IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v23y2014i1p38-55.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pollution Prevention and Service Stewardship Strategies in the Third‐Party Logistics Industry: Effects on Firm Differentiation and the Moderating Role of Environmental Communication

Author

Listed:
  • Steffen Maas
  • Tassilo Schuster
  • Evi Hartmann

Abstract

A growing number of firms are considering the incorporation of environmental thinking into their business strategies, hoping to improve their competitiveness. In this paper, we analyze the effects of pollution prevention and service stewardship capabilities on firm differentiation advantage in the third‐party logistics industry. Since prior research claims that complementary assets play an important role in fully understanding the environmental‐management‐competitiveness link, we furthermore examine the moderating role of environmental communication on the pollution‐prevention‐differentiation and the service‐stewardship‐differentiation linkages. We theoretically base our research in natural‐resource‐based thinking. Drawing on survey data, we apply multivariate regression and moderation analysis. The results highlight that pollution prevention and service stewardship capabilities can help third‐party logistics providers to achieve a differentiation advantage. Also, the results show that environmental communication moderates the effect of pollution prevention on differentiation advantage and can hence be considered a valuable complementary asset. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Steffen Maas & Tassilo Schuster & Evi Hartmann, 2014. "Pollution Prevention and Service Stewardship Strategies in the Third‐Party Logistics Industry: Effects on Firm Differentiation and the Moderating Role of Environmental Communication," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 38-55, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:23:y:2014:i:1:p:38-55
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.1759
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1759
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.1759?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Antonio Chamorro & Sergio Rubio & Francisco J. Miranda, 2009. "Characteristics of research on green marketing," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 223-239, May.
    2. Gregory G. Dess & Richard B. Robinson, 1984. "Measuring organizational performance in the absence of objective measures: The case of the privately‐held firm and conglomerate business unit," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(3), pages 265-273, July.
    3. Stefan Gold & Stefan Seuring & Philip Beske, 2010. "Sustainable supply chain management and inter‐organizational resources: a literature review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), pages 230-245, July.
    4. David J. TEECE, 2008. "Profiting from technological innovation: Implications for integration, collaboration, licensing and public policy," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: The Transfer And Licensing Of Know-How And Intellectual Property Understanding the Multinational Enterprise in the Modern World, chapter 5, pages 67-87, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Banerjee, Subhabrata Bobby, 2002. "Corporate environmentalism: the construct and its measurement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 177-191, March.
    6. Paul Ziek, 2009. "Making sense of CSR communication," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(3), pages 137-145, May.
    7. Purba Rao & Alok Kumar Singh & Olivia la O'Castillo & Ponciano S. Intal & Ather Sajid, 2009. "A metric for corporate environmental indicators … for small and medium enterprises in the Philippines," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 14-31, January.
    8. Nicole Darnall & G. Jason Jolley & Robert Handfield, 2008. "Environmental management systems and green supply chain management: complements for sustainability?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 30-45, January.
    9. Pratima Bansal, 2005. "Evolving sustainably: a longitudinal study of corporate sustainable development," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 197-218, March.
    10. Ans Kolk, 2003. "Trends in sustainability reporting by the Fortune Global 250," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(5), pages 279-291, September.
    11. Jonatan Pinkse, 2007. "Corporate intentions to participate in emission trading," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 12-25, January.
    12. Trevor Hunter & Pratima Bansal, 2007. "How Standard is Standardized MNC Global Environmental Communication?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 71(2), pages 135-147, March.
    13. Dayna Simpson & Danny Samson, 2010. "Environmental strategy and low waste operations: exploring complementarities," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(2), pages 104-118, February.
    14. Robert D. Klassen & Curtis P. McLaughlin, 1996. "The Impact of Environmental Management on Firm Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(8), pages 1199-1214, August.
    15. Marilyn T. Lucas, 2010. "Understanding environmental management practices: integrating views from strategic management and ecological economics," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(8), pages 543-556, December.
