Sustainability as part of the development of companies' business strategies is gaining in importance. Due to its impact on the environment, this is particularly essential for companies of the transport and logistics sector. This paper explores several factors that influence the environmental behaviour of transport and logistics companies in Austria. It discusses the importance of the economic impact on environmental management decision in detail and analyses the sector's specific characteristics in terms of environmental behavior. A case‐based approach involving multiple field studies with face‐to‐face expert interviews and secondary data analysis was used to evaluate environmental performance and specific practices. Using selected cases, we will demonstrate how environmental measures contribute to overall business performance and draw general conclusions regarding the transport and logistics sector. Furthermore, suggestions are given as to how the government can further support transport and logistics companies in this regard. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy are becoming increasingly important in the development of business strategies. Consequently, corporate road freight transport comes under particular scrutiny due to its substantial impact on the environment. This paper explores the implementation of environmental management in the Austrian road freight transport sector. A model based on an extensive literature review is developed and adapted to show the impact of attitude, company size and sector affiliation. It is tested using data from a quantitative survey. Based on an extensive literature review a model of influencing factors is developed and tested using data from a quantitative survey. According to our findings, we adopted the model with respect to the impact of attitude, company size and sector affiliation. Although decision‐makers' attitudes have a significant influence on the companies' actual environmental performance, firm size and sector affiliation are shown to have a far greater influence. It is therefore necessary to offer external incentives and support in order to improve environmental behaviour, especially among smaller and transport companies. Such instruments, however, need to be aligned on an international basis and across industries to prevent friction and competitive disadvantage. In addition to policy intervention (legal restrictions and incentives) and improvements on a corporate level, consumer awareness should be raised in order to create public pressure for companies to implement environmental management. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Natural catastrophes are often amplified by man-made impact on the environment. Sustainability is identified as a major gap in humanitarian logistics research literature. Although humanitarian supply chains are designed for speed and sustainability is of minor concern, environmentally-friendly behavior (e.g. through reduction of transportation emissions and avoidance of non-degradable materials) should be a long-term concern as it may ultimately affect more vulnerable regions. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how green house gas emissions can be measured using the supply chain of common relief items in humanitarian logistics. We analyze the CO2 emissions of selected supply chains by performing Life Cycle Assessments based on data provided by the French Red Cross. We calculate the CO2 emissions of the items from 'cradle to grave' including production, transportation, warehousing and disposal. Using these calculations, we show that transporting relief items causes the majority of emissions; however, transportation modes may not always be changed as the main purpose of humanitarian supply chains is speed. Nevertheless, strategic and efficient prepositioning of main items will translate into less transportation and thus reducing the environmental impact. The study also shows that initiatives for "greening" item production and disposal can improve the overall carbon efficiency of humanitarian supply chains.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the status quo of environmental management in the Austrian road freight transport sector. Different environmental practices are analyzed and the influence of attitudes and firm size is evaluated.Design/methodology/approachA multi‐step empirical approach was performed. Based on a theoretical approach and a desktop survey on company web sites, several semi‐structured expert interviews were performed. Subsequently, an online‐survey was conducted and then analyzed by statistical methods.FindingsIt was found that although companies in the road freight transport sector are aware of the importance of sustainable issues, actual performance needs to be improved. The authors found significant differences, particularly between smaller and larger firms.Research limitations/implicationsDue to its nature as a research survey, the findings might be subject to some limitations such as sampling errors, non‐response effects and social desirability bias.Practical implicationsSmall to medium‐sized enterprises in particular will profit from a supportive framework which motivates to improve their environmental performance. Therefore, knowledge about specific ways of improvements and financial aids have to be provided.Originality/valueThe survey is a in‐depth analysis of the status quo of environmental management in the domain of road freight transport, taking into account differences between transport for hire or reward and transport on own account.
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