Brazilian logistics practitioners' perceptions on sustainability: an exploratory study

• Pages: 190-213
• Date: 31 July 2020
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-02-2020-0091
• Published date: 31 July 2020
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics
• Author: Vitor William Batista Martins,Rosley Anholon,Vasco Sanchez-Rodrigues,Walter Leal Filho,Osvaldo Luiz Gonçalves Quelhas

Brazilian logistics practitioners’

perceptions on sustainability:

an exploratory study

Vitor William Batista Martins

Department of Production Engineering, University of Par

a State, Belem, Brazil and

Department of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering,

University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil

Rosley Anholon

University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil

Vasco Sanchez-Rodrigues

Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

Walter Leal Filho

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany, and

Osvaldo Luiz Gonçalves Quelhas

Federal Fluminenese University, Niteroi, Brazil

Abstract

Purpose –Confronting globalization, logistics systems need to achieve greater efficiency in processes to be

competitive. Competitiveness is not related only to economic aspects; companies need to perform their activities

aligned to the triple bottom line concept. In this context, the main objective of this research is to analyze how

Brazilian professionals think about sustainable logistics through an exploratory study.

Design/methodology/approach –A set of 33 indicators, compiled from a literature review, was used to

develop a research instrument applied in a survey of 50 professionals working with logistics processes in

Brazilian companies. First, the Cronbach’s alpha was run to verify the questionnaire reliability. Respondents

were grouped through cluster hierarchical analysis, and their answers were analyzed through TOPSIS

technique.

Findings –The results from the sample analysis showed that Brazilian professionals think in the three

dimensions of TBL when considering sustainable logistics systems; however, social aspects are relegated to a

second level of importance when compared with environmental and economic indicators. In addition, it is

possible to highlight that most important environmental aspects are directly related to economic objectives.

Originality/value –There are few studies examining sustainable logistics system in Brazilian companies

that consider the purpose mentioned by evidencing originality in the same way as this current study. The

results presented here can contribute to amplifying debates in the theme.

Keywords Sustainable logistics, Sustainability, Sustainable performance indicators, Brazilian logistics

practitioners

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Globalization has directly impacted logistics systems in pursuit of efficiency in processes. To

be competitive, companies need to integrate sustainable concepts in logistics activities

because environmental regulations an d consumer pressure are increasing for more

sustainable services and products (Chu et al., 2019). In the academic literature, it is

possible to find studies regarding sustainable logistics systems, showing the interest of

IJLM

32,1

190

This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient



ıfico e Tecnologico

(CNPq) 307536/2018-1 and 305442/2018-0; and Universidade do Estado do Par

a (UEPA) 626/18.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0957-4093.htm

Received 12 February 2020

Revised 19 April 2020

23 June 2020

Accepted 20 July 2020

The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 32 No. 1, 2021

pp. 190-213

© Emerald Publishing Limited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-02-2020-0091

academia and market professionals within the mentioned theme (Bebbington and Thomson,

2013;Chandra and Kumar, 2019;Jozef et al., 2019;Lee and Kim, 2011;Lee and Wu, 2014;

Velasco et al., 2018).

The logistics system is a set of activities considered strategic for the success of

organizations.The activitiesare divided into key activitiesand support activities.Management

of servicelevels offered to customers,transportation, inventorymanagement, informationflow

and order processing are considered key activities. Storage, material handling, purchasing

management,packaging designand information maintenanceare considered supportactivities

(Ballou, 2004;Dangand Yeo, 2018;Martins et al.,2019). The efficient managementof logistics

activities is essential to companies reaching competitiveness. It is necessary to improve

processes continuously, think in a systematic way and provide better services to customers.

(Ballou, 2004;El-Berishy et al.,2013;Irfani et al., 2019a;Kuo et al.,2019;Martins et al.,2019).

Additionally, Chen and Bibanda (2019) and Eroglu et al. (2016) argue that to be competitive,

companies need to consider sustainability in logistical activities.

The concept of sustainability most used in the academic and business environment is

proposed by UN World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland, 1987).

According to this concept, sustainability is “meeting the needs of the present without

compromising the meeting of future demands”(Brundtland, 1987, p. 16). More specifically, Liu

et al. (2018),Yun et al. (2019) and Sirilertsuwan et al. (2018) show the concept of sustainability

using Triple Bottom Line (TBL) definition. According to this concept (TBL), companies

should consider environmental, economic and social aspects in their activities. Logistic

systems should create value to companies and positive results to all stakeholders, such as job

creation, poverty reduction and community development (Abbasi and Nilsson, 2016).

The concept of sustainable logistics consists in organizational ability to supply products

and services aligned to sustainability guidelines, balancing environmental, social and

economic aspects (Chhabra et al., 2018). Aldakhil et al. (2018),Calabrese et al. (2018) and Tseng

et al. (2018) agree with this point of view and argue that sustainable logistics contribute to the

global agenda toward a better future. The management of logistics systems is a complex

activity (Nilsson, 2019) because it involves consideration of a large number of variables,

parameters and restrictions. The main challenge for managers in adopting sustainable

practices in logistics processes is to define the correct balance among the three dimensions of

TBL (Lee and Wu, 2014;Schaltegger and Burritt, 2014;Zaman and Shamsuddin, 2017).

The importance of sustainable logistics to companies’future is evident, as mentioned

above; however, Furtado and Frayret (2015) highlight many companies do not correctly

consider all TBL guidelines in their operations. The same authors argue that, although there

are several propositions in the literature, none of them preset key performance indicators in a

simple way to assess sustainable logistics systems correctly (Furtado and Frayret, 2015). Lee

and Farzipoor Saen (2012),Lee and Wu (2014) and Schaltegger and Burritt (2014) agree with

the statement, emphasizing that is necessary to integrate traditional performance indicators

with sustainability guidelines.

In this sense, it is worth highlighting the efforts present in recent literature, in which it is

possible to perceive a growing number of studies analyzing sustainability aspects in logistics

systems (Hong et al., 2018). However, it is possible to note that most of studies in this context

do not carry out a comparative analysis among environmental, economic and social aspects.

Thus, more debates are required about the importance of considering environmental and

social aspects with economic issues (Lee and Wu, 2014;Martins et al., 2019;Seuring and

M€

uller, 2008). Stindt (2017) argue that there is lack of guidelines to support comprehensive

analysis, especially regarding assessment of environmental and social performance, which

hinders advances in corporate sustainability. The authors also argue that questions arise

about how to measure and balance the respective indicators with traditional economic

objectives. The increase in the number of researches in this context can be seen in studies of

Perceptions on

sustainability

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