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This study aims to examine the management of food supply chains in complex and volatile business environments, where the sustainability requirements of customers and legislation are increasing. This challenging situation gives rise to the question as to how a logistics company can achieve and sustain competitive advantage through environmentally-oriented sustainability.

This empirical study gathers insights on emerging practices in European food service supply chains from two parallel Delphi surveys conducted with 145 industry experts from 27 countries. The long-term industry expectations of a leading provider in food service logistics are compared with an industry-wide external panel. The questions were designed to understand how managers perceive the emerging domain of sustainability in supply chains.

Environmentally oriented sustainability will remain a key driver of success in the field. However, after applying the dominant logic concept for analyzing results, it becomes apparent that managers have to continuously challenge internal existing expectations to translate an emerging domain into strategy. We show how the senior management team under investigation was challenged in its dominant logic and how it tried to overcome this situation during strategy development.

The study shows how managers perceive and cope with the emerging domain of environmentally oriented sustainability, how they translate it into strategy, and utilize resources for creating customer value. The research supports managers in adapting to new competitive environments. Furthermore, the study contributes by visualizing the dominant logic of a firm and the approach of top management for adjustment.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and classify the available types of 3D printing services, with the scope of determining the potential implications that such services could have on the supply chains of manufacturing firms and creating a research agenda for future studies.

The authors review the current literature on the potential supply chain impacts of 3D printing and evaluate the 3D printing services provided by 404 firms in selected European markets.

The results show that 3D printing services form a rapidly evolving industry, with new service providers entering the market on a regular basis. Evidence from the European markets investigated suggests that services can be classified into three distinct categories: generative, facilitative and selective services.

This paper represents an attempt to take stock of a fast-moving and potentially paradigm-shifting market. The implications are dynamic as new applications, business models and techniques are continually being developed. Further studies are required to substantiate the findings.

Three categories of 3D printing services that could significantly impact supply chain configurations of the future are proposed. Several issues specific to 3D printing services raised in the research agenda require further scrutiny and substantiation before services can reach their full potential.

This paper provides an overview of the growing 3D printing services industry, highlighting how the market might change as additive manufacturing technology matures.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical set of elements to analyze information integration in supply chains. Through a practical example to highlight the importance, it aims to describe the practices and identify some development areas of information integration in service supply chains.

The paper presents six theoretical elements contributing the level of information integration in a supply chain. These elements are then used to analyze a case supply chain that includes a steel manufacturer (the focal company), engineering offices providing maintenance‐related planning services and mechanical maintenance service providers. Empirical research data gathered through structured interviews, workshops, company visits and company documents are used.

The paper develops a conceptual framework and criteria for analyzing the level of supply chain information integration. It describes which information, in which form, how and when is shared in the case supply chain and whether information technology is deployed. It determines the level of information integration in the case supply chain. The paper brings out development areas to be addressed.

This study focuses on services related to steel industry maintenance operations and may not be applicable in other types of services or industries without paying attention to the contextual factors.

The paper gives guidelines for service supply chains on how to analyze and rationalize their information sharing. Performance implications of information sharing may be further investigated with respect to contractual arrangements in service supply chains.

A comprehensive set of theoretical aspects integral to information integration is presented. The study contributes to the limited research on service supply chains and business services.

The paper seeks to understand and analyse how integration changes in one supply chain are influenced by the overlap between chains

The paper discusses the concepts of supply chain, firm network, overlap and integration. It takes a dynamic perspective focusing on continuing processes of change in the degree of integration within and between networks. The three examples are based on more than 70 interviews over a long period of time of firms involved in the transportation, automotive and construction industries.

The paper finds that the overlap between supply chains in terms of actors, resources and activities could seriously delay, hinder and increase costs to the process when changing the degree of integration in one chain. Therefore, supply chain myopia might lead to an increase in the total costs of a firm. Further, there is a trade‐off between the costs of integration in the focal chain and increasing costs arising from decreased integration in overlapping supply chains. Failure to consider the negative effects and the resistance caused by delays and dissolving relationships within overlapping supply chains can be detrimental. The overlap between chains can be both positive and negative, and can be reversed over time.

The research is limited to three examples and the interaction between two supply chains in each case. Since interdependencies might exist between several supply chains, the effects of change could have implications for more than one other supply chain.

When changing existing or developing supply chains for new businesses, firms need to take into consideration the effects and reactions of other chains. Integration between two chains might facilitate the development of business but may also actually hinder its future development.

The interdependencies between supply chains imply that strong pressure towards supply chain integration focusing on one chain, in literature and practice, has to be questioned for the single firm. Another specific value is the importance of existing chains for the development of new businesses.

Over the last decade, a “new” sharing economy has emerged. So far, the supply chain literature has focused on platforms delivering crowd-logistics services that connect businesses and consumers (B2C). The literature has paid little attention to platforms that facilitate products exchanges between consumers. This article aims to develop a first supply chain conceptualization for consumer-to-consumer (C2C) product exchanges stimulated by the sharing economy. How to conceptualize C2C product exchanges from an Supply Chain (SC) perspective? Do such C2C product exchanges form what might be called “sharing supply chains”? What are the characteristics of these sharing supply chains?

The authors rely on a single case study of Vestiaire Collective (VC), a C2C platform that links consumers buying and selling second-hand luxury goods. This case was not selected because it is a typical C2C product platform, but because it is an “extreme” case (Yin, 2014) meeting Siggelkow's “talking pig” criterion (2007).

