Title: Third party logistics – a Nordic approach

Authors: Tage Skjoett-Larsen, Arni Halldorsson, Dan Andersson, Heidi Dreyer, Helge Virum, Lauri Ojala

Addresses: Department of Operations Management, Copenhagen Business School, Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark. ' Department of Operations Management, Copenhagen Business School, Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark. ' Department of Logistics Management, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linkoping, Sweden. ' Department of Production and Quality Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, S.P. Andersens Vei 5, 7465 Trondheim, Norway. ' Department of Strategy and Logistics, Norwegian School of Management, Nydalsveien 37, N-0442 Oslo, Norway. ' Turku School of Economics, Rehtorinpellonkatu 3, 20500 Turku, Finland

Abstract: This paper gives a status of the Third Party Logistics (TPL) research in the Nordic countries. The objective is to investigate whether there is a |Nordic School of TPL research|, which has some distinctive characteristics in terms of definition of the phenomenon, research methodology, and theoretical approaches. To achieve this, the contributions of Nordic TPL researchers to the international research agenda (articles in logistics journals, PhD theses and papers at refereed logistics conferences) are reviewed. Although this approach may only provide an incomplete picture, we conclude that the evidence supports the overall presumption that it makes sense to talk about a |Nordic Research Approach| to TPL. This is mainly related to the use of theoretical frameworks and research methodology.

Keywords: third party logistics; 3PL; Nordic countries; joint research; Annual Nordic Conference on Logistics Research; NOFOMA; research methodology; value chain management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVCM.2006.011185

International Journal of Value Chain Management, 2006 Vol.1 No.2, pp.190 - 204

Published online: 27 Oct 2006 *

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