Green Logistics Strategies: An Analysis of Usage Patterns Author(s): PAUL R. MURPHY and RICHARD F.

POIST Reviewed work(s): Source: Transportation Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2 (WINTER 2000), pp. 5-16 Published by: Penn State University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20713450 . Accessed: 28/05/2012 03:11
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PAUL R. MURPHY RICHARD F. POIST

Green

An Strategies: Logistics Patterns of Usage Analysis

issues

Abstract numerous the decisions logistical throughout affect that are most and least popular value chain. This research identifies strategies to such issues, and provides evidence and responding of relation for managing and the particular characteristics between select company types of strate ships Data environmental in managing impacts. logistics-related gies employed Environmental sources included

are universally popular intense commit that exhibit more strate ment to environmentalism than their peers augment use of these universal audits. with various thrusts, such as environmental gies specialized and materials, consumption, reducing nations. industrialized among western reusing Firms materials There is little question that environmental issues have become an important consideration formany business decision makers in recent years,1 with some corporate executives having referred to the 1990s as the "decade of the envi ronment."2 Many companies are designing their products to be more environmentally friendly, and many are using more environmentally friendly packaging materials. Estimates of the current environmental, or green, market range upwards of $200 billion.3 While there is a burgeoning body of litera ture involving environmental issues in other business disciplines such as marketing, the cor responding literature involving logistics has been characterized as "small but expanding."4 Spurring this expansion is the recognition by a number of writers, such as Lambert and Stock as well as Handfield and Nichols, that respond ing to environmental issues will be one of the major challenges facing logistics and supply chain management in the foreseeable future.5 Such recognition tends to confirm the view that environmentalism has "come of age" as a major
Mr. Murphy, EM-AST&L, is professor of business logis tics, Boler School of Business, John Carroll University, Ohio 44118; e-mail: drmurphy@ University Heights, is professor jcu.edu. Mr. Poist, EM-AST&L, of trans portation logistics, College of Business, University, Ames, Iowa 50011; e-mail: rpoist@iastate.edu. and Iowa

Union. Study results suggest that the green logistics strategies of recycling

companies

in the United

States,

Canada,

and

the European

topic in logistics and no longer can be regarded as simply a peripheral concern or fad.6 Indeed,Wu and Dunn demonstrate that envi ronmental issues can impact numerous logisti cal decisions, including the acquisition of raw inbound logistics, and outbound materials, logistics, throughout the value chain.7 With respect to the acquisition of raw materials, for example, some organizations are specifying that theirvendors meet certain types of environ mental qualifications. In fact, the International Standards Organization (ISO) has developed an international environmental standard known as ISO 14000, which is to be applied to vendors
worldwide.8

Not surprisingly, there are numerous envi ronmental considerations with respect to inbound logistics. One such consideration, effi cient warehouse design, can reduce the number of empty or partially empty forklifttrips, which is environmentally beneficial due to improved vehicle utilization. Likewise, freight consolida tion of inbound loads can reduce the number of partially loaded transportvehicles, thus improv ing fuel efficiency.9 Wu and Dunn also point out that many of the environmental issues associated with inbound logistics (e.g., warehousing, transportation mode decisions) are applicable to outbound logistics as well; nevertheless, some differences

State

6 TRANSPORTATION JOURNAL

Winter

do exist.10 In particular, organizations are faced with difficult decisions regarding the trade-offs involving inventorypolicies and environmental ly responsible logistics programs. The contem porary emphasis on cycle time compression, for example, may result in a multitude of smaller shipmentsmoving by fast, fuel-inefficientforms of transportation. Environmentally responsible logistics programs, by contrast, are more com fortablewith fewer, larger shipmentsmoving by slow, fuel-efficientforms of transportation. Moreover, Mclntyre and colleagues suggest that theremay be a basic dichotomy between measuring the performance of supply chains and the greening of supply chains.11 That is, supply chain performance measurement tends to focus on short-term metrics (e.g., profitabili as well as the interests of corporate share ty) holders. The evaluation of environmental issues, by contrast, tends to involve longer time horizons and should accommodate the concerns of a variety of stakeholders (e.g., suppliers, cus tomers, the local community). Another environmental topic that has been receiving increased attention in recent years is reverse logistics (RL). According to Kopicki and others, RL refers to the process "involved in reducing, managing, and disposing of haz ardous and non-hazardous waste from packag ing and products."12 The growth and interest in RL is very likely to continue in the future as firms recognize that reverse logistics is a key component of the total logistics management process inmuch the same way as is true for inbound and outbound logistics. In fact, Stock characterizes the current state of development of RL as being analogous to inbound logistics ten to twenty years ago.13He cites as a critical success factor that reverse logistics programs and environmental initiatives be given priority and have sufficient resources (i.e., time, money, personnel) committed to them.14 Today companies such as Xerox, Eastman Kodak, Mobil, Hewlett Packard, Sears, and Home Depot are taking a proactive value-seek ing approach to RL, rather than simply a reac tive one.15They have launched reverse logistics programs, which offer benefits such as tight ened inventory management, reduced costs and better cost control, enhanced revenues and cus tomer service, better data regarding the RL process, and improved public image. Moreover, Marien maintains that a reverse logistics program combined with source reduc

