UK and US management styles in logistics: different strokes for different folks?

Much has been written about globalisation generally and globalisation in logistics. However, the literature has focused on managing logistics in different environments according to western management techniques, examined differences between developed and less-developed nations, or explored relationships between companies and countries. There has been little discussion of different logistics management styles across global contexts. Manufacturing and quality researchers have considered these issues in benchmarking and quality improvement contexts and have investigated different attitudes towards quality initiatives. Marketers have also considered different cultural contexts that have been primarily related to consumer behaviour and intentions. Yet there is some evidence that cultural and contextual factors shape different attitudes between logistics managers and academics in the UK/Europe and the US/North America regarding management across logistical functions and environments. This evidence, stemming from the literature and an empirical study of UK customer service that highlighted management differences compared with several US empirical studies, are discussed in this paper. A framework of culture expressions adapted from Hofstede is proposed as one possible tool for research in this under-developed area of global logistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]