    16. Ruihua Joy Jiang & Pratima Bansal, 2003. "Seeing the Need for ISO 14001," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 1047-1067, June.
    17. Stuart L. Hart & Gautam Ahuja, 1996. "Does It Pay To Be Green? An Empirical Examination Of The Relationship Between Emission Reduction And Firm Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 30-37, March.
    18. S. J. Fowler & C. Hope, 2007. "Incorporating sustainable business practices into company strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 26-38, January.
    19. Magali A. Delmas & Michael W. Toffel, 2008. "Organizational responses to environmental demands: opening the black box," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(10), pages 1027-1055, October.
    20. Xianbing Liu & Jie Yang & Sixiao Qu & Leina Wang & Tomohiro Shishime & Cunkuan Bao, 2012. "Sustainable Production: Practices and Determinant Factors of Green Supply Chain Management of Chinese Companies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 1-16, January.
    21. Chieh-Yu Lin & Yi-Hui Ho, 2011. "Determinants of Green Practice Adoption for Logistics Companies in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 98(1), pages 67-83, January.
    22. Geoffrey R. Frost, 2007. "The Introduction of Mandatory Environmental Reporting Guidelines: Australian Evidence," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 43(2), pages 190-216, June.
    23. Andrea Prothero & Ken Peattie & Pierre McDonagh, 1997. "Communicating greener strategies: a study of on‐pack communication," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(2), pages 74-82, May.
    24. Sarkis, Joseph & Cordeiro, James J., 2001. "An empirical evaluation of environmental efficiencies and firm performance: Pollution prevention versus end-of-pipe practice," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 102-113, November.
    25. Stefan Seuring, 2011. "Supply chain management for sustainable products – insights from research applying mixed methodologies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(7), pages 471-484, November.
    26. Robert Handfield & Robert Sroufe & Steven Walton, 2005. "Integrating environmental management and supply chain strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 1-19, January.
    27. J Michael Geringer & Louis Hebert, 1991. "Measuring Performance of International Joint Ventures," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 22(2), pages 249-263, June.
    28. Fisher, Robert J, 1993. "Social Desirability Bias and the Validity of Indirect Questioning," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(2), pages 303-315, September.
    29. Sumesh Ramachandran Nair & C. Ganesh Menon, 2008. "An environmental marketing system – a proposed model based on Indian experience," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(8), pages 467-479, December.
    30. David Wheeler & John Elkington, 2001. "The end of the corporate environmental report? Or the advent of cybernetic sustainability reporting and communication," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, January.
    31. Pedro Francés-Gómez & Ariel del Rio, 2008. "Stakeholder’s Preference and Rational Compliance: A Comment on Sacconi’s “CSR as a Model for Extended Corporate Governance II: Compliance, Reputation and Reciprocity”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 82(1), pages 59-76, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Венцислав Перков, 2017. "Възможности За Внедряване На Обратната Логистика В България," Scientific Research Almanac, D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics, Svishtov, Bulgaria, vol. 24(2 Year 20), pages 122-148.
    2. Janette Brunstein & Marta Fabiano Sambiase & Claudine Brunnquell, 2018. "An Assessment of Critical Reflection in Management Education for Sustainability: A Proposal on Content and Form of Shared Value Rationality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-25, June.
    3. Steffen Maas & Tassilo Schuster & Evi Hartmann, 2018. "Stakeholder Pressures, Environmental Practice Adoption and Economic Performance in the German Third-party Logistics Industry—A Contingency Perspective," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 88(2), pages 167-201, February.
    4. Christian Schwens & Marcus Wagner, 2019. "The role of firm-internal corporate environmental standards for organizational performance," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 89(7), pages 823-843, September.
    5. Sara Perotti & Lorenzo Bruno Prataviera & Marco Melacini, 2022. "Assessing the environmental impact of logistics sites through CO2eq footprint computation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1679-1694, May.