tion practices can be used to increase competi tiveness and gain a competitive advantage.16 contend Indeed, Rogers and Tibben-Lembke thatRL can be viewed as a "strategic weapon" that has potential long-term bottom-line impact.17 Similarly, Blumberg estimates the currentworldwide market forRL to be greater than $20 billion, and further suggests thatRL "...will become a major business opportunity in the 21st century."18Carter and Ellram have furtheredunderstanding of this strategic role by developing a model of the drivers and con straints to reverse logistics programs and how these factors interact.19 Research Purpose and Questions

Additional environmental topics could be cited relating to other aspects of logistics; suf fice it to say thatmuch remains to be learned about how companies manage and respond to environmental issues in logistics. To this end, this article will analyze the current usage of select strategies formanaging and responding to environmental issues in logistic manage ment. The strategies used to manage and to environmental issues in logistics respond were derived from an extensive search of the literature as well as from discussions with cur rent logistics managers. Twelve prominently mentioned strategies were selected for inclu
sion

gies were selected in part because the purpose was to investigate environmental management across industries as a whole, rather thanwithin a specific industry or within specific logistics functional areas. Moreover, most of the twelve strategies have been cited as a "best practice" in the management of reverse logistics/environ mental programs.20For purposes of this article, these strategies will be referred to as "green logistics strategies." This article will also investigate possible relationships between six distinct company characteristics and the twelve environmental strategies. The six characteristics are geograph ic location of the organization; type of firm; size of firm; importance of environmental issues; formalness of environmental policy; and logistics' degree of involvement in implement ing environmental policy. Three of the six (geographic location, firm type, and firm size) are demographic variables, while the remaining three can be viewed as examples of, or surro

in the study;

these

twelve

"general"

strate

2000 GREEN LOGISTICS 1

gates for, the intensity of an organization's To to environmentalism. commitment summarize, the following research questions will be investigated: 1.What are the most, and least, popular strategies currently being used tomanage and respond to environmental issues in logistics? 2. What relationships, if any, exist between select company characteristics and the managing and responding to strategies for environmental issues? Methodology The information to be analyzed comes from and mail surveys sent to U.S., Canadian, Union Members of the Council of European the (CLM). Because Logistics Management company personnel most knowledgeable about environmental issues in logistics are likely to be in positions of middle and upper manage ment, the study focused on thosemembers with job titles at the director level or above. Also, only members from manufacturing and mer

percent (188 usable surveys/672 eligible respondents). Nonresponse bias was examined by compar ing early and late respondents, a procedure that is based on the assumption that later respon dents tend to be more like nonrespondents than like earlier respondents.22 For this study, responses received within twenty-five days of to those the first mailing were compared received after twenty-five days. These tests revealed negligible differences between early and late respondents, suggesting that nonre sponse bias is not a major problem in this study. There are several limitations to the present study that should be discussed before proceed ing: First, the number of Canadian and Euro pean respondents is relatively small. While other professional organizations (e.g., the of Logistics Manage Canadian Association ment, the European Logistics Association) could have offered larger sample sizes, some potential problems in cross-border research can be reduced if participants have some degree of For this study, such commonality was opera tionalized by membership in the same profes sional organization (i.e., CLM). The CLM is one of the few professional logistics organiza tions with a multinational membership, and its official correspondence language is English, meaning thatour surveys could be developed in English. This is significant because it allowed us to avoid various language issues (e.g., trans lation and back translation) for some of the Canadian and European participants. Language considerations are frequently identified as one of themajor challenges to conducting effective
cross-cultural research.23 commonality.

chandising (wholesalers and retailers) firms were included. Previous research has identified manufacturers and merchandisers as "primary channel participants"; that is, key players in distribution channels.21 Surveys were mailed to 450 randomly select ed CLM manufacturers and merchandisers in the
U.S. as well as a non-U.S.

