Warehousing in Northern Europe: longitudinal survey findings

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the development and change in priority of international warehouse location criteria during a business cycle (i.e. from years 2006 to 2010), by examining the responses of Finnish and Swedish companies on their European‐based facilities. The authors also investigate how the size of European warehouses will develop within medium term. Design/methodology/approach – The authors' research is based on three online surveys completed during years 2006, 2009, and 2010. The 120 respondents were large Finnish and Swedish companies. Findings – Finnish companies tend to focus on the emerging East European markets through their warehousing network structure, while Swedish companies focus more on Western Europe. Selection of warehouse location is dominated by three criteria, namely distribution cost, road transportation connection, and proximity of assembly and manufacturing units. Most of the longitudinal changes occur in less important warehousing criteria; companies seem to see warehousing decisions as less complex, incorporating a lower amount of criteria in the decision. Warehouse size analysis shows that in the future, the average size will slowly continue to increase, however, both small and large warehouses have justification for their existence. Finnish and Swedish respondents were mostly aligned in terms of warehouse location criteria, however, in terms of warehouse size Swedish companies are in favor of larger units. Research limitations/implications – Research is limited in terms of geography and respondent size. This will limit the generalizability of the results. Originality/value – This research is based on a longitudinal survey, and provides insight on the evolution of warehouse location criteria in changing economic conditions.