NOFOMA 2013

Citation

Arnäs, P.O. and Johansson, M.I. (2014), "NOFOMA 2013", International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 44 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPDLM-03-2014-0050

NOFOMA 2013

Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Volume 44, Issue 4.

This Special Issue contains one paper from The 25th NOFOMA conference and three papers that were accepted through the regular submission process. The annual NOFOMA conference has its roots in the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland) and the latest conference was arranged at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, June 3-5, 2013. A word cloud based on the conference abstracts shows a wide range of topics that were covered (Figure 1).

The papers at the NOFOMA conference have a strong tradition of using case studies and qualitative data analysis. The main data collection methods were case studies (40 percent), structured literature reviews (19 percent) and surveys (17 percent).

The call for abstracts attracted 134 submissions for consideration that resulted in 80 full papers in the review process and 70 full papers at the conference. In addition, 29 Work In Progress submissions were presented. More than 140 delegates from 14 countries contributed to the conference (in addition to the Nordic countries, delegates from Austria, France, Germany, Poland, South Africa, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA participated).

Based on the best paper selection process from the conference, a shortlist was created consisting of three papers that were invited to be considered for this Special Issue. The papers were revised by the SI editors as well as carefully selected additional reviewers (on professorial level). This process resulted in the paper “Organizing product recovery in industrial networks”, written by Professors Igor Insanic and Lars-Erik Gadde. The conference version was awarded the DB Schenker Best Paper Award. The paper investigates the organizing of product recovery networks using the industrial network theory, applied on a case study of a recovery network for PCs. Insanic and Gadde's research concludes that the coordination of interdependent activities as well as the combining of physical and organizational resources are the most significant issues to consider when organizing product recovery. We believe that the detailed overview of product recovery in industrial networks presented in this award-winning manuscript makes a very strong contribution to the extant reverse logistics literature. Once again, many congratulations to these two scholars for winning the prestigious DB Schenker Best Paper Award.

The other three manuscripts, although not submitted to the NOFOMA Conference, each pertain to a topic that is highly familiar to NOFOMA conference participants: competitive differentiation through environmental supply chain strategies.

The second and third papers address environmental sustainability. Growing concerns regarding climate change mean companies are reconsidering their greenhouse gas emissions. Drawing upon the resource-based view and stakeholder theory, Pålsson and Kovács’ research considers the role of external drivers and internal motivators for reducing transportation emissions. The study findings, based on a sample of Swedish companies, suggest that while external factors (such as regulation and customer pressures) might move companies in the “green” direction, proactive motivators based on firm strategy are what create differential advantages from a firm's environmental initiatives. Similarly, De Giovanni and Esposito Vinzi explore the impact of compulsory environmental legislation using a sample of Italian firms. The authors also find that the environmental impact of internal activities is greater than that derived through externally driven programs with supply chain partners. Additionally, effectiveness of the EU-mandated Emissions Trading mechanism is challenged, not just because of lack of reduction in CO2 emissions, but because of negative impact on supply chain collaboration. Collectively, these two papers indicate a growing strategic imperative for organizations’ environmental initiative since such behaviors appear to have greater impact than that derived through external control factors. These consistent findings across two very different papers and samples suggest opportunities for researchers addressing competitive differentiation through environmental supply chain strategies.

The final paper in this issue, co-authored by Garcia-Arca, and colleagues, addresses a related topic: sustainability in packaging. A combination of case study and action research approaches is employed to assess “sustainable packaging logistics” in the supply chain of one of the largest retailers in Spain. The resulting prescriptive model “pushes the packaging research envelope” by providing direction for simultaneously improving product and packaging design in global supply chains to increase efficiency and sustainability. Packaging is increasingly recognized as a relatively under-researched aspect of logistics strategy and we are pleased to publish this insightful research study that we hope will also encourage theory-building research on competitive differentiation through sustainable synchronized product and packaging design strategies.

Per Olof Arnäs and Mats Johansson
Guest Editors