ers and merchandisers comprising 130 Canadian and 101 European Union CLM members meet ing the selection criteria. Each sampling frame member received an initial survey packet con sisting of a cover letter, a copy of the survey, and a self-addressed envelope (U.S. respondents received a postage-paid returnenvelope). A fol low-up mailing, consisting of a cover letter, a copy of the survey, and a self-addressed enve lope, was sent approximately one month after the initial mailing. Two of theU.S., three of the Canadian, and four of the European surveys were returned as undeliverable, reducing the sampling frames to 448, 127, and 97, respectively. A total of 133 usable surveyswere received fromU.S. organi zations, for a response rate of 29.7 percent; 31 usable responses came from Canadian organi zations, for a 24.6 percent response rate; and 24 usable responses came from the European firms, representing a 24.7 percent response rate. The overall response ratewas approximately 28

group

of manufactur

A second limitationof thepresent study is that the CLM membership is skewed toward higher revenue firmswho often tend tobe on the leading edge of logistical practices. W^hile these compa nies certainly provide an importantperspective, we recognize that smaller firmsmay have dif ferent views with respect to managing and responding to environmental issues in logistics. Results least, popular strategies currently being used to manage to environmental and respond issues in logistics? The results for themost, and least, popular strategies are presented in Table 1 and are list 1. What are the most, and

8 TRANSPORTATION JOURNAL

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ed in decreasing order of current usage. Both recycling materials and reducing consumption are strategies currently being used by over 80 percent of the respondents, with reusing materials being utilized by nearly 75 percent. The popularity of recycling, reduction, and reuse should not be surprising, as they tend to man be threeof the better-known strategies for to environmental issues aging and responding in logistics. Moreover, the heavy use of recy cling supports work by Min and Galle, who found recycling to be themost frequently used strategy among purchasing managers.24 As shown in Table 1, the least popular strat egy, encouraging greater government involve ment/regulation, is currently used by slightly more than 15 percent of the respondents. This is an interesting finding, given suggestions that environmental regulations can actually benefit a firm's performance and market competitive ness.25 For example, Japanese and German car manufacturers responded tomore stringentfuel consumption standards by producing lighter and more fuel efficient automobiles. U.S. car manufacturers, by contrast, aggressively opposed these fuel consumption standards?a stance thatultimately wasted billions of dollars and weakened their competitive position.26 The information in Table 1 also indicates that three strategies?the redesign of logistical systems, increased education and training, and rejecting suppliers lacking environmental con cerns?are likely to be added in the future as green strategies by at least 30 percent of the The redesign of responding organizations. Table 1. Strategies forManaging and Responding

logistical systems strategy offers support for the idea that environmentalism will be an important influence on the way that logistics managers do theirjob.27 2. What relationships, if any, exist between select company and the characteristics and responding to strategies for managing environmental issues? Of the six company characteristics to be investigated in this section, five will be ana while the sixth, firm size, lyzed through t-test, will be investigated through one-way analysis of variance. Only statistically significant differ ences at the .05 level or betterwill be discussed in this section. location of the responding (a) Geographic This issue was operationalized organizations. by comparing two respondent groups, namely, U.S. respondents and a non-U.S. group com prising both theCanadian and European partic these countries are somewhat ipants. While similar in terms of their industrial orientation, well developed infrastructures, and business cultures, there are suggestions that they differ in terms of green activism and awareness. For example, German purchasing managers tend to be more involved than theirU.S. counterparts with respect to environmental purchasing.28 Moreover, Canada and Western Europe fre quently are portrayed as having more advanced and proactive programs for managing and to environmental in issues responding
logistics.29

to Environmental

Issues of respondents Plan No plans

use_to use

Percentage Currently Strategy

_use_to

82.8 10.2 7.0 Recycle materials whenever possible 81.2 Reduce consumption whenever possible 73.8 12.8 13.4 Reuse materials whenever possible 58.8 18.2 23.0 Conduct environmental audits 52.4 Publicize environmental efforts/accomplishments Increase education and trainingof company personnel Redesign logistical system components for greater 46.5 37.4 16.0 environmental efficiency Promote industrycooperative efforts 45.9 23.8 30.3 Use outside or thirdparties tomanage environmental issues Reject suppliers who lack environmental concerns Hire/promote environmentally conscious personnel Encourage greater governmental involvement/regulation

