Title: The adoption of green initiatives in logistics service providers - a strategic perspective

Authors: Karin Isaksson; Pietro Evangelista; Maria Huge-Brodin; Heikki Liimatainen; Edward Sweeney

Addresses: Centigo AB, Business Wellness Center, Vasagatan 16, SE 111 20 Stockholm, Sweden ' Research Institute on Innovation and Services for Development (IRISS), National Research Council (CNR), Via G. Sanfelice, 8 – 80134 – Naples, Italy ' Department of Management and Engineering, Institute of Technology, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden ' Transport Research Centre Verne, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 541, 33101 Tampere, Finland ' Engineering Systems and Management (ESM) Group, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK

Abstract: Logistics service providers (LSPs) have started to transform their operations and strategy to be more effective from a green perspective. One concern that is of particular interest of LSPs is how to create organisational green awareness and translate this into practice in their operations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the roles of green strategic commitment and organisation in LSPs' adoption of green initiatives. The data for this study were collected through a questionnaire survey, investigating a sample of LSPs operating in the Swedish, Finnish and Italian markets. From the literature analysis, a set of testable hypotheses was developed. The results indicate that there are relationships between the nature, as well as the scope, of functional involvement and the green strategic priority. The results further suggest that the inclusion of environmental consideration in the overall business strategy is positively related to the involvement and coordination of multiple functions as well as existence of a separate environmental function.

Keywords: logistics service providers; LSPs; environmental sustainability initiatives; green strategic priority; functional involvement; questionnaire survey.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2017.087096

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2017 Vol.11 No.4, pp.349 - 364

Received: 02 Jul 2015
Accepted: 19 Jan 2016
Published online: 06 Oct 2017 *

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