Green supply chain practices and company performance: the case of 3PLs in Italy

Abstract

Purpose – The pressure on logistics companies to embrace green processes has increased significantly in the last few years. Within the broad concept of green supply chain management, a review of the existing literature has highlighted a need to understand how green supply chain practices (GSCP) can contribute to improving company performance from an environmental point of view, as well as economic and operational. This paper aims to investigate the GSCP adopted by third party logistics (3PLs) in Italy in terms of specific practices implemented and level of adoption of each practice, and to explore how this adoption can affect the company performance. Design/methodology/approach – Multi-case study research involving 15 3PLs operating in Italy, with data collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews with senior representatives from each company. Findings – Even if findings reveal an overall increasing interest towards environmental issues, the current level of adoption of GSCP is still limited amongst the 3PLs investigated as well as their benefits in terms of company performance. Some players have shown a more proactive attitude and started benefiting substantially from the adoption of GSCP, mainly in terms of environmental and economic performance. Research limitations/implications – The research focuses on 3PLs operating in Italy – findings may differ in other countries and sectors. Practical implications – Findings can be used to support company decisions to either modify the GSCP already in place to achieve a set target or identify the most suitable GSCP to implement. Originality/value – This study contributes to a better understanding of the links between GSCP and company performance. It also provides insights into the GSCP currently in place amongst 3PLs operating in Italy, identifying the type of supply chain to which companies belong (or intend to belong in the future) as a relevant factor

Logistics service providers and corporate social responsibility: sustainability reporting in the logistics industry

“…Therefore, CSR is likely to gain in importance as a way to enhance economic performance in the industry. Existing studies confirm that LSPs perceive for example green supply chain performance as being linked to a positive overall result (Perotti et al, 2012). Sustainability, particularly environmental sustainability of LSPs is also expected to become more important as a supplier selection criterion (Wolf and Seuring, 2010).…”

“…This resulted in a new, emerging role of LSPs as orchestrators of supply chains, serving a leadership function to help facilitate improvements and best practices across all nodes (Zacharia et al, 2011). The critical positioning of LSPs to support the efforts to improve the sustainability of supply chain operations is acknowledged in the literature (Perotti et al, 2012). Sustainable service offering can be viewed as a form of innovation or differentiation, i.e.…”

Environmental Sustainability in Third-Party Logistics Service Providers: A Systematic Literature Review from 2000–2016

“…Impact of green actions on 3PLs' performance [3,38,40,41,56,61,[66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80].…”

“…The results showed that, despite the global recession, many large 3PLs increased their commitments to building environmental sustainability programs that include transportation-related actions, administrative and analytical initiatives. Perotti et al (2012) [61] conducted a study on 15 3PLs operating in Italy. The results revealed that the adoption of green supply chain actions was substantially low, whereas the most implemented green actions referred to vehicle energy efficiency and recycling materials.…”

Contemporary Tendencies in Third Party Logistics

“…At the same time, compliance with very basic requirements is enough for logistics providers to be qualified and included into tender process. Perotti et al (2012) conducted a multiple case empirical research in order to understand how green supply chain practices may influence third party logistics company's performance. On the one hand, there is a number of green supply chain practices that have certain impact: − Green supply; − Distribution strategies and transportation; − Warehousing and green building; − Reverse logistics; − Cooperation with customers; − Investment recovery; − Eco-design and packaging; − Internal management.…”