The needs related to natural environment protection, which are accentuated both in world literature and practice, became the main prerequisite to find new management concepts enabling the development of solutions which are environmentally responsible and economically effective at the same time. One of the concepts which can be an answer for the requirements related to environment protection is the ‘green logistics’ concept. The literature review shows that publications referring to the development of ‘green logistics’ have  so far focused primarily on the processes of implementation and development of ‘green logistics’ in large enterprises. In other words, the reviewed research studies didn’t take into account the specific nature of the SME sector, which is a very important factor considering its diversity and, most of all, its high significance and size in the economy. As a consequence, a research gap related to the development of ‘green logistics’ among small and medium-sized enterprises was identified. To explore the identified research gap, a survey among 200 SMEs running their businesses in Poland was conducted. On the basis of the conducted research, it was revealed that SMEs’ activities related to environment protection when running logistics processes are mostly determined by actual legal provisions. However, this amounts to enterprises reaching a certain minimum related to the state's environmental policy. On the other hand, it’s worth emphasising the role of the supply chain leader, which becomes a strong driving force for implementing ‘green’ solutions in the area of logistics for enterprises with higher levels of ‘green logistics’ development. The research results can be a starting point for creating a model illustrating the development of ‘green logistics’ in the SME sector. Keywords: green logistics, environmental sustainability, SME

The concept of green logistics meets the expectations of various groups of stakeholders who, being aware of the negative impact of logistics processes on the natural environment, encourage enterprises to start implementing environmentally friendly solutions, thus ensuring the economic efficiency of these processes. The implementation of green solutions takes place in four stages and their advancement increases at each stage. The highest stages require cooperation with other enterprises. The article deals with the subject of undertaking this kind of cooperation by small and medium-sized enterprises in a supply chain. The aim is to identify which chain participants most often establish cooperation in the area of green logistics with these companies in Poland. It was found that the most intense cooperation takes place with a supply chain leader and suppliers. At the highest level of advancement a horizontal cooperation with competitors is also established.

Logistics processes are a significant source of pollution of the natural environment. The fact that they are present in the activities of all enterprises means that also logistics processes implemented by smaller enterprises are not neutral to the natural environment. The article identifies the state of awareness of SME managers regarding the impact of logistics processes on the natural environment and classifies the surveyed SMEs in terms of the scope of implementation of green logistics practices.

Część 3. Rola nowoczesnych metod zarządzania logistycznego w procesie redukcji kosztów i poprawy jakości obsługi klientówLech A. Bukowski, Jerzy Feliks: Ocena wartości użytkowej informacji logistycznych w warunkach niepewności oraz turbulentnych zmian otoczenia ..

Aim/purpose–The aim of the paper is to identify the features of ‘green’ small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Poland.Design/methodology/approach –The paper is based on a quantitative approach and a group of 200 small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Poland were examined. The classification tree method was used to analyze the data gathered.Findings–The ‘green’ small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Poland were characterized and their important features were identified, e.g., belonging to the TFL (Transport Forwarding Logistics) sector and a direct relationship with the supply chain leader. In the case of enterprises from the TFL sector, their area of activity is a natural environment for the development of ‘green logistics’ practices.In turn, the supply chain leader usually pushes for specific solutions aimed at achieving the assumed goals, in-cluding environmental goals.Research implications/limitations–The research results enable the identification pro-cess of small and medium-sized enterprises interested in implementing the ‘green logis-tics’ concept and, consequently, their support. Nevertheless, small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Poland were the only examined, thus the research findings can-not be generalized for other countries. However, the paper could be a starting point for comparative analyses on an international scale.Originality/value/contribution–The development of ‘green logistics’ among small and medium-sized enterprises in Poland is still not recognized by researchers. The paper is a valuable addition to this research gap. Keywords:green logistics, SME, classification tree. JEL Classification:L21, M20, Q50