The attitude towards environmental sustainability of logistics service providers: a country comparison

Purpose of this paper. Third-party logistics service providers (3PLs) have started to transform their operations and strategy to be more effective from a green perspective. The purpose of this paper is to explore the adoption of environmental sustainability practices and factors facilitating and hindering green efforts in a sample of Italian and UK 3PLs. Design/methodology/approach. We adopted a two-fold research methodology. First, a structured literature review on the adoption of green initiatives by 3PLs was carried out. Such review allowed identifying two research questions that were subsequently addressed through a comparative case study analysis involving eight 3PLs operating in the Italian and UK markets. Findings. The 3PL companies show a certain degree of diversity in the adoption of green initiatives, due to the different range of offered services and the importance associated to environmental issues. Results indicate that 3PL in both countries are focused on the adoption of initiatives in the area of operational efficiency of transport and distribution activities. The green efforts of UK companies are much more driven by cost efficiency and the need to mitigate company risk. The Italian 3PLs are more pressed by actions undertaken by competitors. In addition, the key role played by customers in driving the implementation of green logistics initiatives clearly emerges. Research limitations/implications. This paper contributes to deepen the knowledge on how 3PLs in two different countries respond to changing market conditions driven by green pressures. The study contributes to the growing debate on 3PLs' strategy development from an environmental sustainability perspective. Its main limitation relates to the restricted number of case companies investigated that hinder the generalisability of findings. Practical implications. The paper describes the green initiatives implemented by 3PLs into their operations and the influencing factors that affect such process. The paper provides indications that can help managers of 3PL companies in positioning their business compared to the current practices and attitudes of 3PLs operating in different countries. What is original/value of paper. The extant literature on green practices in the 3PLs' industry provides findings predominantly from a single country perspective. Comparative studies among 3PL companies operating in different countries may be beneficial. This could help in understanding differences and commonalities of green practices adoption as well as drivers and barriers for investing in green actions for theory and practice. Considering the existing gap of knowledge, such an analysis could stimulate further research in this field.