Developing environmentally sustainable logistics

Abbasi, Maisam; Nilsson, Fredrik

doi:10.1016/j.trd.2016.04.004

Cited by 154 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Given the strong focus among buying firms on the cost and quality of logistics services, LSPs have to sacrifice environmental sustainability for shortterm financial sustainability (Nilsson et al, 2017). Most of the LSP representatives interviewed for Abbasi and Nilsson's (2016) study agreed that customer behavior and environmental cautiousness were diametrically opposed, and that most of the challenges were about time and price. Hence, despite the call for more proactive environmental management, being at the forefront might not be the best approach for every LSP.…”

Section: Literature Review and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of a competitive strategy and green supply chain management on the financial and environmental performance of logistics service providers

2018

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Despite the critical role of logistics service providers (LSPs) in improving the environmental sustainability of supply chains, there is still uncertainty about how LSPs can turn environmental management into competitive advantage. Based on a Finnish national logistics survey and financial reporting data from 266 LSPs, this article examines their competitive strategies and green supply chain management (GSCM), and tests their respective relationships with environmental and financial performance. Financial data are used to measure financial performance in a novel way. The findings indicate that leading LSPs with operational excellence and strong brands are more advanced in terms of GSCM than LSPs that do not excel in any competitive priority. GSCM practices are positively related to environmental performance, but not to financial performance. However, managers should not be discouraged by the apparent absence of short‐term financial benefits of GSCM practices, which in any case could enhance future differentiation opportunities.

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Section: Literature Review and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of a competitive strategy and green supply chain management on the financial and environmental performance of logistics service providers

2018

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“…Research on carbon disclosure and carbon management from the perspective of logistics companies is still limited [1,4,[7][8][9][10][11]. The majority of existing studies address carbon issues either only partly, or do not focus specifically on logistics companies, pointing to a need to examine carbon-disclosure practices within the logistics and transportation sector.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of the Sustainability Logic on Carbon Disclosure in the Global Logistics Industry: The Case of DHL, FDX and UPS

Herold

Lee

2017

Sustainability

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As a significant contributor to carbon emissions, global logistics companies are under scrutiny from various stakeholders, and respond by disclosing carbon-related information in the form of carbon reports. Carbon disclosure is, however, a mainly voluntary practice that allows for a broad range of interpretation from the management field, which leads to different approaches to the measurement and reporting of carbon-related information. From a theoretical perspective, these different carbon-disclosure approaches in global logistics companies can be attributed to the underlying construct of competing logics, namely the market and the sustainability logic. While competing logics are frequently discussed in the current literature, little is known about their influence on shaping carbon-disclosure practices. The aim of this paper is to examine the similarities and differences in the measurement and reporting of carbon-related information in order to capture the underlying logic that drives carbon-disclosure behaviour in the global logistics industry. We adopt an interpretative content analysis approach and examine the carbon-related information using the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reports of DHL, FDX and UPS. The analysis reveals significant differences in the applied carbon-disclosure strategies, as well as in the degree of transparency between the three companies. The results also indicate that the carbon-disclosure practices of FDX are dominated by a market logic that emphasizes the economic benefits of carbon reductions, while DHL and UPS have prioritized the sustainability logic to gain a competitive advantage.

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“…Therefore, forcing the DEA technique to acknowledge at least every applicable input and output type with a certain minimum weighting is seen as a sensible variation idea (5%, 10%, and 15% weightings applied, Table 2). Notes: 1 The applied weightings are not applicable to the output types earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) and dividend volume as in these cases zero values are experienced, which would lead to infeasible zero values for efficiency values in return due to the linear programming nature of the DEA calculation. Cumulated minimum weightings may not exceed 100%, and with 100% itself, the efficiency weights allocation room for the DEA calculation is zero.…”

Section: Research Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sustainability is a very germane topic for logistics service providers (LSP) as outlined for example by Abbasi and Nilsson [1] (p. 263), Govindan and Soleimani [2] (p. 371), or Colicchia et al [3] (p. 189). True for all transport modes in transportation, e.g., for road, rail [4] (p. 148), air, and sea [5] (p. 473) transport [6] (p. 414), an important characteristic of sustainability concepts and efforts with LSP is also the fact that they steer the transport chain on behalf of industry and retail corporations and therefore influence their own sustainability performance [7] (p. 589).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Forwarders Improve Sustainability Efficiency? Evidence from a European DEA Malmquist Index Calculation

Klumpp

2017

Sustainability

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Sustainability performance and efficiency is an important topic in transportation and for forwarders. This is shown, for example, by the fact that major logistics service providers LSP publish sustainability reports, often within the annual legal business report. However, in depth research is missing regarding the efficiency of forwarders regarding the established triple bottom line approach for sustainability, including economic, social, and ecology performance areas. This is especially true for a dynamic time-series perspective, as usually only static analyses for one point in time are presented (in most cases single business years). Therefore, the operations research technique of a data envelopment analysis (DEA) Malmquist index calculation is used in order to provide a longitudinal calculation of efficiency, incorporating multiple objectives regarding the triple bottom line approach for European forwarders. Several indicators are tested, including total revenues and assets as input types, profit (EBIT) and dividend volume (economic dimension), employment and gender equality in management (social), and carbon-equivalent emissions (environmental) as output types.

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Developing environmentally sustainable logistics

Cited by 154 publications

References 26 publications

The effect of a competitive strategy and green supply chain management on the financial and environmental performance of logistics service providers

The effect of a competitive strategy and green supply chain management on the financial and environmental performance of logistics service providers

The Influence of the Sustainability Logic on Carbon Disclosure in the Global Logistics Industry: The Case of DHL, FDX and UPS

Do Forwarders Improve Sustainability Efficiency? Evidence from a European DEA Malmquist Index Calculation

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