Is it Feasible to Implement Green Logistics in Emerging Markets?

2. Background: Concept And Contribution To Value Creation

Green logistics consists of all activities related to the eco-effective and eco-efficient management of the forward and reverse flows of products and information between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet or exceed customer expectations. Given this definition, green logistics is not “new” in terms of re-inventing logistics, but it highlights the integration of ecological goals into the target systems of organizations in order to provide a balanced set of total value to customers (Carter & Rogers, 2008).

Put forward in the mid-80s (Beaman, 1999), green logistics is a concept to characterize logistics systems that employ advanced processes, materials, technology and equipment to minimize environmental impact during operations and to increase the utilization of resources within the systems (Rogers & Tibben-Lembke, 1998; Yanbo & Songxian, 2008). Transferring these general characteristics into activities, the scope of green logistics includes the following activity groups:

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  Transportation: clean vehicles, reuse of pallets and containers, freight consolidation and freight optimization, standardization of truck sizes, reduction of CO₂ emissions, and sustainable carrier selection;

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  Warehousing: clean material handling equipment, reconditioning and reuse of pallets and containers, process optimization, automation of warehousing systems, inventory optimization, facility design, and on-site recycling;

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  Value added services: pallet and container pooling, tracking and tracing, and green packaging.