11.3

7.5

21.4 26.2 52.1

11.2 36.7

29.5 27.0 30.3 22.2 22.8 16.5

11.5 59.0 42.7 55.0 72.3 11.2

2000 GREEN LOGISTICS 9

Given thisperception, Table 2's discovery of only one statistically significant difference between U.S. and non-U.S. participants is somewhat surprising, and no different than would be expected by chance (i.e., at a .05 level of significance, there would be .60 [12 to 1?statistically .05]?rounded strategies As shown in Table 2, indus significant issue). try cooperative efforts are more likely to be used currentlyby non-U.S. respondents (mean score = 1.60) than by theirU.S. counterparts = (mean score 1.96). The heavier utilization of this environmental strategy among European firms is consistent with previous literature.30 Furthermore, the two groups report nearly identical usage for reducing consumption, rejecting suppliers, and increasing education and training. As a result, the information in Table 2 appears to suggest, at least in terms of green logistics strategies, a higher degree of U.S. and the between similarity firms than is generally Canadian/European acknowledged. (b) Firm type. The results involving firm type,operationalized by comparing manufactur ers and merchandisers, are presented inTable 3. Four of the strategies?increased education and training,conducting environmental audits, pub licizing environmental efforts, and promoting industrycooperative efforts?exhibit statistical ly significant differences between manufactur ers and merchandisers. In all four cases, manu facturersaremore likely to be using theparticu lar green strategy than aremerchandisers. Table 2. T-Test Comparisons

The four statistically significant differences are greater thanwould be expected by chance occurrence (i.e., one expected difference by chance occurrence). Therefore, the results in Table 3 suggest thatmanufacturers and mer chandisers tend to differ in theirusage of these four strategies tomanage and respond to envi ronmental issues in logistics. Moreover, as a general rule, manufacturers also tend to be more involved than merchandisers with respect to the remaining individual strategies. (c) Firm size. Three categories?revenues less than $500 million; revenues between $500 revenues equal million and $999 million; than $1 billion?were used to com to/greater based on firm size. Results pare respondents for the firm size comparisons, presented in Table 4, indicate that there are five statistically significant differences. For all the significant differences, firms with revenues equal to or greater than $1 billion are themost likely to be using the particular green strategies; in four of the five cases, the strategies are least likely to be used by companies with annual revenues of less than $500 million. The discovery of five statistically significant differences is much greater than would be expected by chance (i.e., one expected differ ence by chance), and therefore suggests that strategy usage differs according to firm size. With respect tomanaging and responding to environmental issues in logistics, the largest firms appear to be themost progressive in the sense that they exhibit the greatest utilization

Involving theHome Country of theResponding Organizations Mean score t-value

Non-U.S. Strategy_U.S. materials whenever possible 1.18a 1.30 1.29 Recycle Reduce consumption whenever possible 1.26 1.27 .16 Reuse materials whenever possible 1.38 1.47 .65 Increase education and trainingof company personnel 1.61 1.57 .33 Conduct environmental audits 1.65 1.56 .64 Publicize environmental efforts/accomplishments 1.70 1.86 1.03 Redesign logistical system components for greater environmental efficiency 1.75 1.64 .84 Promote industrycooperative efforts 1.96 1.60 2.27** who lack environmental concerns 2.14 2.18 .26 Reject suppliers 2.26 2.42 1.08 Hire/promote environmentally conscious personnel Use outside or thirdparties tomanage environmental issues 2.31 2.22 .55 2.57 .552.50 Encourage greater governmental involvement/regulation a 1= currentlyuse; 2 = plan to use; 3 = no plans to use ** statistically significant at the .05 level_

10 TRANSPORTATION JOURNAL

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Table

3. T-Test Comparisons

Involving Firm Type Mean score

t-value

1.19a 1.27 .86 Recycle materials whenever possible Reduce consumption whenever possible 1.25 1.30 .46 Reuse materials whenever possible 1.43 1.34 .70 Increase education and trainingof company personnel Conduct environmental audits 1.54 1.86 2.20**

Strategy_Manufacturers

Merchandisers

1.53 2.00 2.32**

1.77 1.99**

Hire/promote environmentally conscious personnel

1.72 2.10 2.07** Promote industrycooperative efforts who lack environmental concerns 2.09 Reject suppliers Use outside or thirdparties tomanage environmental issues Encourage greater governmental involvement/regulation a 1= currentlyuse; 2 = plan to use; 3 = no plans to use ** statistically significant at the .05 level_

Publicize environmental efforts/accomplishments Redesign logistical system components for greater environmental efficiency 1.70 1.74 .30

1.65

2.32 2.24 2.27 2.49

1.53 2.41 1.06 .31 2.73 1.80

2.32

Table

4. ANOVA

Comparisons

Involving Firm Size Revenues less than Mean score Revenues between $500 million and 1.38 1.42 1.731 1.69 1.54 Revenues greater than/

$500million
Strategy Reduce consumption whenever possible Recycle materials whenever possible Reuse materials whenever possible Increase education and trainingof 1.861 company personnel Conduct environmental audits Publicize environmental efforts/ 1.97 1.69 accomplishments Promote industrycooperative efforts 1.22a 1.23 1.40

