Is environmental sustainability a strategic priority for logistics service providers?

Despite an increasing number of third-party logistics service providers (3PLs) regard environmental sustainability as a key area of management, there is still great uncertainty on how 3PLs implement environmental strategies and on how they translate green efforts into practice. Through a multiple ca...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental management 2017-08, Vol.198 (Pt 1), p.353-362
Main Authors: Evangelista, Pietro, Colicchia, Claudia, Creazza, Alessandro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Case study analysis
Commerce
Conservation of Natural Resources
Environment
Environmental strategy
Environmental sustainability practices
Humans
Industry
Influencing factors
Italy
Logistics service providers
Organizational Culture
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Despite an increasing number of third-party logistics service providers (3PLs) regard environmental sustainability as a key area of management, there is still great uncertainty on how 3PLs implement environmental strategies and on how they translate green efforts into practice. Through a multiple case study analysis, this paper explores the environmental strategies of a sample of medium-sized 3PLs operating in Italy and the UK, in terms of environmental organizational culture, initiatives, and influencing factors. Our analysis shows that, notwithstanding environmental sustainability is generally recognised as a strategic priority, a certain degree of diversity in the deployment of environmental strategies still exists. This paper is original since the extant literature on green strategies of 3PLs provides findings predominantly from a single country perspective and mainly investigates large/multinational organizations. It also provides indications to help managers of medium-sized 3PLs in positioning their business. This is particularly meaningful in the 3PL industry, where medium-sized organizations significantly contribute to the generated turnover and market value. •Environmental strategies (culture, initiatives, influencing factors) are explored.•Ten Italian and UK medium-sized logistics service providers were investigated.•Environmental sustainability is generally recognised as a strategic priority.•A unique approach to the deployment of environmental strategies was not found.•Alignment between firms' environmental strategy and actions doesn't always emerge.
ISSN:0301-4797
1095-8630
DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.04.096