Fostering sustainable logistics businesses: the role of innovation ecosystems and institutional contexts for logistics firms in China

PurposeDrawing on institution embeddedness and the resource-based view, the authors develop a theoretical framework and empirically examine how intra-national innovation ecosystems and environmental institutions impact logistics service providers' (LSPs) technological innovation (TI) and green practices.Design/methodology/approachThe authors test the theoretical framework based on survey data of 328 Chinese LSPs. Archival datasets complement the survey data.FindingsThe research reveals that intra-national institutional forces of formal and informal environment-related institutions can mitigate LSPs' reliance on their firm-specific advantages when engaging in TI and green practices. Results from a three-way interaction indicate that intra-national innovation ecosystems positively moderate the effects of environmental institutions.Research limitations/implicationsThe research has three critical implications. First, the study reveals the contingency role of intra-national environment-related institutions and innovation ecosystems in shaping green logistics. Second, the study finds new results about the roles of informal environmental institutions. Finally, intra-national innovation ecosystems can override environmental institutions in influencing the green practices of LSPs.Originality/valueTaking a unique angle of institution embeddedness coupled with the resource-based view, the authors examined how intra-national ecosystems and environmental institutions impact LSPs' TI and green practices.

The New Concept of Disruptive Logistics

In an increasingly disruptive global environment, marked by the potential development of the Post-New World Economic Order, more innovative, effective, and efficient logistics solutions are demanded. It is necessary to offer radical improvements in logistics services through new models. It is considered necessary to define the new concept of disruptive logistics based on three fundamental pillars: globalization, digitization, and sustainability. This chapter aims to address the new concept, more effective and efficient, in a highly turbulent environment that has become disruptive, with unpredictable, substantial, and impactful changes. The most significant geoeconomics aspects that would condition a hypothetical Post-New World Economic Order are analyzed, the main factors of the global sustainable logistics are studied, and the development of the concepts of Logistics 4.0 and Supply Chain Management 4.0 is reviewed. Finally, as a result, the main aspects of the proposed new concept are analyzed.

Optimal Urban Logistics - Through the Choice of Sustainable Axes

In a world where urbanization is becoming more and more widespread, big figures can be seen around internal urban migration further aggravating the environmental urban situation, which results from several previous factors. This is the case with globalization, online shopping, or polluting industrial and human sources. The major solutions are centered primarily on the concern for urban mobility, the involvement of the stakeholders concerned, the optimization of journeys, the use of lanes and roads, the choice of vehicles as well as the zoning or choice of logistics locations. Sustainability is one of the primary elements of flow management; it is one of the most important pillars of the concept of "urban logistics". Indeed, the final goal goes beyond the delivery of goods, going so far as to place the environment as an essential support for urban logistics. In this paper we present a literature review on sustainable logistics, we will try to answer the following problem: Urban logistics: Where are we? To respond to this problem, we are taking the following approach: Presentation of the basic concepts, choice of articles to be used for the study which will induce us to determine the axes and the main actors, with the aim of specifying the most predominant aspects which must be treated and prioritized in order to make urban logistics more optimal.

Designing a Resilient and Sustainable Logistics Network under Epidemic Disruptions and Demand Uncertainty

To face the new challenges caused by modern industry, logistics operations managers need to focus more on integrating sustainability goals, adapt to unexpected disruptions and find new strategies and models for logistics management. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven that unforeseen fragilities, negatively affecting the supply chain performance, can arise rapidly, and logistics systems may confront unprecedented vulnerabilities regarding network structure disruption and high demand fluctuations. The existing studies on a resilient logistics network design did not sufficiently consider sustainability aspects. In fact, they mainly addressed the independent planning of decision-making problems with economic objectives. To fill this research gap, this paper concentrates on the design of resilient and sustainable logistics networks under epidemic disruption and demand uncertainty. A two-stage stochastic mixed integer programming model is proposed to integrate key decisions of location–allocation, inventory and routing planning. Moreover, epidemic disruptions and demand uncertainty are incorporated through plausible scenarios using a Monte Carlo simulation. In addition, two resiliency strategies, namely, capacity augmentation and logistics collaboration, are included into the basic model in order to improve the resilience and the sustainability of a logistics chain network. Finally, numerical examples are presented to validate the proposed approach, evaluate the performance of the different design models and provide managerial insights. The obtained results show that the integration of two design strategies improves resilience and sustainability.

