Green logistics: Comparative views of environmental progressives, moderates, and conservatives

Journal of Business Logistics, 1996 by Murphy, Paul R, Poist, Richard F, Braunschweig, Charles D

In the mid-1980s Poist argued that the history of the logistics discipline could be categorized into three eras.1 "Prelogistics," the first era, was dominated by the Modal Cost and Modal Rate approaches. The primary emphasis was on the design of efficient transport systems. Poist's second era, "logistics," was characterized by the Total Cost, Total Profit, and Total Channel approaches. The primary emphasis was on the design of logistics systems rather than simply transport systems. The third era was referred to as "neologistics," and was initially dominated by the Total Enterprise approach, in which companies began to fit logistics systems into the overall corporate mission and objectives. One of the hallmarks of the Total Enterprise approach was increased coordination between logistics and other business functional areas, such as production and marketing.

In a follow-up article several years later, Poist suggested that a second neologistics phase, the Total Responsibility approach, had begun to emerge.2 Whereas the Total Enterprise approach focuses on logistical contributions to a company's economic welfare, the Total Responsibility approach considers both the corporate and societal implications of logistical decisions.

According to Poist, logistics can offer potential solutions to a variety of social issues and problems. These include consumerism, employee education and training, occupational health and safety, hunger and homelessness, and environmental and ecological issues. Poist maintains that logistics is especially well positioned to contribute to environmental and ecological control in terms of packaging issues, pollution control, and energy and resource conservation.

The focus of the present research will be on matters of public concern that can have a negative impact on the natural or physical environment. Environmentalism has been characterized as the most significant force shaping the economy, as well as the most important issue facing business during the 1990s. Indeed, some corporate executives have called the 1990s the "decade of the environment."3

From a logistical perspective, leading trade publications have indicated that during the 1990s, environmental issues will not only broaden the scope of logistics, but also transform the way logistics managers perform their jobs.4 Nor are environmental issues likely to be an overnight sensation or fad; rather they will likely capture long-term public interest because they are more noticeable and frequently more threatening than other social problems. Furthermore, environmental concerns may be more "personal" than some other issues in social responsibility. A typical consumer may have dealt with questions of energy conservation (e.g., deciding on a proper temperature for one's home air conditioner), congestion (e.g., being stuck in a traffic jam), pollution (e.g., living in an area with mandatory auto emissions testing), and solid waste disposal (e.g., living in a community with some type of recycling program).

While there has been an increase in the number of logistics-related environmental articles appearing in popular trade magazines such as Distribution, Traffic Management, and Transportation and Distribution, there has been minimal research in more scholarly publications. In fact, a review of articles appearing in the Logistics and Transportation Review, the Journal of Business Logistics, and the Transportation Journal since 1990 reveals only three dealing with logistics-related environmental issues.5 Nonetheless, scholarly interest in environmental issues in logistics appears to be growing. Professor James Stock prepared Reverse Logistics as a White Paper for the Council of Logistics Management (CLM).6 The CLM also commissioned a more formal study that focused on "the reuse and recycling aspects of reverse logistics and, to a lesser extent, on source reduction."7

This recent and growing interest in the "greening" of logistics provides excellent opportunities in empirical research. This paper will investigate environmental issues in logistics from the perspective of environmentally "progressive," "moderate," and "conservative" firms. More specifically, the paper will examine how these groups differ with respect to their management of various environmental issues in logistics.

METHODOLOGY AND SCALE CONSTRUCTION

Methodology

The information in this paper is based upon a mail questionnaire to members of the Council of Logistics Management (CLM). Because the corporate personnel most knowledgeable about environmental issues in their respective firms are likely to be in positions of middle and upper management, the study focused on those members with job titles at the director level or above. Also, only manufacturing and merchandising firms located in the United States were included. Based upon these criteria, 450 members were randomly selected from a recent CLM membership roster to participate in the study.

Respondents received two survey mailings, both of which consisted of a cover letter, a copy of the survey, and a postage-paid return envelope. Two of the surveys were returned as undeliverable, reducing the sampling frame to 448. A total of 135 responses were received, of which 133 were usable. This resulted in an effective response rate of 29.7 percent.