Innovation trends in Romanian logistics providers industry

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the innovation efforts employed by Romanian logistics service providers. Innovation in the service sectors, namely in logistics and supply chain, has gained increased interest from scholars in the last years. The implications in the business environment are to be noticed, since logistics and supply chain are the backbone of any business in the world. In this sense, the performance of the supply chain can make the difference between failure or success for many companies. A tendency that has become prominent in the last years is the outsourcing of a part or the entire supply chain to professional logistics providers. Romania makes no exception to this trend, although is relatively new and has been consolidated in the last few years with the emergence of major international players. However, in order to be performant, the logistics providers need to be innovative on a constant and consistent basis. This characteristic is emphasized by the relevant literature as a prerequisite for delivering a superior service to the customers. The aim of this paper is to complement the current research on this matter and determine the relationship between innovative efforts of the global/regional logistics services providers present on the Romanian market.In order to understand this preoccupation, there have been reviewed the innovation and/or sustainability reports of 12 logistics services providers. The results identified common trends on innovation, but also few major differences. The present study is a first step in a larger research on innovation in Romania and it will be continued through several sectorial reviews.