Research into the Impacts of Driving Cycles and Load Weight on the Operation of a Light Commercial Electric Vehicle

The European Parliament has adopted Directive 2019/1161 on the promotion of environmentally friendly and energy-efficient road transport vehicles, which also defines the obligations and forms of support for the procurement of environmentally friendly vehicles in urban logistics. The increase in the number of shipments delivered within e-commerce, which is also the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, requires a transition to a sustainable logistics system. New research questions are being raised in the preparation of new projects for the introduction of small electric commercial vehicles in particular. One of the main research questions about deployment itself is whether light commercial electric vehicles are able to fully replace conventionally powered vehicles. What operating conditions are optimal for the operation of them? How does load weight affect the energy efficiency of operating a light commercial electric vehicle? The authors decided to carry out research into the impacts of weight and the nature of a driving cycle under laboratory conditions to eliminate all external factors that could distort individual measurements and their results. In order to simulate driving cycles, an urban driving cycle was designed on the basis of the course of speed, acceleration, deceleration and slope conditions of roads in the selected regional city of Žilina (Slovakia). In the case of the operation of an electrically powered light commercial vehicle, the impact of load weight on the range of the vehicle is low, and is below the level of the theoretical maximum range of the vehicle in urban logistics applications. The operation of electrically powered vehicles in hilly terrains with relatively longer gradients and steeper slopes increases electricity consumption and, thereby, reduces their range.

The application of Industry 4.0 technologies in sustainable logistics: a systematic literature review (2012–2020) to explore future research opportunities

Nowadays, the market competition becomes increasingly fierce due to diversified customer needs, stringent environmental requirements, and global competitors. One of the most important factors for companies to not only survive but also thrive in today’s competitive market is their logistics performance. This paper aims, through a systematic literature analysis of 115 papers from 2012 to 2020, at presenting quantitative insights and comprehensive overviews of the current and future research landscapes of sustainable logistics in the Industry 4.0 era. The results show that Industry 4.0 technologies provide opportunities for improving the economic efficiency, environmental performance, and social impact of logistics sectors. However, several challenges arise with this technological transformation, i.e., trade-offs among different sustainability indicators, unclear benefits, lifecycle environmental impact, inequity issues, and technology maturity. Thus, to better tackle the current research gaps, future suggestions are given to focus on the balance among different sustainability indicators through the entire lifecycle, human-centric technological transformation, system integration and digital twin, semi-autonomous transportation solutions, smart reverse logistics, and so forth.

Calculation of northern hemisphere sea ice area using recurrent neural networks

Ice covering water surfaces causes difficulties for ship traffic in the northern regions. Developing a sustainable logistics system that describes and manages ship traffic requires consideration of many factors, one of which is the area of sea ice covering the waterways. Most of the volume of sea ice in the northern hemisphere is concentrated in the Arctic zone. The paper describes the process and results of data preparation and development of a recurrent neural network to determine the value of ice area change in the next 50 days relative to the last day of sea ice area measurement. The prediction is made based on the previous 30 measured values of sea ice area and a user-specified value of the day for which the prediction will be made. The work uses NSIDC open dataset on sea ice area for the northern hemisphere. This model allows us to calculate the change of sea ice area for 1 day ahead with an accuracy of 0.581%. For the 50-day prediction of ice area, the accuracy is 4.017%.

Overview of Environmental Problems Caused by Logistics Transportation

Logistic transportation works is considered the main pollutant for the environment, with over 25 per cent CO2 emissions in the EU. This situation has raised concerns for the EU and governments to find solutions and impose regulations to diminish the environmental impact. The purpose of this paper is to investigate two questions regarding environmental issues connected to transportation; “What are the recent trends for establishing sustainable logistics for different transportation methods?” “Which alternatives can be incentivized to decrease the environmental impact of transportation activities?” These projects among the most noteworthy environmental benefits, which are also the case studies of this research are The Viking Concept, The WestMed Bridge, Scandinavian Shuttle and Baxter Inland Sea Transport. The result highlighted in this research is that shifting transportation modes has been successfully implemented, with considerable positive outcomes in terms of environment impact, cost and lead times in several European Union funded projects.

An Augmented Reality Symbiosis Software Tool for Sustainable Logistics Activities

Augmented Reality (AR) is an emerging technology in the Industry 4.0 and Logistics 4.0 contexts with an important role in man–machine symbiosis scenarios. Practitioners, although already acquainted with AR technology, are reluctant to adopt AR applications in industrial operations. This stems from the fact that a direct connection that is important for the management of sustainability goals is missing. Moreover, such a connection with economic, social, and environmental sustainability parameters sparsely appears in the AR literature. The proposed research, on one hand, presents an innovative architecture for a stable and scalable AR application that extents state-of-the-art solutions and, on the other hand, attempts to study AR technology within the framework of a sustainable business strategy. The developed system utilizes the Robot Operating System (ROS) alongside an AR mobile application to present an employee navigation scenario in warehouses and production lines. ROS is responsible for mapping the industrial facility, while the AR mobile application identifies the surrounding environment, along with a Real-Time Location System localizes employees in the facility. Finally, ROS identifies the shortest path between the employee and the destination point, while the AR mobile application presents the virtual path for reaching the destination.