PurposeThe logistics discipline has been characterized by tremendous change since the early 1990s. One result is that the logistician's relevant skill set has likely changed as well. To this end, the present paper aims both to update, and to provide a longitudinal perspective of, a 1991 study that investigated the skill requirements of senior‐level logistics managers using the business, logistics, management (BLM) framework.Design/methodology/approachBoth studies used survey research of executive search firms to collect the relevant data. The surveys were transmitted via postal mail in the 1991 study and were transmitted electronically in the present study.FindingsThe results from the current study reinforce the 1991 study, which suggested that logisticians should be managers first and logisticians second. Comparison between the earlier and current study suggest a high degree of similarity in terms of the most important logistics skills, with less similarity in terms of business and management skills. The comparison also suggests that the contemporary logistician has more of a supply chain orientation than was the case in the early 1990s.Practical implicationsThe manuscript discusses implications for various logistical constituencies. For example, educators could use the findings to plan and design continuing education programs.Originality/valueThe update to the original study should prove valuable by highlighting the relevant skills associated with successful logisticians in the contemporary business environment. The longitudinal comparison provides insights into the logistician's skill set in the early 1990s and today.

The present paper adds to the relatively limited empirical literature involving green logistics by comparing US and non‐US firms with respect to select propositions regarding environmental issues, practices, and strategies. For a majority of propositions evaluated, the study results indicate that US and non‐US firms tend to share similar perspectives and practices regarding the management of environmental logistics. The study results also tend to confirm literature suggestions that green concerns will broaden the scope of logistics as well as influence the way logistics managers do their jobs.

IntroductionEcology is concerned with the relationships of living things and their physical environments. These relationships are frequently studied in the context of an ecosystem, which is a total ecological community which considers both living and non-living factors of its environment as a unit [1]. The interaction of living and non-living elements means that ecosystems are extremely complex and interrelated. There are a multitude of trade-offs in ecosystems: something done to an ecosystem in one place affects the entire system. As a result, it is virtually impossible to do something that does not have an effect somewhere else [1].The physical or natural environment contains, among other things, air, water and land, without which ecosystems as we know them would not exist. Society is both a participant in, and an exploiter of, our physical environment. Its use of the physical environment's elements, energy and natural resources to produce economic goods and services can, and frequently does, upset the fragile balance of sensitive ecosystems [2].Historically, the environment's ability to dilute excessive waste discharge or recover from excessive resource depletion was rarely questioned. However, beginning in the 1960s, consumers, businesses and governments began to recognize, and respond to, problems involving damage to the physical environment caused by excessive waste disposal and overutilization of resources. This damage alters the quality of the physical environment and places pressure on the ecosystem to make adaptive changes.Today, public alarm over resource depletion, waste disposal, congestion and pollution has intensified societal demands for government and business to give greater priority to managing these and other environmental issues. The USA, for instance, has about 5 per cent of the world's population, but generates over 50 per cent of the world's refuse [3]. As a result, a growing number of jurisdictions have set up mandatory recycling programmes, which generally require certain kinds of waste (e.g. plastic bottles, tin cans) to be separated from other kinds.

With logistics increasingly adopting a strategic orientation in many firms, senior‐level logisticians must possess certain skills in order to successfully manage the logistics function. This article argues that the contemporary senior‐level logistics manager needs to be proficient in three categories namely: business, logistics and management skills. The purpose of this research is to report the results of a survey of US logistics managers designed to assess the importance of business, logistics, and management skills. Management skills emerged as the most important of the three, followed by logistics and business skills. These findings suggest that contemporary senior‐level logistics executives must be managers first and logisticians second. In addition, the emphasis on management skills suggests that high‐ranking logistics executives may have the opportunity of rising to top management positions such as the Chief Executive Officer – a career path unheard of two decades ago.

DEDICATIONDedicated to Douglas E. Larson, a wonderful man and a great Dad, in loving memory.