$999million

equal to$1 billion

1.26 1.18
1.312 1.462 1.492

f-ratio
.60

1.82
3.37** 4.16** 3.18**

1.891

2.06

1.92 1.73

1.59 1.71 1.602 2.18 2.20 1.972 2.51

2.57 1.97 5.40* 1.21 1.87 5.78

.57

Redesign logistical system components 2.081 for greater environmental efficiency Use outside or thirdparties to manage 2.47 2.31 environmental issues Hire/promote environmentally 2.50 conscious personnel who lack Reject suppliers environmental concerns 2.13 2.531 2.042

Encourage greater governmental 2.50 2.67 involvement/regulation al = currentlyuse; 2 = plan to use; 3 = no plans to use **statistically significant at the .05 level *statistically significant at the .01 level Superscripts 1 and 2 indicate thatobservation 1 is statistically different from observation 2 at = .05._

2000 GREEN LOGISTICS 11

of nearly every strategy listed inTable 4. issues. (d) Importance of environmental evaluated the importance of man Respondents aging environmental issues using four cate gories, namely, no importance; slight impor tance; moderate importance; high importance. In this study, comparisons were made between two groups of respondents: (1) those who indi cated high importance and (2) those who indi cated the other three categories ("less than high The results of these comparisons, appearing in Table 5, indicate statistically significant dif ferences for eight strategies, with each of the eight being statistically significant beyond the .01 level. Moreover, each of the eight statisti cally significant strategies exhibits greater uti lization by companies placing a high impor tance on the management of environmental
importance").

issues. Green strategies exhibiting particularly mean score differences include rejecting strong suppliers (mean score for the high importance = 1.82, group compared to 2.62 for the less than high importance group) and publicizing environmental efforts (mean score for the high = 1.49, compared to 2.11 for importance group the less thanhigh importance group). The eight statistically significant differences are far greater than would be expected by Table 5. T-Test Comparisons

one expected difference by chance), suggesting that green strategy usage differs according to a company's perception of the importance of environmental issues. The information in Table 5 suggests that the high importance companies manifest their commit ment to managing environmental issues by using a wide variety of relevant strategies rather than relying on only one or several. (e) Formality of environmental policy. Respondents evaluated the status of their com panies' environmental policies according to three categories?no policy; informal (or formal (or written) policy. unwritten) policy; Two groups were used for comparison purpos es: (1) those respondents reporting a formal environmental policy and (2) those indicating the other two categories ("non-formal"). The results for these comparisons appear inTable 6. As shown in Table 6, nine of the twelve strategies exhibit statistically significant differ ences between the two groups, with themajori tybeing statistically significant beyond the .01 level. Each of the statistically significant strate gies exhibits greater utilization by companies with formal environmental policies. The most noticeable differences involve environmental audits (mean score for the formal policy group = 1.36, compared to 2.13 for the "non-formal" chance (i.e., Issues Score t-value 1.18 1.33 1.65 2.98* 2.82* 3.95* 4.75* 4.54* 1.16 6.50* 4.40* 2.69*

Involving the Importance of Environmental Mean Less than High

high importance Strategy Recycle materials whenever possible 1.27a 1.33 Reduce consumption whenever possible Reuse materials whenever possible 1.52 Increase education and trainingof company personnel 1.79 Redesign logistical system components for greater environmental efficiency 1.91 Conduct environmental audits 1.92 2.11 Publicize environmental efforts/accomplishments Promote industrycooperative efforts 2.22 Use outside or thirdparties tomanage environmental issues 2.38 2.62 Reject suppliers who lack environmental concerns 2.63 Hire/promote environmentally conscious personnel Encourage greater governmental involvement/regulation 2.74 = al currentlyuse; 2 = plan to use; 3 = no plans to use * statistically significant at the 0.1 level_

