Abstract
Logistics service providers (LSPs) are under tremendous pressure in the fight against global climate change. While existing research has examined the operational importance of LSPs in decarbonizing supply chains, the strategic perspective of LSPs on low carbon supply chains has not received enough attention. Motivated by the evolving role of LSPs from a service provider to a resource integrator in the supply chain, drawing on the relational view of inter-organizational competitive advantage, this paper focuses on LSPs’ low-carbon supply chain integration (SCI) and empirically investigates its drivers and outcomes. Data from 124 Chinese LSPs shows that LSPs’ corporate environmental responsibility and customer environmental requirement have positive relationships with LSPs’ low-carbon SCI, and that LSPs’ low-carbon SCI is positively related to LSPs’ environmental and financial performance. In addition, LSPs’ environmental performance is found to have a positive relationship with LSPs’ financial performance. These findings not only provide new insights for LSPs’ low-carbon supply chain initiatives, but also highlight the importance of SCI as a strategic approach in low-carbon supply chain management.
Highlights
Climate change has been a global challenge
Based on the relational view of inter-organizational competitive advantage [9], we argue that the corporate environmental responsibility and the customer environmental requirement have positive relationships with logistics service providers (LSPs)’ low-carbon supply chain integration (SCI), since both drivers can shape the buyer–supplier relationship in the collaboration paradigm of supply chains [10]
Motivated by the increasing challenge of climate change on supply chain management (SCM) and the evolving role of LSPs as the resource integrator in supply chains, this study takes the perspective of LSPs and investigates the drivers and outcomes of LSPs’ low-carbon SCI
Summary
Climate change has been a global challenge. According to the United Nations, weather events are becoming more extreme and greenhouse gas emissions are at their highest levels in history [1]. As countries around the world have brought climate action to the top of their economic agenda, there is growing pressure on reducing carbon emissions from supply chain management (SCM). The logistics industry, characterized by enormous energy consumption and carbon emissions, is under tremendous pressure in the fight against global climate change [2]. Despite the challenge of low-carbon supply chain initiatives, an opportunity for the logistics industry lies in the evolving role of the logistics service providers (LSPs), from a service provider to a resource integrator in supply chains [3]. In addition to providing traditional logistics management activities (e.g., transportation, warehousing, order processing, and related IT support), LSPs have evolved into a leadership role and have taken on a more proactive manner for customers by organizing networks, sharing information, managing assets, and reducing inventory [4]. Previous research has examined the operational importance of LSPs in decarbonizing supply chains [5], the strategic role of LSPs in low carbon supply chains has not received enough attention
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