Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility in Logistics throughout Horizontal Cooperation

This paper discusses how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be promoted in Logistics and Transportation (L&T) companies by means of Horizontal Cooperation (HC) practices. The L&T sector is experiencing important changes because of new trends in markets and society. These changes have a strong impact on the way L&T companies develop their distribution activities.On the one hand, globalisation and increasing competition are creating incentives for these companies to cooperate in different ways – with the aim of becoming more efficient by sharing resources and reducing costs. On the other hand, the increasing sustainability awareness within society is pressuring L&T companies to integrate CSR principles into their strategies and policies. Accordingly, this paper discusses the current trends in these areas and offers some examples of how HC can contribute to reduce both distributions costs as well as the environmental impact of the distribution activities.