Logistics Social Responsibility and Dynamic Capabilities: Conceptualization and Empirical Analysis

Book excerpt: Logistics Social Responsibility (LSR) emerged as a concept to integrate sustainability throughout logistics-oriented processes in the supply chain. Hence, logistics services are linked to sustainability requirements. To meet these requirements, logistics service providers can respond to their responsibility by reducing the ecological and social impact in the supply chain. Moreover, it has been recognized that consumers also need to adapt to sustainability requirements: e.g., by supporting sustainable logistics strategies with their monetary “votes” or by changing their own consumption behavior. This “shared responsibility” requires mutual support and cooperation. Therefore, the core of this dissertation is that logistics service providers can further support sustainable development by facilitating more sustainable consumer choices. To enhance LSR activities, the link to the dynamic capabilities theory is investigated. Here, several capabilities have been identified through which managers can pool their knowledge and skills to generate new knowledge, solutions or resource configurations. Using these capabilities in a strategic manner, logistics service providers can purposefully change their business environment by forming new partnerships or changing existing relationships to gain from developing new business practices stressing sustainable purposes.