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Sustainability-related risk management of logistics service providers (LSPs) is an essential part of sustainability performance of focal companies, as logistics services touch the entire supply chain (SC) – from raw material sources to end-customers. The purpose of this paper, draws on resource-based view and stakeholder theory in exploring how companies can manage environmental and social sustainability-related risks from logistics service suppliers. This kind of capability is essential in order to maintain reputation in the eyes of stakeholders, and to maintain long-term financial performance.

The data of this multiple-case study were collected from semi-structured interviews in eight case-companies in Finland. Five of the cases are primary logistics buyers, and three represent LSP companies.

The cross-case analysis showed that primary buyers of logistics services use their sustainability criteria as a prerequisite for LSP candidates, and when the level is adequate and equal, other factors, e.g. price and capacity, are decisive. Based on the analysis, large LSPs are preparing for the future competition, and act in a more sustainable manner than their customers (buyers) expect at the moment, while small LSPs strictly comply with the regulation. However, buyers’ requirements for sustainable logistics services are increasing as the stakeholder expectations for comprehensively sustainable SCs are growing.

Only little research has been conducted on sustainable logistics from the buyer company’s risk management perspective. This paper adds the knowledge of sustainability-related risk management in purchasing of logistics services and in the logistics industry.

To investigate the evolutionary process of the retail logistics network formation, and to propose a relationship framework between the logistics asset buyer (the retailer) and the logistics asset supplier (the third‐party logistics firm).

The evolutionary process is based on the way the asset specificity element of transaction costs theory can be perceived by the logistics asset buyer and the logistics asset supplier. The asset specificity element is linked to both network and buyer‐supplier relationship theories with the aim of conceptualising a buyer‐supplier relationship framework. Secondary data for the UK food retail chain are also employed.

A new relationship framework is developed based on the buyers’‐suppliers’ perceptions in relation to logistics asset specificity, and the conditions required for the formation of the retail logistics network are illustrated. If transaction costs are perceived as high by both the buyer and the supplier of a logistics asset, the retailer will engage into a fourth‐party logistics network formation where the use of information technology systems is of critical importance. At this stage, these systems will become the primary co‐ordination device for the reduction and absorption of complexity in the retail chain.

The paper offers a unique buyer‐supplier partnership framework by proposing that the formation of a fourth‐party logistics network will decrease the complexity of modern retail logistics operations. The paper will assist retail managers responsible for the development of logistics strategies and will be beneficial to researchers examining logistics and supply chain management operations.

Relationship satisfaction and commitment are two key constructs in the evolving paradigm of relationship marketing in business‐to‐business markets, and a substantial and growing literature exists on their antecedents and consequences, especially within the context of supplier‐retailer relationships. However, relatively little research has examined these constructs within the context of supplier‐manufacturing firm relationships in general, and foreign supplier‐manufacturing firm relationships in particular. Even fewer studies have examined the effects of suppliers’ marketing program variables on relationship satisfaction and commitment in such contexts. The author examines how foreign suppliers’ marketing program variables affect Saudi industrial buyers’ satisfaction and commitment to long‐term relationships with the suppliers. Results of a survey conducted among buyers for manufacturing establishments in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia indicate that only the product and price‐related variables of foreign suppliers’ marketing program variables are significantly related to the buyers’ relationship satisfaction and commitment. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are outlined and discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine customer knowledge sharing between a buyer of a logistics service and the logistics service provider (LSP). The authors attempt to fill the gap in current research by investigating inter‐firm customer knowledge sharing.

A survey study was conducted. Data were collected from buyers of logistic services. Confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression were used to analyze data and test hypotheses.

Results suggest that open and fluent communication mediates the relationship between customer knowledge sharing and satisfaction with a logistics service provider. In addition, the close relationship with the logistics service provider is needed to strengthen the relationship between customer knowledge sharing and satisfaction with the logistics service provider.

This study provided new empirical evidence concerning inter‐firm customer knowledge sharing. The authors suggest that logistic service providers should be incorporated into the customer knowledge management process to ensure open and fluent communication about customers.

This study provides practical insights for companies that sell logistic services.