importance 1.17 1.21 1.33 1.46 1.58 1.42 1.49 1.61 2.21 1.82 2.07 2.42

12 TRANSPORTATION JOURNAL

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Table

6. T-Test Comparisons

Involving Type of Environmental

Policy Mean score t-value

Lack a formal policy Formal policy Strategy_ materials whenever possible 1.23a 1.20 .33 Recycle Reduce consumption whenever possible 1.22 1.31 .88 Reuse materials whenever possible 1.48 1.35 1.12 Redesign logistical system components for 1.94 1.59 2.88* greater environmental efficiency Increase education and trainingof 1.401.96 5.19* company personnel Publicize environmental efforts/accomplishments 2.07 3.60* 1.58 2.13 Conduct environmental audits 1.36 * 6.21 1.64 Promote industrycooperative efforts 4.65* 2.29 Use outside or thirdparties to manage 2.53 2.17 environmental issues 2.36** 2.55 1.95 4.36* Reject suppliers who lack environmental concerns 2.57 2.16 2.92* Hire/promote environmentally conscious personnel Encourage greater governmental 2.73 2.47 2.06** involvement/regulation al = currentlyuse; 2 = plan to use; 3 = no plans to use **statistically significant at the .05 level *statistically significant at the .01 level_ group) and increased education and training = 1.40, (mean score for the formal policy group compared to 1.96 for the "non-formal" group). The nine statistically significant differences are far greater than would be expected by chance (i.e., one expected difference by as a result, green strategy usage chance); appears to differ based upon the degree of for mality of a company's environmental policy. Likewise, the information in Table 6 suggests that those companies reporting formal environ mental policies also believe in employing a and wide range of strategies for managing responding to environmental issues in logistics rather than simply a few. (f) The role of logistics in implementing envi ronmental policy. Respondents evaluated the role of logistics in implementing environmental policy according to "no role/responsibility," a "minor role," or a "major role." For analysis purposes, the former two (no role, minor role) were combined into one category ("not a major role") and compared with the responses of orga nizations where logistics has a major role in implementing environmental policy. The results for these comparisons, appearing in Table 7, indicate four statistically significant differences between the two groups, with each significant strategy being used more extensive

in which logistics plays a ly by companies major role in the implementation of environ mental policy. The most noticeable differences involve rejecting suppliers (mean score among themajor role group = 1.94, compared to 2.32 for the "not a major role" group) and environ mental audits (mean score among themajor role group = 1.43, compared to 1.77 for the "notmajor role" group). As has been the case with most of the com pany characteristics, the four statistically sig nificant differences involving the role of logis tics in implementing environmental policy are greater thanwould be expected by chance (i.e., one expected difference by chance). Therefore, green strategyusage appears to differ according to logistics' role in implementing environmen in tal policy. As a general rule, companies which logistics plays a major role in the imple mentation of environmental policy tend to exhibit greater utilization of the individual (g) Summary of demographic analyses. The results from the demographic analyses, present ed in Table 8, indicate that the usage of some strategies is relatively robust in the sense that the usage is unaffected by various demographic variables. For example, therewere no statisti cally significant differences associated with
strategies.

2000

GREES LOGISTICS

13

Table

Policy

7. T-Test Comparisons

Involving the Role of Logistics

in Implementing Environmental Mean score role 1.22 1.27 1.36 1.45 1.43 1.68 1.57 1.71 2.25 1.94 2.21 2.43 t-value
.04 .08

Strategy Recycle materials whenever possible 1.22" Reduce consumption whenever possible 1.26 Reuse materials whenever possible 1.44 Increase education and trainingof company personnel 1.77 Conduct environmental audits Publicize environment efforts/accomplishments 1.80 Redesign logistical system components for greater environmental efficiency 1.82 Promote industrycooperative efforts 1.98 Use outside or thirdparties to manage environmental issues 2.31 Reject suppliers who lack environmental concerns

Nota major role

Major

1.71

.70 2.38** 2.59* .92 2.09** 1.91 .38 2.87* 1.26 1.87

Hire/promote environmentally conscious personnel Encourage greater governmental involvement/regulation "1= currentlyuse; 2 = plan to use; 3= no plans to use statistically significant at the 0.5 level statistically significant at the .01 level_

2.32 2.38 2.66

Table 8. Summary of Demographic Strategy

Analysis Home country

Firm Firm Imptof Type of env. env. type size

_issues policy

Variable_

Implement
env.

policy

Recycle materials Reduce consumption Reuse materials Conduct audits Publicize efforts Education and training Redesign system Promote cooperation Use outside parties Reject suppliers Hire env. conscious people Greater govt. involvement SS

SS SS ss ss

ss ss ss ss

ss ss ss ss ss ss ss ss

ss

ss ss ss ss ss ss ss ss ss

ss ss ss

ss

SS: denotes statistical significance between the strategyand demographic variable

14 TRANSPORTATION JOURNAL

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either recycle materials whenever possible or reduce consumption whenever possible, and only one statistically significant difference for both reuse materials whenever possible and use outside or third parties tomanage environ mental issues. In general, this suggests that these strategies tend to have more universal usage, regardless of demographic variables. On the other hand, there are a number of strategieswhose usage appears to be influenced by particular demographic characteristics. For example, two strategies, conduct environmental audits and increase education and training of company personnel, exhibit statistical signifi cance on five of the six demographic variables. Three additional strategies exhibit statistical significance on four of the demographic charac teristics.This suggests that these strategies have a more specialized usage, depending upon select demographic variables. More will be said about this tendency toward universal and/or specialized usage in the following section. Conclusions and Implications

usage of the environmental strategies. In fact, two characteristics, the importance of environ mental issues and the formalness of environ mental policy, exhibited statistically significant differences on over one-half of the total num ber of strategies. Furthermore, there was tremendous consistency across the company characteristics in termsof the "direction" of the various relationships. With respect to the type of environmental policy, for instance, each of the nine strategies exhibiting statistically sig nificant differences is used more extensively by companies reporting a formal environmental policy. Likewise, each of the eight statistically significant strategies related to the importance of environmental issues is used more heavily by firms that assign a high importance to envi
ronmental issues.

