Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to document the extent to which large third‐party logistics (3PL) companies have committed themselves to environmental sustainability goals. It also aims to examine the sustainability initiatives undertaken by those companies and the impact of those...

The article reports the findings of research carried out by the authors into dedicated contract distribution (DCD), a service which is “tailor‐made” to the requirements of users. Major characteristics of the DCD marketplace in the UK are identified and future prospects for growth are...

Provides a comparison of third‐party logistics services utilization between large manufacturing firms in the USA and Western Europe. All these firms had been utilizing third‐party providers for at least three years, although many had been doing so for five years or longer. The group of...

The last decade has been a period of considerable change for physical distribution in the UK. Major restructuring has been overdue, often because companies have in the past failed to appreciate the importance of distribution in the marketing process, but now there is a new awareness of the...

The completion of the Single European Market in 1992 has major implications for logistics throughout the 1990s and beyond. However, as logistics has come under the spotlight, many managers and academics have come to realize that their understanding of the field is limited. In particular, both...

Europe today represents one of the world's fastest developing market‐places for both goods and services. Rapid changes in the business, political and regulatory environments are placing considerable stress on companies in Europe, whether national or international in their orientation. For many...

In this paper, the management of variety in automobile manufacturing is broadened from simply considering the choice of models, options and parts to include strategic issues in sourcing and logistics systems. Some of the major cost elements associated with varietal increase are identified,...