Customer knowledge sharing has been largely studied in an intra‐firm context, for instance information sharing between marketing and research and development departments. This research extends the concept of customer knowledge sharing to the inter‐firm context.

The aim of this research is to reveal the security‐related outsourcing strategies of the public sector and the military and the relevant logistics outcomes by examining buying tactics.

A tentative model was devised from theoretical literature of how buyers use their negotiating power and relationships to achieve improved service quality and/or unit‐cost reductions. The model was tested using survey data from 149 respondents from the Finnish Defence Forces, and the public sector and industrial firms in Finland via structural equation modelling analysis.

Contrary to the approach of classic economics, where negotiating power correlates with direct costs, the findings indicate that negotiating power and relationships do not affect direct costs in the public sector and military contexts, but rather that negotiating power and relationships correlate with an improved service level, which consequently decreases the indirect logistics costs.

By focusing on improvement in services in terms of their logistics service purchasing, the buyers reveal that their outsourcing strategy involves vertical outsourcing. The data are collected from one country, which may cause bias. Further studies would be required to test this research proposal in other countries.

To obtain cost reductions, buyers of logistics services could learn from the public sector and the military on how to use negotiating power and relationships to obtain better service instead of short‐term cost reductions, as better service correlates with reduced costs in the long run.

This study is important to practitioners as well as academics since there is little quantitative research available regarding strategic outsourcing modes and outcomes of adopting different modes.

To improve the understanding of the inter‐organizational dynamics of the dyadic relationships between a buyer and provider of logistics services (TPL dyads).

Analyzes the preparation, implementation, and operation of a particular case of third party logistics (TPL) arrangements. Based on a single case study of a dyadic relationship, the paper confronts the static view of the transaction cost approach and the agency theory on “governance structures” and “contracts” by showing how “relationship governance” emerges and develops over time.

TPL dyads are subject to both controllable and non‐controllable forces of change, which may not always have a positive effect on the logistics performance or the relationship itself. Inter‐organizational dynamics not only relate to learning, competence development, or adaptation, as suggested by other studies, but also to how the dyadic relationships are governed. As the dyad accumulates experience over time, changes will occur in the balance between the two parties in terms of goal congruence and risk preferences, which has a strong influence on the nature of contracts and other safeguards governing the relationship. Similarly, explanatory power of theories applicable to inter‐organizational settings may vary as relationships emerge and develop over time. Focus on core competencies as the logic of outsourcing is followed by a period characterized by a principal‐agent relationship. To ensure further prosperity of the relationship, the two companies must direct their efforts towards the logic of the network approach.

Contributes to a cross‐disciplinary fertilization of the SCM field, in particular inter‐organizational relationships.

The organization of services can affect the adoption of sustainable practices within the relationship between a buyer (e.g. a shipper) and a supplier (e.g. a logistics service provider–LSP). The purpose of this paper is to analyse, within this relationship, the mechanisms affecting collaboration between shippers and LSPs towards adopting green logistics practices to reduce the negative environmental effects of logistics processes. The authors take the perspective of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which represent – although less investigated than large enterprises – a relevant field of investigation given their impact on the environmental sustainability of logistics processes.

The authors conducted a multiple case-study investigation on a set of dyads involving shippers and LSPs. The authors explored the antecedents shaping the approach to sustainability in logistics and, adopting the absorptive capacity (AC) theory, the learning and knowledge transfer processes leading to the adoption of green practices.

Collaboration between shippers and LSPs for better sustainability in logistics seems not to work when relationships are limited to simple annual (or pluriannual) contracts, and when shippers do not show ambition to improve the level of sustainability of their logistics processes (regardless of whether they show an interest in general sustainability matters). On the other hand, successful cases show higher commitment in the dyadic relationship with respect to improving logistics sustainability, good levels of communication and a more structured process of knowledge sharing, enabled by IT integration, shared performance monitoring, and creation of inter-organizational teams.

While most of the existing research focuses on the perspective of shippers or LSPs, this work is original since it explores collaborative mechanisms within a buyer-supplier relationship simultaneously taking the perspective of both parties, according to the lens of the AC. It identifies directions for improving collaboration within the shipper-LSP relationship in the context of SMEs to foster the adoption of collaborative green logistics practices to impact sustainability positively.

The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of a shipper's dilemma as a customer. Shippers desire both lower costs and good service levels, and this dilemma may lead in the long run to a trade‐off consideration between staying loyal to existing service providers and seeking cost reductions from competing providers.

A model was devised from the literature exploring how a shipper's propensity to switch logistics service providers may be affected by perceptions of service elements and logistics cost reductions. The model was tested with survey data from 235 Finnish industrial firms and analysed using structural equation modelling.

Findings indicate that in the short‐run trade‐offs do not exist, but there may be a propensity to trade‐off in the long run. Further, quality of service is a more important factor for customers than participating in tight price competition.

The data were collected from one country and further studies are required to test these research propositions in other countries and contexts.

Logistics service providers should concentrate more on service quality and refrain from tight price competition to gain and reinforce customer loyalty. Further, shippers should also adopt a long perspective regarding strategy and refrain from short‐run, cost reduction seeking behaviour.

This study integrates several factors as drivers of outsourcing relationship continuity and/or change and presents a fresh collection of data for analysis.

The scale and measure of the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on economic development has been a popular topic in the literature. The global pandemic has posed challenges to the supply chains and logistics in many countries, causing delays and disrupting supply chains and decreasing the volume of logistics flows. To ensure economic growth in the future, it is essential to acknowledge the impact the COVID-19 in order to increase the accuracy of anticipating changes during widespread pandemic. In this study, the linkage between economic development and the COVID-19 estimated and real impact is illustrated in a case study comparison between the Finnish and German logistic companies' viewpoints. The study shows how the international COVID-19 pandemic has affected to logistics organization perceptions on the changes in operational environment and continuity of business.

The empirical part of the study relies on mixed methods approach using panel data from logistics companies and expert group discussion. The panel data participants were logistics sector actors and the data was collected through a questionnaire. Numerous sources found from the literature are used to gain a holistic understanding of the attributes and impact of change in the logistics field.

This study provides an important, yet sparsely addressed viewpoint to the supply chain management literature by illustrating the changes caused be a widespread pandemic can cause to the logistics sector companies. Furthermore, the findings illustrate how different roles in supply chain actors perceived the COVID-19 in their operations, before and during the pandemic. The findings of the paper illustrate how drastic uncertainty and changes in the operational environment is seen in the logistics organizations. The findings suggest that increased uncertainty and changes in the operational environment can cause significant drop in expectations of the business development in the logistics sector depending on the actor’s role in the supply chain and international perspective.

This paper contributes to the supply chain management and logistics literature with insights into how widespread pandemic is perceived in different roles of the supply chain as well as in different countries where the pandemic has spread in different pace. Analyzing the differences between the expected and realized impact from the business environment can give valuable information for academics and managers in the field, and thus give insights to improve the planning and decision-making in logistics field during a global pandemic.

The green logistics literature remains undecided on how collaboration between shippers (i.e. logistics buyers) and logistics service providers (LSPs) may facilitate green logistics practices (GLPs). This paper identifies two types of collaboration mechanisms, relation specific and knowledge sharing, to systematically examine their influence on facilitating the different types of GLPs – as seen by shippers versus LSPs.

Survey responses of 169 shippers and 162 LSPs in Sweden were collected and analysed using exploratory- and confirmatory factor analysis, followed by multiple regression analysis.

The findings reveal that neither of the actors consistently favour a certain type of collaboration mechanisms for facilitating all types of GLPs. Although it was found that both actors share the same view on the role of collaboration mechanisms for some GLPs, their views took contrasting forms for others.

This study contributes to the green logistics literature by incorporating a trilateral distinction to present collaboration recommendations for GLPs, based on (1) the collaboration mechanism at play, (2) the actor's perspective and (3) the GLP in question.

Insights are offered to managers at shipper/LSP firms to apply the right (“fit for purpose”) collaboration mechanisms in their relationships with their logistics partners with respect to the desired GLPs.

This is one of the first large-scale studies to systematically reveal in what way collaboration can facilitate the different types of GLPs.