The authors demonstrate that VC intermediates a “sharing supply chain”, whose features differ from forward and reverse supply chains. The authors stress that strong physical intermediation is crucial in this extreme case. The authors then contrast this extreme case with other forms of sharing supply chains to identify the variables leading to these alternative configurations. Finally, the authors develop theoretical propositions regarding the physical intermediation role that these platforms may play.

The authors' article extends the scope of the supply chain concept by identifying sharing supply chains alongside other types of chains. The article also points to the strategic role of SC dimensions in the sharing economy. The authors hope that this article will lead to further research on sharing supply chains.

Supply chains deliver goods and services between shippers and receivers, covering collection, transportation, distribution as well as their handling and storage in between. In particular, transportation services are carried out by different transport modes. In some modern supply chains, different categories of air cargo carriers – combinations, freighter-only, and/or integrators – provide critical transport services.

This chapter develops a methodology for estimating the performance of supply chains served by an air cargo carrier network. The methodology is based on indicators of infrastructure use, technical/technological level, operational factors, economic factors, and environmental performance. This proposed methodology is applied to estimate performance of supply chains served by an integrated air cargo carrier – FedEx Express – operating a single hub in the US domestic air network. Results indicate that the methodology may be useful for estimation of overall supply chain performance under the condition that relevant data are available.

This paper aims to systematically document drivers of change and the implications they will have on international supply chain management in the coming two decades.

This study was commissioned by the World Customs Organization (WCO) at the end of June 2006. Because of increased trade volumes, emerging complex supply networks and heightened security concerns, the WCO saw the need to assess future trends and drivers in supply chain management. The Delphi method was applied to identify a set of foreseeable drivers of change and to assess their predicted impact on global supply chain management in the coming ten to 20 years. Based on a literature review of 150 recent publications and interviews among 33 industry, academic and customs experts, a survey was designed and conducted to collect current and potential change drivers in global supply chains. These drivers were compiled and prioritized by an eclectic team of 12 specialists.

The main results of the study are strongly connected to strategic and operational supply chain planning for the next ten to 20 years. They are related to increased off‐shoring of operations through truly global manufacturing, characterized by its intercontinental supply of materials; increased product complexity with shorter product life cycles; increased importance of business‐to‐government networking for operational and security efficiency; introduction of new supply chain services integrating financial, physical and information flows leading to further consolidation in the logistics markets; and the overall increase in risks and vulnerabilities in international supply chains.

This paper provides a 360 degree view of the future of international supply chain management and the challenges companies will face to compete in the twenty‐first century business environment.

With the diverse, heterogeneous nature of relationships being a key characteristic of service supply chains, their management is an important area for consideration. This is particularly true in the maritime logistics industry, yet the factors that lead to this heterogeneity are less well understood. This paper aims to explore the structure of relationships within the maritime logistics network and determine why they vary.

Interviews were carried out with 41 practitioners involved in the Taiwanese maritime logistics network. The data from these interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis and quasi-quantification.

The interviews identify that structural holes exist within this maritime logistics network, and that these particularly influence the relationships within this sector with ports being significantly affected. However, five factors are particularly identified that can further impact the strength of these relationships. Often, weak links between ports and both cargo owners and freight forwarders emerge as value-added services are provided by the network.

The findings are framed in a Taiwanese context, where cultural and political norms may give different results to other geographical regions. The research also limits consideration to containerized flows.

By providing detailed insights into relationship structures within the maritime logistics network, managers can take steps to develop appropriate links with other members of the network, reflecting upon the factors that lead to heterogeneity.

This paper expands knowledge on logistics service supply chains, identifying the importance of relationships in a derived demand environment. For maritime researchers, specific factors leading to relationship heterogeneity in the network are detailed, to inform future research.

Outsourcing of logistics services has increased rapidly during the last few years. Accordingly, third‐party logistics and supply chain management as a research phenomenon has gained increased attention from academia. However, a strategic view focusing on the relationship between supply chain management and third‐party logistics service strategies has gained little attention. This paper focuses on alternative supply chain strategies and their relationship to different types of third‐party logistics services. A normative framework for organizing these relationships is developed. The strategic view adopted in this paper fills a gap in the understanding of how third‐party logistics providers should offer their services more effectively and efficiently to different types of supply chains.

The purpose of this paper is to explore servitization in the context of the service supply chain, particularly the effects of the relationship between the subsystem supplier and the end user on the supplier's as well as on the supply chain's ability to provide industrial services. In addition, it aims to present a solution to overcome the challenges of lack of this relationship.

A case study incorporating an explorative design science approach identifies a theoretically novel and practically relevant problem in the field of service supply chain management. The study combines empirical data collection; systematic conceptualization of means and ends; evaluation of proposed solutions in iterative‐ and action‐oriented cycles; and theoretical explanation of the observed phenomena and outcomes.

By establishing a triadic operational model with an integrator and end user, the subsystem supplier can servitize within a supply chain in which the end user relationship is controlled by the integrator. This enables the combining of critical service provision capabilities: supplier's maintenance‐related capabilities and integrator's end user access.

Further research is needed to determine the importance of managing the transition to subsystem suppliers in different types of industrial service supply chains. Because these observations and proposals are based on a single case study, the authors cannot draw conclusions as to how they apply to manufacturers in different problem situations.

The paper presents a decision‐making procedure that describes how a subsystem supplier opting for cooperation in the service supply chain can formulate a coherent set of triadic operational models with intermediaries and end users.

The paper shows how servitization takes place on supply chain level.