Cross-collaborative supply chains. How logistics services contribute to social responsibility.

Abstract Purpose - The collaboration between profit and nonprofit entities has become a burning topic in supply chain management studies and corporate strategies. The world’s largest logistics service providers (LSPs) have been developing several practices improving social responsibility while collaborating with nonprofit actors. In particular, their core competences and offered services become extremely relevant in the context of humanitarian logistics initiatives. A key purpose of this article is to examine the projects currently undertaken by LSPs in humanitarian logistics. Methodology/Approach - This research follows a qualitative approach based on multiple case studies. Findings - The paper provides an overview of the leading LSPs’ involvement in humanitarian logistics and presents an analysis of their current “best practices” services in disaster relief with high impact in terms of social responsibility. Research Limitations/implications - There has been increased interest on the part of international academic and professional communities in humanitarian logistics. This study constitutes a platform for benchmarking analysis of logistics services to assure effective implementation of social responsibility principles. Originality/Value of paper - Humanitarian logistics is a rather new field in logistics management. This paper addresses the innovative socially responsible initiatives undertaken by the main international LSPs in the area of humanitarian logistics. Keywords - logistics services, logistics service providers, humanitarian logistics and supply chain management, disaster relief, social responsibility, profit/nonprofit collaboration Type of paper - Research pape

Sustainable supply chain management needs sustainable logistics services. The strategic role played by logistics service providers

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to examine the concept of sustainable service co-creation in triadic business relationships in logistics and supply chain management. More companies seek to develop sustainable solutions that would not be sustainable exclusively for themselves but for the supply chain they belong to. In doing that – especially when dealing with services – they may need the external support from logistics service providers (LSPs). This paper aims to explore the innovative initiatives undertaken by LSPs in triadic relationship management with their customers and suppliers while co-creating sustainable services along the supply chain. Design/methodology/approach – To investigate the research question, a systematic literature review and empirical exploratory investigation through case study will be conducted adopting the qualitative methodology, to explore trends and evolving paradigms. Findings – A literature review conducted in this paper enriches existing literature through an integration of sustainability in a viable system approach and logistics service provision, in particular, it investigates the ways in which sustainability is achieved. It is assumed that the triadic relationship among an LSP and its customers and suppliers requires significant modifications in collaboration and an innovative approach in operating procedures. Research limitations/implications – This paper is an exploratory study and limited in its scope to an example of a relationship that focuses mainly on three actors: the supplier, the LSP and the customer. However, it could be extended in terms of numbers of case studies investigated. Practical implications – The implications arising from the literature and the empirical research offer a range of current sustainable practices in the services sector. This could be a starting point for other research and company activities. Originality/value – There is little research that addresses the issue of sustainability and logistics service providers simultaneously, hence the present paper is meant to fill the gap by providing a foundation which actors of different supply chains could use as a benchmark. This study gives evidence of how logistics services may contribute to sustainable development. Key words – sustainable supply chain management, logistics service providers, viable system approach, co-creation, business relationship managemen

Reporting di sostenibilità degli operatori logistici in Europa: analisi degli indicatori

Obiettivi: L’affermazione di una nuova concezione del valore, basata sulle qualità e non sull’insostenibile aumento delle quantità di merci e consumi, induce gli operatori logistici alla ricerca di azioni che possano essere nel contempo economicamente efficienti ed efficaci, ecologicamente sopportabili e socialmente giuste. Il presente lavoro ha l’obiettivo di investigare e identificare le azioni sostenibili - economiche, ambientali e sociali - intraprese dagli operatori logistici. Metodologia: Il quadro teorico è stato costruito attraverso lo studio della letteratura accademica nazionale e internazionale. La parte empirica è stata sviluppata attraverso l’analisi dei più recenti report di sostenibilità degli operatori logistici operanti in Europa, redatti secondo gli standard della Global Reporting Initiative. Risultati: Gli operatori logistici possono contribuire in modo significativo al cambiamento paradigmatico in atto, facilitando e favorendo, in qualità di fornitori di servizi, il raggiungimento della sostenibilità della supply chain. Limiti della ricerca: Il presente lavoro costituisce la fase preliminare di un più approfondito progetto di ricerca che indaghi le iniziative di sostenibilità degli operatori logistici a livello mondiale e che consideri un arco temporale di osservazione utile a tracciare il trend in atto. Implicazioni pratiche: Sia l’accademia che il mondo professionale possono trovare utile l’analisi della letteratura sul tema e i primi risultati ottenuti, in quanto sono posti in evidenzia i principali tratti di sostenibilità degli operatori logistici che già hanno intrapreso il percorso verso la sostenibilità. Originalità del lavoro: Gli studi della letteratura esistente sugli operatori logistici e la sostenibilità si basano quasi esclusivamente sulla sostenibilità ambientale e l’ecoefficienza, mentre manca un approccio sistemico capace di superare i problemi odierni mediante la valorizzazione della multidimensionalità. Il lavoro contribuisce a colmare questo gap

Horizontal network collaboration by entrepreneurial ventures: a supply chain finance perspective

Purpose – The present paper aims at understanding how horizontal network collaborations between small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can be designed and implemented to take advantage of a supply chain finance (SCF) perspective. Design/methodology/approach – This study presents an SCF literature background identifying four literature gaps, and in response to them it adopts an action research approach. The empirical analysis is developed on a network-case study: a horizontal collaboration project between small businesses of the Italian wine industry and their supply chains. Findings – SMEs can play an active role in developing – in terms of design and implementation – their collaborative networks by taking advantage of an SCF perspective for themselves, and their customers, based on the reorganization of relationships interface processes. Taking this perspective can be a concrete and crucial way to sustain the development of SMEs and their supply chains in an actual competitive context. Research limitations/implications – The paper identifies the theoretical gaps in the literature, suggests new research areas that deserve to be more deeply investigated and connects case-related results to the key concepts. The empirical part presents a real case application that proposes a complete roadmap for managers and practitioners who wish to experience similar projects. Practical implications – This network-case study storyline, presenting an overview of ten years of meetings, with related purposes, is suggesting a roadmap for design and implementation of horizontal network as managerial implications. These kinds of active research projects, with a collaborative mixed team of academics and practitioners, and involving a multilayer group of participants, are positive examples for closing the bridge between companies and academia, which enhance this network of small businesses active in trying to improve their competitiveness working together. Originality/value – The value of the paper is to embrace a supply chain-oriented perspective for an SME, independent of the financial system and based on inventory flow management. Very little literature focuses on inventory-based research within the SCF framework, designed for real implementation in horizontal network collaboration by entrepreneurial ventures