The strategic relevance of logistics: new perspectives
by Ingrid Göpfert; Michael Stephan; Wanja Wellbrock; Malte Ackermann
International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management (IJLSM), Vol. 25, No. 1, 2016

Abstract: We measure the strategic relevance of logistics in multinational corporations (MNCs) using two proxies: 1) the communication of logistics endeavours in annual reports; 2) the employment of logistics competencies on the top management level. We define logistics competencies as the employment of executive board members who are assigned to logistics tasks. We examine 360 MNCs and their annual reports of the years 2000, 2004 and 2008 using content analysis. We show that there are considerable differences in the communication efforts amongst the geographical regions and the associated industries using the standard industrial classification (SIC) scheme. We present evidence that corporations originating in Asia are more likely to employ logistics competencies at the top level than their North American and European counterparts. On the other hand, Asian corporations are much more taciturn in their corporate disclosure policy. On an industrial level the transportation and chemicals subsectors are more likely to employ logistics competencies in their executive boards than other subsectors. Additionally, using partial point-biserial correlations, we demonstrate that the employment of logistics competencies is related to higher financial performance, further substantiating the strategic relevance of logistics for MNCs.

Online publication date: Mon, 22-Aug-2016

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management (IJLSM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com