    6. Kumar Verma Bhupendra & Shirish Sangle, 2018. "Product Stewardship Strategy: A Study of Indian Firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(2), pages 124-134, March.
    7. Peter Seele & Lucia Gatti, 2017. "Greenwashing Revisited: In Search of a Typology and Accusation‐Based Definition Incorporating Legitimacy Strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 239-252, February.
    8. Barbaglia, Martina & Bianchini, Roberto & Butticè, Vincenzo & Elia, Stefano & Mariani, Marcello M., 2023. "The role of environmental sustainability in the relocation choices of MNEs: Back to the home country or welcome in a new host country?," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(5).
    9. Eugene Kang & Nguyen Bao Lam, 2023. "The impact of environmental disclosure on initial public offering underpricing: Sustainable development in Singapore," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 119-133, January.
    10. Stekelorum, Rebecca & Laguir, Issam & Gupta, Shivam & Kumar, Sameer, 2021. "Green supply chain management practices and third-party logistics providers’ performances: A fuzzy-set approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    11. Enrico Massaroni & Alessandra Cozzolino & Mario Calabrese & Ewa Wankowicz & Maura Fiore, 2016. "Reporting di sostenibilit? degli operatori logistici in Europa: analisi degli indicatori," ECONOMIA E DIRITTO DEL TERZIARIO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(2), pages 303-334.
    12. Vieira, José Geraldo Vidal & Mendes, Juliana Veiga & Suyama, Suzi Sanae, 2016. "Shippers and freight operators perceptions of sustainable initiatives," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 173-181.
    13. Sofia Dahlgren & Jonas Ammenberg, 2022. "Environmental Considerations Regarding Freight Transport among Buyers of Transport Services in Sweden," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-19, September.
    14. Jun Xie & Wataru Nozawa & Shunsuke Managi, 2020. "The role of women on boards in corporate environmental strategy and financial performance: A global outlook," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 2044-2059, September.
    15. Maria Vittoria Franceschelli & Gabriele Santoro & Elisa Giacosa & Roberto Quaglia, 2019. "Assessing the determinants of performance in the recycling business: Evidence from the Italian context," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(5), pages 1086-1099, September.
    16. Sini Laari & Juuso Töyli & Lauri Ojala, 2018. "The effect of a competitive strategy and green supply chain management on the financial and environmental performance of logistics service providers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 872-883, November.
    17. Kang Tan & Abu Bakkar Siddik & Farid Ahammad Sobhani & Muhammad Hamayun & Mohammad Masukujjaman, 2022. "Do Environmental Strategy and Awareness Improve Firms’ Environmental and Financial Performance? The Role of Competitive Advantage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-24, August.
    18. Noorliza Karia, 2022. "Antecedents and Consequences of Environmental Capability towards Sustainability and Competitiveness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-16, September.
    19. Khan, Mehmood & Ajmal, Mian M. & Gunasekaran, Angappa & AlMarzouqi, Abdulla H. & AlNuaimi, Bader Khamis, 2021. "Measures of greenness: An empirical study in service supply chains in the UAE," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    20. Mark M. Davis & Euthemia Stavrulaki & Adi Wolfson, 2018. "A Framework for Increasing Sustainability in Services," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(2), pages 139-153, June.
    21. Pietro Evangelista & Lodovico Santoro & Antonio Thomas, 2018. "Environmental Sustainability in Third-Party Logistics Service Providers: A Systematic Literature Review from 2000–2016," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-34, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ozusaglam, Serdal & Kesidou, Effie & Wong, Chee Yew, 2018. "Performance effects of complementarity between environmental management systems and environmental technologies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 112-122.
    2. Kay H. Hofmann & Gregory Theyel & Craig H. Wood, 2012. "Identifying Firm Capabilities as Drivers of Environmental Management and Sustainability Practices – Evidence from Small and Medium‐Sized Manufacturers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(8), pages 530-545, December.