This study investigated select strategies cur rently being used to manage and respond to environmental issues in logistics. Responses from a multinational group of respondents revealed recycling materials, reducing con sumption, and reusing materials to be the three most commonly utilized green logistics strate gies. Although greater government involve ment/regulation emerged as the least used strat to egy, its utilization might be expected increase, given recent suggestions thatenviron mental regulations tend to be more beneficial thanharmful to organizational performance. The article also explored potential relation ships between select company characteristics and the strategies for managing and responding to environmental issues. One unexpected find ingwas the relatively high degree of similarity between U.S. companies and a non-U.S. group comprising Canadian and European respon dents. This similarity was rather unexpected given thatCanada and several European coun tries are frequently perceived to be more pro gressive than theU.S. when it comes tomanag ing and responding to environmental issues in logistics. All other company characteristics exhibited a moderate to substantial number of statistical ly significant differences in terms of the current

There are a number of implications for prac titioners and researchers that arise from the study results. Perhaps most important, the study highlights some of themajor strategies being used by a demographically diverse set of practitioners tomanage and respond to green issues in logistics. As such, the findings repre sent useful benchmarks for comparison with what other firms are doing in the area of envi ronmentalism. In some cases, r??valuations and changes in strategy usage may be called for based upon these comparisons. As pointed out previously, the aggregate results indicated recycling materials, reducing consumption, and reusing materials to be the threemost commonly used green strategies. Moreover, these findings are very robust in the sense that virtually no statistically significant differences emerged when analyzed across (see Table 8). For company demographics these three strategies were heavily example, utilized irrespective of a responding organiza tion's home country, firm type, and so on. In short, the study results suggest that the green logistics strategies of recycling materials, reducing consumption, and reusing materials appear to be universally popular in western, industrialized nations. These strategies would appear to be a "safe" starting point for those companies that have been slow to adopt envi ronmentalmanagement practices. Another implication is that firms that are more intensely committed to environmentalism consistently manifest this commitment through heavier usage of various specialized green

2000 GREEN LOGISTICS 15

strategies in addition to the more universal ones. For instance, companies placing high importance on environmentalism and having formal or written environmental policies are much more likely to conduct environmental audits and publicize environmental efforts and accomplishments, among others. Moreover, this suggests that firms with a more intense environmental commitment tend to rely upon a

third general category, theoretical traditional logistics research, "...reassesses within an environmental context principles and, where necessary, develops new conceptual The
frameworks for environmental

comprehensive set of green strategies rather than just one or several. As a result, it appears thata sincere commitment to environmentalism consists not only of words, but a tangible set of strategic actions as well. The results of the study also have implica tions for future research. For example, it has been suggested that future studies on environ mental logisitics might focus on three general categories: (1) applied macro-level studies, (2) and micro-level studies, (3) applied theoretical.31 Applied macro-level studies focus on environmentalism's impact with respect to public policy considerations such as zoning regulations, packaging regulations, and facility suggests that these macro design. McKinnon level studies, traditionally the purview of econ

Stock, for example, suggests that environmen talismmight be studied in termsof its contribu tions to the concept of sustainable develop ment.37 Furthermore, as pointed out earlier, Carter and Ellram used previous studies as a basis for developing a series of propositions to guide future research on reverse logistics.38 In conclusion, it is hoped that this article will serve as a stimulus for furtherresearch dealing with the greening of logistics. Environmental logistics clearly has emerged as a dynamic for force, with far-reaching consequences effective and efficient supply chain manage ment. While this article represents an example of survey-based, applied micro-level research, additional empirical and theoretical research is necessary to successfully address the environ mental challenges facing the logistics disci pline at the new millennium and beyond.
1

analysis."36

Endnotes
S. Melnyk and

omists and engineers, could benefit from the expertise ofmodern logisticsmanagers.32 research focuses on Applied micro-level environmentalism's impact on company opera tions, with this study representing a specific While this article example of such research.33 analyzed twelve general strategies thatmight be used tomanage and respond to environmen tal issues in logistics, future research might focus on a more in-depth investigation of vari ous green logistics strategies. Interested researchers, for example, could investigate the application of specific strategies (e.g., reuse of materials, source reduction) across various logistical functions such as transportation, warehousing, materials handling, and so on.34 Alternatively, interested researchers could learnmore about particular strategies forman aging environmental issues in logistics. For example, with respect to environmental audits, researchers might investigate a comprehensive series of issues, to include the existence of written environmental policies, the objectives of environmental policies, the costs of environ mental policies, and employee awareness of environmental policies, among others.35

R. Handfield, "Greenspeak," Purchasing Today, July 1996, pp. 32-36. 2 D. Kirkpatrick, The New "Environmentalism:

and A. Management, August 1997, pp. 10-17; A. Menon Menon, Strategy: The "Environpreneurial Marketing as Market of Corporate Environmentalism Emergence Strategy," Journal ofMarketing, Vol. 61, No. 1, 1997, pp.

