Toward Greening City Logistics: A Systematic Review on Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility in Managing Urban Distribution Centers

Bahareh Mansouri, Subhasmita Sahu and M. Ali Ülkü ()
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Bahareh Mansouri: Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS B3H 3C2, Canada
Subhasmita Sahu: Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS B3H 3C2, Canada
M. Ali Ülkü: CRSSCA-Centre for Research in Sustainable Supply Chain Analytics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada

Logistics, 2023, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: Background: The ramifications of climate change are rampant: All stakeholders must act effectively and swiftly. Unsustainable and increased urbanization adds additional strain on combatting environmental degradation. Since the last decade, urban distribution centers (UDCs) have emerged in response to the steep rise in urban freight transportation and its negative impact on city congestion and air quality. Methods: In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive review of the performance of UDCs and investigate its alignment with the corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, including the shareholders’ governance strategies and policies, as well as environmental, social, and economic measures. Our systematic literature review consists of multiple phases: In the first one, we utilize bibliometric tools to implement a quantitative analysis of the extant literature. Next, a cluster-based network analysis complements this analysis to describe the evolution of research in this area. Results : Our descriptive analysis categorizes existing research on UDCs based on CG- and CSR-compliant themes. We classify pertinent peer-reviewed articles into topical clusters and offer research opportunities related to improving the performance of UDCs. Conclusions: This study aims to stimulate further scholarly inquiry into sustainable city logistics and provides a knowledge-based guide for academicians and practitioners, logistics service providers, policymakers, and customers.

Keywords: logistics service; sustainability; freight transportation; urban distribution center; consolidation; last-mile delivery; social responsibility; corporate governance; bibliometric analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L8 L80 L81 L86 L87 L9 L90 L91 L92 L93 L98 L99 M1 M10 M11 M16 M19 R4 R40 R41 R49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlogis:v:7:y:2023:i:1:p:19-:d:1103179

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