A Micro- and Macroeconomic View on Shared Resources in Logistics

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce the concept of “shared resources” which is used to prevent structural resource scarceness in the field of logistics. Due to the unlimited growth of value creation activities, capacity limits of infrastructures (for traffic, communication and energy) are reached and emission rights become scarce. However, public infrastructure investments decrease while private investments become more difficult since individual private investors are unable to provide sufficient capital. In conclusion, innovative resource providing concepts are needed in logistics. The major innovation of this chapter is the proposal of an innovative resource management concept to make today’s logistics systems and processes sustainable with respect to the upcoming scarceness of input resources (e.g. infrastructure) and output resources (e.g. emission rights).