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Road freight competition is playing out in deregulated markets. The EU single market is a market with abundant responses in terms of haulier strategic actions. This chapter situates the crucial role of road haulier strategies in the logistics service supply chain and industrial supply chain to achieve sustainability. Competitive and sustainable transport depends on effective transport services, vehicles and transport infrastructure, and conditions that foster the development of transport and logistics services. By examining how four case firms develop competences and make use of available resources we develop insights into road haulier competition and its implications. The chapter contributes to understanding how road hauliers are part of logistics service chains as well as industrial supply chains and how the many links and relationships increase the magnitude and implications of hauliers’ performances.

Road freight competition is playing out in deregulated markets. The EU single market is a market with abundant responses in terms of haulier strategic actions. This chapter situates the crucial role of road haulier strategies in the logistics service supply chain and industrial supply chain to achieve sustainability. Competitive and sustainable transport depends on effective transport services, vehicles and transport infrastructure, and conditions that foster the development of transport and logistics services. By examining how four case firms develop competences and make use of available resources we develop insights into road haulier competition and its implications. The chapter contributes to understanding how road hauliers are part of logistics service chains as well as industrial supply chains and how the many links and relationships increase the magnitude and implications of hauliers’ performances.

Background: The enacted sensemaking of third-party logistics (TPL) providers during the pandemic crisis may present an opportunity to explore their strategic operations. Objectives: The aim is to understand the TPL strategic implications related to a crisis and specifically how TPL providers make sense of and respond to crises. The two research questions are as follows: How has the COVID-19 pandemic crisis affected the business operations of TPL providers? What have TPL providers learnt from enacting the crisis, and how has this experience affected their strategic development? Method: We conduct an abductive study using combined data from interviews and a targeted archive search. The data are focused on the Swedish context and on a period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Three distinct groups of TPL providers have different sense and action processes impacting their business operations. This research shows how an understanding of servitisation is relevant for TPL theory. Finally, we develop the strategic perspective of TPL providers by defining TPL providers as value-cocreating relationships that can help manage the complexities of logistics services. Conclusion: This research shows that TPL providers play an important role in crises, as they contribute to solving customer problems. This role appears to be strengthened during crises, but it imposes great demands on TPL providers. Contribution: Third-party logistics providers work with their customers during crises. The sensemaking view emphasises the importance of personnel, organisational commitment, capacity and expectations during crises. This is an interplay that requires adaptation to short-term changes in operational processes and adaptability in long-term operations.

The political potential of unconventional and even transgressive forms of writing in management and organization studies has been invigorated in recent years through an explicit connection with feminist theories, ideas, and practices. The results have been a new wave of scholarship that brings together the personal, the political, and the theoretical as a means to intervene in masculine orthodoxy of organizational writing. This intervention seeks to change what and how we understand organizational phenomena, with an ultimate goal of transforming practice toward a more equal and egalitarian future. We introduce five papers that responded to a call to explore the intersections between change and academic writing, as well as an exploration of alternatives to dominant masculine academic writing styles. Such writing, we aver, might facilitate change not just in the academy, but also in organizations and by extension, society.

It starts in a simple question and purpose of what is fair in the transport chain concept, and develops to an abductive reasoning based on critical business ethics research and polyphonic narratives for an understanding of the mess that involves people, ethics in supply chains, interest organizations and EU institutions. Analytical understanding arrives from the Spinozian ethical principles in societies, justice and mercy. Justice as a social pact in order to escape the natural injustice and inequality outside the social system. Mercy as recognizing individuals in collective co-existence. Fairness in fair transport is suggested to be of a dynamic nature and derived from knowledgeable reasoning and found in lived ethico-political relationships.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to generate a greater understanding of the interrelatedness of new business models in the truck market and developments in the road transport sector. Design/methodology/approach Based on a three year research project in cooperation with a European heavy vehicle manufacturer, we present short case descriptions showing some of the main developments in the European trucking and transport markets. Findings New business models emerge both in the heavy vehicle and transportation markets, in complex ways involving multiple actors. The impetus for the models can come from several direction but the final impact must be negotiated and cannot be planned by a single actor. Research limitations/implications The research looks at a selection of cases and business models to demonstrate changes and the relations between the markets, and does not claim to be exhaustive in terms of the different business models in the European market. Practical implications There is a distinct trend to greater specialization and the need for innovation to survive given the strong pressures in the commoditized transport market. Our findings show conflicting trends in terms of social implications, with improved ecological impact but the risk of worse conditions for driver. Original/value The paper considers the development of new business models and implications on the market from the point of view of the firms actually using the business models. This shows how different business models can co-exist and involve different types of rationalities., Market Making of a High-value Business Model in Low Cost Markets

