This paper presents the results of a survey research made on the logistics performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the capital goods industry. Performance was evaluated by means of the degree of concordance between companies and the logistics performance perspectives found in the literature. The results showed a great concordance of companies regarding such perspectives. After the comparative analysis, a substantial gap was found between the performance mean of SMEs and the logistics excellence reference. Further gaps were also identified in different segments, company size and capital source. Several practical and theoretical implications can be pointed out for these results, such as the need of partnerships among national and foreign companies and the systematization of best practices for this sector, which should be transferred to the SMEs that present lower logistics performance.
Logistics; Logistical excellence; Logistics performance; Capital goods industry
