Third party logistics a Nordic approach

Abstract

This paper gives a status of the Third Party Logistics (TPL) research in the Nordic countries. The objective is to investigate whether there is a 'Nordic School of TPL research', which has some distinctive characteristics in terms of definition of the phenomenon, research methodology, and theoretical approaches. To achieve this, the contributions of Nordic TPL researchers to the international research agenda (articles in logistics journals, PhD theses and papers at refereed logistics conferences) are reviewed. Although this approach may only provide an incomplete picture, we conclude that the evidence supports the overall presumption that it makes sense to talk about a 'Nordic Research Approach' to TPL. This is mainly related to the use of theoretical frameworks and research methodology.