Sustainable firm performance of logistics service providers along maritime supply chain

Abstract

As a result of globalization and the growing importance of environmental and social issues, scholars have started to update the scope of logistics management and capture its complexity using different theoretical perspectives. The output of logistics services also encompasses the socalled negative by-products, which have been increased in past decades and stress the need for a standardized, comprehensive and quantitative performance measurement. The reduction of the negative by-production, e.g., decarbonization in the transport industry, is commonly associated with a higher degree of logistics performance using different capabilities. Research aims of the study are twofold: to show the decisive components for sustainability performance of a logistics service provider (LSP) and to outline internal capabilities of LSPs as indicators of its sustainability-oriented firm performance. In the first step, firm performance is sampled using the lenses of sustainability. For this purpose, general and transport-related sustainability frameworks are summarized to identify how they differ in sustainability dimensions in order to help LSPs contribute to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In the second step, decisive and evidence-based capabilities as indicators of sustainability-oriented performance are outlined using mixed methods by reviewing the literature.