Purpose – This paper explores differences in inter- and intra-organizational interaction patterns depending on the nature of customer value propositions. It also discusses capabilities related to these value propositions. Design/Methodology/Approach – We perform a case study of the evolving value propositions of a Swedish truck manufacturer. Interviews are conducted with key representatives of the manufacturer, dealers, customers, and customers’ customers. We draw on literature in the business marketing and purchasing area. Findings – The manufacturer makes four types of value propositions (cf. Anderson et al., 2006) associated with different interaction patterns. (1) A first type involves a basic product, i.e. a vehicle along with basic services, such as a warranty. The sales process represents a short dealer-customer negotiation to determine truck customization and price and is a general solution to a general problem. Interaction remains simple throughout the truck’s operating cycle; feedback to the product development and manufacturing function comes mainly from the manufacturer’s service organization. (2) A second type of value proposition involves optional add-on services that support the use of the product, such as repairs and maintenance, tire replacement, financing, and insurance. Although each service component is standardized, the package of services is selected by the buyer based on its needs. Interaction in regard to purchase and use is therefore more complex and ongoing. (3) In a third type, the customer buys truck(s) and services as an integrated solution to its specific sourcing problem. This requires a deeper understanding of how the customer uses trucks. Such an analysis relies on interaction between the manufacturer’s sales representatives and various functions at the customer. As the truck is used, interaction between manufacturer and customer is continuous. E.g., driving patterns can be analyzed and driving training be tailored to the needs of th

In this paper we ask how an extended service model is developed over time in the relationship between buyer and seller in the trucking industry. Extended service models following a service-dominant logic rather than a product-dominant logic are becoming increasingly important in many industries. Here we report on the initial stages of a large study on the use and development of extended service models in the Swedish market for trucks. We see considerable promise in studying the development of the concept over time in the interaction between customer and provider., Market-making of a High-value Business concept in Low Cost Markets

Supply chain development is debated in terms of whether lean and agile supply chain strategies will work simultaneously and whether “leagile” strategies are possible. This study explores complexity and dynamics of the mixed strategy in a longitudinal automotive industry case study and contributes with four propositions related to the debate and practices of supply chain strategies.

Much research has been done on outsourcing. However, we still know little about outsourcing based on a social process view on innovation. Outsourcing is an innovation as a logistics-related process that is perceived as new by the adopter. We will explore and analyse an outsourcing idea, its development and implementation, from an innovation perspective. The development is studied in a qualitative, long-term process study. The analysis draws on Hoholm’s (2009) model of innovation processes. It extends the applicability of this innovation model and its methodology of following the action into logistics and supply chain management (SCM) research. The outsourcing process is an innovation that develops in a rational way based on the incremental process because of its actor-network and simultaneous reflection. Interactions and confrontations come about because of involved contrary forces such as competing objectives. The model explains the practice of SCM innovation and increases the understanding of dynamics and complexity. The process study brings insights to cause-effect relations in the development of outsourcing that are consequential to innovative logistics and SCM.

Kundorderstyrning är ett viktigt inslag i såväl industriell som kommersiell logik. I den industriella logiken är fokus på att effektivisera produktion och distribution till kunder. Den kommersiella logiken handlar om att bättre anpassa sig till kundens olika behov och att öka intäkterna. Allt fler aktiviteter i industrins förädlingskedjor kundorderstyrs för att öka kundorienteringen. Kundens krav på fler varianter och modeller har samtidigt medfört allt större komplexitet och svårigheter att prognostisera framtida efterfrågan. Problemen med kundorderstyrningen skiljer sig mellan olika industrier beroende på hur företagen i en förädlingskedja är integrerade och hur komplex produktionen är. I kapitlet identifieras flera sammanhang, där kundorderstyrningen sätts ur spel. Så utgör t ex är ägarnas påtryckningar för att förbättra kapacitetsutnyttjande, öka försäljningen och bonussystemens uppbyggnad ett dilemma för verksamheten.