165–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hesseldahl A (2013) Silk Road bust raises profile of so-called dark web, accessed via the internet October 4, 2013 http://allthingsd.com/20131003/silk-road-bust-raises-profile-of-so-called-dark-web/

  • Inkiläinen A (1998) Managerial views on distribution systems: heuristic justification of centralization and postponement, doctoral dissertation. Helsinki School of Economics, Helsinki

    Google Scholar 

  • Kacena N (1995) Stealth: an example of technology’s role in the American way of war, Masters Thesis submitted to Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama

  • Kickert WJ (1985) The magic world of flexibility. Int Stud Manag Organ 14(4):6–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Krijnen J (1979) The flexible firm. Long Range Plan 12(2):63–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacMillan IC (1980) How business strategists can use guerilla warfare tactics. J Bus Strateg 1(3):63–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Manwaring M (2005) Strategic opportunities: charting new approaches to defense and security challenges in the western hemisphere, Conference Brief from the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College

  • McDermott C (2010) Colombian navy destroys drug sub. Lat Am Herald Tribune 24:2010

    Google Scholar 

  • Mentzer JT (2004) The fundamentals of supply chain management: twelve drivers of competitive advantage. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Miles RE, Snow C (1978) Organizational strategy: structure and process. McGraw Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Naylor RT (2004) Wages of crime: black markets, illegal finance, and underworld economy. Cornell University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Paoli L (2002) The paradoxes of organized crime. Crime Law Soc Chang 37(2):51–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paoli L, Reuter P (2008) Drug trafficking and ethnic minorities in Western Europe. Eur J Criminol 5(13):347–354

    Google Scholar 

  • Rao GA and Mahulikar SP (2002) Integrated review of stealth technology and its role in airpower, Aeronautical Journal, v. 106(1066)

  • Reuter P (2002) Transnational crime, Conference paper on transnational crime, University of Cambridge

  • Rumelt RP (1974) Strategy, structure, and economic performance. Harvard University Press, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Simchi-Levi D (2010) Operations rules: delivering customer value through flexible operations. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • The Economist (December 1, 2012) The battle of the internet giants: the survival of the biggest. accessed via the internet http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21567355-concern-about-clout-internet-giants-growing-antitrust-watchdogs-should-tread

  • The New York Times (September 9, 2012) To smuggle more drugs, traffickers go under the sea, accessed via the internet http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/world/americas/drug-smugglers-pose-underwater-challenge-in-caribbean.html?_r=0

  • The Telegraph (August 25, 2013) Hundreds of new legal high designer drugs flooding into Europe, accessed via the internet http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10249399/Hundreds-of-new-legal-high-designer-drugs-flooding-into-Europe-warns-report.html

  • TOR Project Anonymity Online (2013) accessed via the internet http://www.torproject.org

  • United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (2009-2013) World drug report, United Nations, New York, NY

  • United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (2013) Massive new cross border drug tunnel shut down south of San Diego: investigators seize nearly $12 million worth of marijuana and cocaine, accessed via the internet http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1310/131031sandiego.htm

  • Upton DM (1995) What makes factories flexible? Harv Bus Rev 73(4):74–84

    Google Scholar 

  • van Duyne PC (1993) Organized crime markets in a turbulent Europe. Eur J Reform 1(3):10–30

    Google Scholar 

  • von Lampe K (2008) Organized crime in Europe: conceptions and realities. Policing 2(1):2–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams P (2001) Networks and net-wars: the future terror, crime, and militancy, chapter 3 Transnational Crime, RAND, Santa Monica, CA

  • World Economic Forum (2012) Global agenda council on illicit trade, Davos Annual Meeting, Switzerland

  • Zaitch D (2002) From Cali to Rotterdam; perceptions of Colombian cocaine traffickers on the Dutch port. Crime Law Soc Chang 38(2):239–266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Q, Vonderembse MA, Lim J (2005) Logistics flexibility and its impact on customer satisfaction. Int J Logist Manag 16(1):71–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Logistics, Information, and Service Management, Aalto University School of Business, Helsinki, Finland

    Gautam Basu

Authors
  1. Gautam Basu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gautam Basu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Basu, G. The strategic attributes of transnational smuggling: Logistics flexibility and operational stealth in the facilitation of illicit trade. J Transp Secur 7, 99–113 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12198-013-0132-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12198-013-0132-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation