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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/09600039110004025. When citing the article, please cite: Paul R. Murphy, Richard F. Poist, (1991), “Skill Requirements of Senior-level Logisticians: Practitioner Perspectives”, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 21 Iss: 3, pp. 3 - 14.

With logistics increasingly adopting a strategic orientation in many firms, senior‐level logisticians must possess certain skills in order to successfully manage the logistics function. This article argues that the contemporary senior‐level logistics manager needs to be proficient in three categories namely: business, logistics and management skills. The purpose of this research is to report the results of a survey of US logistics managers designed to assess the importance of business, logistics, and management skills. Management skills emerged as the most important of the three, followed by logistics and business skills. These findings suggest that contemporary senior‐level logistics executives must be managers first and logisticians second. In addition, the emphasis on management skills suggests that high‐ranking logistics executives may have the opportunity of rising to top management positions such as the Chief Executive Officer – a career path unheard of two decades ago.

The present paper adds to the relatively limited empirical literature involving green logistics by comparing US and non‐US firms with respect to select propositions regarding environmental issues, practices, and strategies. For a majority of propositions evaluated, the study results indicate that US and non‐US firms tend to share similar perspectives and practices regarding the management of environmental logistics. The study results also tend to confirm literature suggestions that green concerns will broaden the scope of logistics as well as influence the way logistics managers do their jobs.

The purpose is threefold: to assess International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management's (IJPDLM's) reputation for quality and impact; to identify leading articles and authors during the journal's 40‐year history; and to report on the international diversity of the journal's author base and the diversity of its subject matter over the last five years.

The paper uses the following: literature review of recent journal articles that assessed the quality of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) journals; IJPDLM article download counts and article counts per author over last 40 years; and assessment of subject matter content and geographical base of authors for articles published in IJPDLM over the last five years.

IJPDLM consistently ranks among the top logistics and supply chain journals on the basis of research quality and usefulness. IJPDLM is quite diverse both with respect to logistics subject matter and to the location of its authors. The most popular topics over the last five years are: purchasing and supply management; inter‐organizational relationships; customer service and demand management; and logistics outsourcing/3PL. A key emerging research area for logistics and SCM is the discipline's contributions to addressing important societal issues.

The findings pertaining to current and emerging research areas will be of interest and value to all logistics and SCM researchers.

The analysis of IJPDLM's reputation and the assessment of the subject matter it covers are both original and of interest to prospective authors.

The logistics discipline has been characterized by tremendous change since the early 1990s. One result is that the logistician's relevant skill set has likely changed as well. To this end, the present paper aims both to update, and to provide a longitudinal perspective of, a 1991 study that investigated the skill requirements of senior‐level logistics managers using the business, logistics, management (BLM) framework.

Both studies used survey research of executive search firms to collect the relevant data. The surveys were transmitted via postal mail in the 1991 study and were transmitted electronically in the present study.

The results from the current study reinforce the 1991 study, which suggested that logisticians should be managers first and logisticians second. Comparison between the earlier and current study suggest a high degree of similarity in terms of the most important logistics skills, with less similarity in terms of business and management skills. The comparison also suggests that the contemporary logistician has more of a supply chain orientation than was the case in the early 1990s.

The manuscript discusses implications for various logistical constituencies. For example, educators could use the findings to plan and design continuing education programs.

The update to the original study should prove valuable by highlighting the relevant skills associated with successful logisticians in the contemporary business environment. The longitudinal comparison provides insights into the logistician's skill set in the early 1990s and today.

During the past two decades, Physical Distribution (PD) has been described as having “come of age”, in semi‐maturity and most recently, as being in an actual state of maturity. Paralleling this development in an increasing number of firms, the PD function has been organised as a separate department to manage both the inbound and outbound flow of materials and goods.

As logistics talents in both Taiwan and Hong Kong are expanding their work area to Greater China, it is best to understand the competencies that logistics talents should possess. With this in mind, this study takes Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan as the study scope, as well as logistics teaching and research experts and scholars as the study objects. The research findings can not only serve as informative references for universities intent on cultivating logistics talents, but as well as enhance the scope of both Taiwan and Hong Kong talents’ competence that can pave the way to the development of the logistics business in Greater China.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

Discusses the results from an empirical study that investigated potential career frustrations and concerns of women in distribution, defined as female marketing and logistics professionals. In general, both groups of respondents have some reservations about career opportunities in their respective fields. Moreover, perceptions about career opportunities appear to be influenced by personal demographic characteristics such as education and managerial status. The results also suggest that education and continuous learning are crucial for a successful career in distribution.