Methodology

Literature reviews usually aim at two objectives :

They summarize existing research by identifying patterns, themes and issues
They may constitute and initial step in the theory development process

Literature reviews can be comprehended as content analysis. Content analysis is a method for the objective,
systematic, quantitative and reliable study of published information. A process model for a content analysis is
described in four steps :

Material collection Description Analysis Category Selection Material Evaluation

Methodology
1 Sample and Delimitations of the Research
The first step in content analysis is to determine the documents to be analyzed and the units of
analysis. The logistics journals selected are perceived as of highest quality and represent the state of
the art of logistics research : International Journal of Production Economics
European Journal of Purchasing & Logistics Management International Journal of Production Research
Harvard Business Review Journal of Business Logistics
International Journal of Integrated Supply Management Journal of Cleaner Production
Inter-national Journal of Logistics Management Journal of Operations Management
International Journal of Operations & Production Management Production and Operations Management
International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management Purchasing and Supply Management
Transportation & Distribution Supply Chain Management: an International Journal
Methodology
2 Categorization in the Coding Scheme

Content analysis builds on a coding scheme that is developed on the basis of a theoretical framework
and involves the codifying of information into pre-defined categories.
The second phase of the research involved the application of the keywords listed below and different
combination of them :

1 Cost 6 Logistics Purchasing 16 Vendor

11

2 Efficiency 7 Manufacturing 12 Supplier 17 Transportation

Social
3 Environment 8 Production 13 Sustainability 18 Responsibility

Reverse
4 Green 9 Performance 14 SCM 19 Logistics

Lean Operations Warehouse

5 manufacturing 10 Management 15