Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate whether or not greening efforts are dependent on a higher level company-wide sustainability strategy to be carried out and whether or not greening efforts lead to any changes in logistics effectiveness and logistics efficiency. Design/methodology/approach -The paper is based on empirical data collected via a survey sent to logistics managers and transport purchasers at Nordic multinationals. The results were analysed using structural equation model as to validate the anticipated relationships between the designed constructs. Findings -Within this research, the authors have tried to validate the existence of relationships between a company's sustainability strategy, its transportation greening efforts and logistics performance.Research limitations/implications -The paper investigates the possible effect the sustainability strategy of the firm will have on its decision to green its transportation, and the possible effect these measures will have on logistics efficiency and effectiveness. The empirical data gathered for this research are regionally restricted to the Nordic region. Further research could empirically test these relationships with empirical data from other countries or industries, perhaps using other performance constructs, to see if the results hold true. Practical implications -It is shown that companies with a sustainability strategy are focusing on greening their transportation both from purchasing and operations perspectives to improve their entire environmental performance. The results from this paper fail to support the assumption that company-wide sustainability strategies are imperative for supply chain greening. Originality/value -The paper is among the first attempts in analysing the relationships between a company's sustainable strategy and its logistics performance through greening the transportation activities.
Purpose – There is a lack of consensus in conceptualizing and defining logistics flexibility as a distinct construct among supply chain scholars. The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyze the existing literature on logistics flexibility. Design/methodology/approach – By taking a systematic approach to literature review, a total of 100 academic articles were content analyzed. As a general framework, the classification broadly provided by Zhang et al. (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006) was applied in order to increase the consistency and validity of the review. Findings – The results show that logistics flexibility has gained an increasing academic attention in the past two decades in terms of the number of published articles. First, the various terminologies often used in relation to logistics flexibility are explored. Second, the definitions of logistics flexibility at various levels of analysis are presented along with methodological considerations of the current literature. It is shown that most of the existing articles claim to study the matter at the chain level. The main methodological tools used in studying logistics flexibility are revealed as well as the fact that the majority of the empirical studies correspond to the manufacturing industry. Moreover, a synthesis of the principal measures used to gauge logistics flexibility is provided. Finally, current and emerging themes in logistics flexibility research are highlighted. The study also underlines the main measures used in studying logistics flexibility. Research limitations/implications – This paper only focusses on academic articles published in journals and does not include other contributions such as books, etc. The systematic literature review facilitates further conceptual and empirical studies; however, more narrative literature reviews could complement the results of this study. Originality/value – This paper is unique in the sense that it specifically reviews the literature on logistics flexibility in a systematic fashion. The content analysis has been carried out using NVivo 10 enabling the systematic nature of the review as well as increasing the pedagogical value of the method.
Industry 4.0 digital technologies are becoming indispensable for firms striving to enhance their supply chain capabilities and financial performance, but how these relationships play out in practice remains unclear. To address this issue, this study assesses the relationship between supply chain integration, supply chain agility, and financial performance from a dynamic capability perspective. Further analyses are conducted to establish whether Industry 4.0 digital technologies moderate the association between (a) supply chain integration and supply chain agility and (b) supply chain agility and financial performance. Findings based on the data pertaining to a sample of 274 Swedish manufacturing firms indicate that supply chain agility fully mediates the link between supply chain integration and financial performance. However, while Industry 4.0 digital technologies strengthen the effect of supply chain agility on financial performance, they do not moderate the relationship between supply chain integration and supply chain agility. These findings contribute to the ongoing debate regarding how digital technologies play a role in achieving competitive advantage in interplay with dynamic capabilities related to the supply chain. These findings are relevant for decision-makers, as they address the need for organisational adjustments beyond the mere introduction of Industry 4.0 technologies to fully reap their benefits.
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