Abstract
Despite an increasing number of third-party logistics service providers (3PLs) are regarding environmental sustainability as an opportunity and a key area of management, there is still a great deal of uncertainty on how 3PLs implement environmental strategies and actions and on how they translate green efforts into practice. The purpose of this paper is to explore environmental strategies in a sample of medium-sized 3PLs operating in Italy and the UK. It specifically analyses the environmental strategies implemented in terms of environmental organisational culture, initiatives, and influencing factors (i.e. drivers and barriers). Research approach: The investigation conducted in this research relied on a qualitative approach and specifically it was based on a comparative case study analysis involving ten medium-sized 3PLs operating in the Italian and UK markets. Findings and originality: Our analysis shows that, notwithstanding environmental sustainability is generally recognised by companies as a strategic priority, a certain degree of diversity in the deployment of the environmental strategy still exists. First of all, not all companies embed the environmental sustainability strategy within the wider corporate strategy. Only few examples of companies have a specific organisational unit dedicated to the environmental management. In terms of adopted initiatives, a limited capacity in implementing supply chain wide initiatives is generally observed. Insights and discussions on the influencing factors are also provided. This paper is original since the extant literature on green strategies in the 3PLs' industry provides findings predominantly from a single country perspective and mainly investigates cases of large or multinational organizations. Research impact: This paper contributes to deepen the knowledge on how 3PLs in two different countries respond to changing market conditions driven by green pressures, and on how they translate their environmental strategy into action. By taking the perspective of medium-sized companies, this paper contributes to the literature on environmental strategies of a category of 3PL organizations overlooked in the extant body of knowledge. Practical impact: The paper provides indications that can help managers of medium-sized 3PL companies in positioning their business compared to the current environmental strategies and practices of 3PLs operating in different countries. This is particularly meaningful in a sector, such as the 3PL industry, where the population of medium-sized organizations is significant in terms of generated turnover and market value.