Article: Greening transport activities in the food retail supply chain Journal: International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management (IJLSM) 2016 Vol.25 No.1 pp.129 - 143 Abstract: From an operations perspective, retailers are seeking to manage and improve relationships with their customers, brand image, customer services, etc., in order to underline their green potential, because literature has considered green and sustainable business practices as a means to reducing costs. Among different retail operations and activities, transport has caused the highest costs and has been insufficiently investigated as well. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the greening of the transport activities in the food retail supply chain and characteristics of the food retailers' who are leaders in pursuing such activities. In such a way, the paper reveals the impact of food retailers' green initiatives on the way they manage their transport and logistics services. For the purpose of the paper, a quantitative study on the sample of 190 food retail companies operating on the Croatian market was conducted. The results suggest that generally retailers see green transport and other logistical activities as an overall positive activity in terms of reducing costs and beyond, however usage of such green practices still differs a lot among observed food retailers. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Greening transport activities in the food retail supply chain

Authors: Kristina Petljak; Sanda Renko; Sanda Rasic

Addresses: Department of Trade, Faculty of Economics and Business Zagreb, University of Zagreb, J.F. Kennedy Square 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia ' Department of Trade, Faculty of Economics and Business Zagreb, University of Zagreb, J.F. Kennedy Square 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia ' Department of Organization and Management, Faculty of Economics and Business Zagreb, University of Zagreb, J.F. Kennedy Square 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract: From an operations perspective, retailers are seeking to manage and improve relationships with their customers, brand image, customer services, etc., in order to underline their green potential, because literature has considered green and sustainable business practices as a means to reducing costs. Among different retail operations and activities, transport has caused the highest costs and has been insufficiently investigated as well. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the greening of the transport activities in the food retail supply chain and characteristics of the food retailers' who are leaders in pursuing such activities. In such a way, the paper reveals the impact of food retailers' green initiatives on the way they manage their transport and logistics services. For the purpose of the paper, a quantitative study on the sample of 190 food retail companies operating on the Croatian market was conducted. The results suggest that generally retailers see green transport and other logistical activities as an overall positive activity in terms of reducing costs and beyond, however usage of such green practices still differs a lot among observed food retailers.

Keywords: green transport; food retailing; food supply chains; supply chain management; SCM; Croatia; logistics; greening; sustainable transport; sustainability; sustainable development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2016.078492

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2016 Vol.25 No.1, pp.129 - 143

Received: 28 Jan 2015
Accepted: 21 Jul 2015
Published online: 22 Aug 2016 *

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Title: Greening transport activities in the food retail supply chain

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