    3. Md Ali Arshad Chowdhury & Mohammad Morshedur Rahman & Mouri Dey & Syed Moudud-Ul-Huq & Sk Alamgir Hossain, 2023. "Perceived Pressures and Motivations for Environmental Disclosures: Role of Certification," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    4. Maria Jell‐Ojobor & Aveed Raha, 2022. "Being good at being good—The mediating role of an environmental management system in value‐creating green supply chain management practices," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 1964-1984, July.
    5. Anton Shevchenko, 2021. "Do financial penalties for environmental violations facilitate improvements in corporate environmental performance? An empirical investigation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1723-1734, May.
    6. Scott R. Colwell & Ashwin W. Joshi, 2013. "Corporate Ecological Responsiveness: Antecedent Effects of Institutional Pressure and Top Management Commitment and Their Impact on Organizational Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 73-91, February.
    7. Sarah Elena Windolph & Dorli Harms & Stefan Schaltegger, 2014. "Motivations for Corporate Sustainability Management: Contrasting Survey Results and Implementation," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(5), pages 272-285, September.
    8. Leal, Ana R. & Husted, Bryan W. & Flores Segovia, Miguel Alejandro, 2021. "Environmental performance spillovers among Mexican industrial facilities: The case of greenhouse gases," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 711-720.
    9. Lucas, Marilyn T. & Noordewier, Thomas G., 2016. "Environmental management practices and firm financial performance: The moderating effect of industry pollution-related factors," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 24-34.
    10. Yu‐Xiang Yen, 2018. "Buyer–supplier collaboration in green practices: The driving effects from stakeholders," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1666-1678, December.
    11. Yang Chen & Guiyao Tang & Jiafei Jin & Ji Li & Pascal Paillé, 2015. "Linking Market Orientation and Environmental Performance: The Influence of Environmental Strategy, Employee’s Environmental Involvement, and Environmental Product Quality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 479-500, March.
    12. Nath, Prithwiraj & Ramanathan, Ramakrishnan, 2016. "Environmental management practices, environmental technology portfolio, and environmental commitment: A content analytic approach for UK manufacturing firms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(P3), pages 427-437.
    13. Ivana First & Deepali Sinha Khetriwal, 2010. "Exploring the relationship between environmental orientation and brand value: is there fire or only smoke?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(2), pages 90-103, February.
    14. Francesco Rizzi & Irene Bartolozzi & Alessandra Borghini & Marco Frey, 2013. "Environmental Management of End‐of‐Life Products: Nine Factors of Sustainability in Collaborative Networks," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(8), pages 561-572, December.
    15. Francesca Di Pillo & Massimo Gastaldi & Nathan Levialdi & Michela Miliacca, 2017. "Environmental Performance Versus Economic-financial Performance: Evidence from Italian Firms," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 7(2), pages 98-108.
    16. Albert Czerny & Peter Letmathe, 2017. "Eco‐efficiency: GHG reduction related environmental and economic performance. The case of the companies participating in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(6), pages 791-806, September.
    17. Adolfo Carballo‐Penela & Juan Luis Castromán‐Diz, 2015. "Environmental Policies for Sustainable Development: An Analysis of the Drivers of Proactive Environmental Strategies in the Service Sector," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(8), pages 802-818, December.
    18. André Tchokogué & Jean Nollet & Nathalie Merminod & Gilles Paché & Véronique Goupil, 2018. "Is Supply's Actual Contribution to Sustainable Development Strategic and Operational?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 336-358, March.
    19. Dayna Simpson & Danny Samson, 2010. "Environmental strategy and low waste operations: exploring complementarities," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(2), pages 104-118, February.
    20. Valentina Carbone & Valerie Moatti & Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi, 2012. "Mapping Corporate Responsibility and Sustainable Supply Chains: an Exploratory Perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(7), pages 475-494, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:23:y:2014:i:1:p:38-55. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.