Crusade," Fortune, February 12,1991, pp. 44-52. 3 "Green See, for example, H. Min and W. Galle, Trends and Implications," Purchasing Strategies: and Materials International Journal of Purchasing

51-67. 4 A. McKinnon, "Editorial (special issues on environ International Journal of mental aspects of logistics)," Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, Vol. 25, No. 5 2, 1995, pp. 3-4. D. Lambert and

J. Stock, Strategic Logistics IL: Irwin, 1993, pp. 3rd edition, Homewood, Management, to and E. Nichols, Introduction 747-750; R. Handfield Supply Chain Management, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999, pp. 159-166. 6 P. Murphy, R. Poist, and C. Braunschweig, "Role and Relevance of Logistics toCorporate Environmentalism: An International Journal of Physical Empirical Assessment," and Logistics Management, Vol. 25, No. 2, Distribution 1995, pp. 5-19. 7 H.-J. Wu and S. Dunn, "Environmentally Responsible International Journal of Physical Logistics Systems," and Logistics Management, Vol. 25, No. 2, 1995, pp. 20-38. 8 L. Young, "Standard Gives Fabs a Green Start,"Electronic Business Today, Vol. 22, No. 10,1996, pp. 115-119.

Distribution

16 TRANSPORTATION JOURNAL

Winter

Reverse and Recycling: Logistics of Logistics IL: Council Brook, 1993, p. 3. Management, 13 J. Stock, Development of Reverse Logistics Programs, 1998. Oak Brook, IL: Council of Logistics Management, 14 Stock, 1998. 15 T. Gooley, "Reverse Logistics: Five Steps to Success," Naggioni, Reuse Opportunities, Oak

and Greening International Mindsets," Diverging Supply Vol. 9, No. 1, 1998, pp. Journal of Logistics Management, 57-68. 12 R. Kopecki, M. Berg, L. Legg, V. Dasappa, and C. Chains:

9 Wu and Dunn, 1995. 10 Wu and Dunn, 1995. 11 K. Mclntyre, H. Smith, A. Henham, Measurement Performance "Logistics

Vol. and J. Pretto ve,

20, No. 2, 1999, pp. 141-159. 19 C. Carter and L. Ellram, "Reverse of the Literature and Framework

Review

A Logistics: for Future

Investigation," Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 19, No. 1,1998, pp. 85-103. 20 Stock, 1998. 21 D. Bowersox, P. Daugherty, C. Droge, D. Rogers, and D. Wardlow, Leading Edge Logistics: Competitive IL: Council of Positioning for the 1990s, Oak Brook, 1989, pp. 32-33. Logistics Management, 22 S. Armstrong and T. Overton, "Estimating Nonresponse Bias inMail Surveys," Journal ofMarketing Research, August 1977, pp. 396-402. 23 D. Key, "Puzzles and Protocols of International

Market

Reverse

and Distribution Report, June 1998, Logistics Management "The Reverse Logist'X'Files," pp. 49-54; P. Buxbaum, Inbound Logistics, September 1998, pp. 62-67. 16 as Competitive E. Marien, "Reverse Logistics Review, Spring Strategy," Supply Chain Management 1998, pp. 43-51. 17 D. Rogers and R. Tibben-Lembke, Going Backwards: Logistics Trends and Practices, Pittsburgh, PA: Reverse Logistics Executive Council, 1999, p. 14. 18 of Reverse D. Blumberg, "Strategic Examination Logistics & Repair Service Requirements, Needs, Market Size, and Opportunities," Journal of Business Logistics,

October 1995, pp. 120-134. 26 Porter and van der Linde, 1995. 27 E. Muller, "The Quest for a Quality Environment," Distribution, January 1992, pp. 32-36. 28 C. Carter, L. Ellram, and J. Reedy, "Environmental Our German Counterparts," Purchasing: Benchmarking International Journal and Materials of Purchasing Management, Vol. 34, No. 4, 1998, pp. 28-38.

Communication Research," World, December 1996, pp. 17-19. 24 Min and Galle, 1997. 25 M. Porter and C. van der Linde, "Green and Business Harvard Review, Competitive," September