The Green Corridor concept represents a cornerstone in the development and implementation of integrated and sustainable transport solutions based on trans-nationality, multi-modality and a high involvement of public and private stakeholders, including the political level. Hence, the implementation and management of a Green Transport Corridor is connected with a variety of risks due to the high level of complexity and the strong frame conditions of the concept. E.g. stakeholders’ violation of ecological and sustainable obligations might jeopardize the achievement of defined green targets and therefore hinder the implementation of a Green Transport Corridor system. For this reason, it is important to regard possible risks in advance in order to apply adequate measures and reduce the impact in time.
The paper addresses the research questions what kind of risks might occur in Green Transport Corridors and how they can be classified. The empirical results of this paper investigate the risks that might occur in Green Transport Corridors and classify them into the three categories economical, ecological and social risks. Based on this analysis the development of a comprehensive risk management concept for Green Transport Corridors has been started.
EU industry accounts for 15% of European value added and the industrial sector plays the role of a key driver for research, innovation, productivity, job creation and exports. One important measure in order to stop the decline of Europe’s global industrial position is represented by Industry 4.0 aiming for the implementation of smart production and logistics. Industry 4.0 touches the entire supply chain comprising product design and development, operations management and logistics and by doing so new business models and structures are required.
Currently, companies start to practice first steps in 3D printing, production in networks and smart logistics and begin to develop new organisational structures and business models to benefit more from the opportunities that the new technology offers. Empirical evidences of successful companies reveals that the new business models are oriented rather on service design, open innovation and network approaches than on the traditional concepts of industrial enterprises. Consequently, traditional industrial companies have to rethink and to renew their business structures and models in parallel with the ongoing implementation of Industry 4.0 to use the new opportunities.
The main focus of Industry 4.0 is laid on the fusion of the virtual and the physical world so that also new concepts are required for managing information and business administration tasks in the context of Industry 4.0. One big step towards the implementation of such a concept is embodied by the Estonian concept of “e-Residency”, which might be an appropriate e-business approach especially when taking into account the needs of internationally operating entrepreneurs and SME’s.
The paper addresses the research question of how new and sustainable business models and structures for Industry 4.0 might look like and in which direction existing traditional business concepts have to be developed to deploy a strong business impact of Industry 4.0. By focussing on the needs of entrepreneurs and SME sector the paper also discusses why e-residency might be the appropriate concept in the context of Industry 4.0.
In the White Paper on Transport 2011 the European Commission stressed the concept of green transport corridors, i.e. transshipment routes with concentration of freight traffic between major hubs and by relatively long distances of transport marked by reduced environmental and climate impact while increasing safety and efficiency with application of sustainable logistics solutions. Green transport is based on inter-modality, powerful logistics hubs and advanced ICT-systems improving traffic management, increase efficiency and better integrate the logistics components of a corridor. Sustainable hub development along the transshipment routes of green corridors is one of the major tasks of green corridors in order to safeguard and meet the necessary corridor performance for the current and future transport demand. The main corridor hubs represent logistics clusters in the sense of Yossi Sheffi, comprising ports, logistics centers and other transshipment nodes. The paper will present results about the development of core logistics clusters representing hubs in green transport corridors and it will indicate actions for hub development with a future-oriented compilation of sustainable development measures of infrastructural, legal or organizational nature. Since the author took part in some important green transport corridor initiatives around the Baltic Sea, including “East-West Transport Corridor (EWTC II)” initiative, representing the first European project which delivered a green corridor manual formulating recommendations and requirements of green transport corridors to European level, some case studies from EWTC project will be discussed.
In the EU White Paper on Transport 2011 the emphasis was laid on green transport corridors, i.e. transhipment routes with concentration of freight traffic between major hubs and by relatively long distances of transport marked by reduced environmental and climate impact while increasing safety and efficiency with application of sustainable logistics solutions. Green transport is based on inter-modality and advanced ICT-systems improving traffic management, increase efficiency and better integrate the logistics components of a corridor. Until today only the first steps have been realised in the implementation of green corridor concepts, so that concrete requirements and frame conditions for ICT-systems of green corridors are described on conceptual basis. Baltic Sea Region (BSR) enjoys a vanguard position in the development and realisation of green transport concepts in Europe and some research projects delivered already the first results for the requirements of ICT-systems supporting green transport corridors. Of special importance is the EU initiative “East-West Transport Corridor (EWTC II)” since for the first time a green corridor manual has been presented formulating recommendations and requirements of green transport corridors to European level. The authors took part in some important green transport corridor initiatives around the Baltic Sea, including EWTC project, and were involved in related research activities. This paper aims at pointing out the current status and the future direction of ICT-systems for green transport corridors, especially under the viewpoint of secure and sustainable green corridor management.
Climate change and environmental aspects are key issues on public agenda. Governments and politicians try to implement new regulations and limits to reduce the environmental burden of the industries around the globe. However, success can be seen only to a limited extend in many areas. On the other hand some industrial sectors themselves start to think about solutions to handle the big impacts. Some pioneers in this field discovered already also the competitive and economic advantage of implementing so called green and sustainable solutions in their business. This includes production, manufacturing and transport activities but also ways how to manage and monitor such activities from an eco-friendly perspective. This paper will give an overview of the implication of green logistics along the supply chain in regard to the automotive industry including supply companies from SME sector and will demonstrate the application of this issue. For that an example of the European market leader Volkswagen AG in Germany is chosen and analyzed in the case description.
This paper aims at conceptualising and assessing operational environment of small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) in sustainable supply chains in regional context. The paper starts an attempt to explore how SMEs in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany from transport, logistics related value-added services and especially from the air freight sector collaborate, perform and develop from supply chain management perspective, and what crucial determinants for burgeoning business performance and sustainable strategy are effectively to be linked for the benefits of SMEs. Using a qualitative case study approach, the paper bears on empirical evidences of the project “Baltic.AirCargo.Net” financed by the European Regional Development Fund / European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument in the framework of the Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013. The paper builds upon a qualitative research approach involving expert interviews, focus groups analysis and secondary data research based on relevant project documentation and field notes from project meetings and workshops. Findings of the case study from the German air cargo service providers are explored and discussed through key theoretical concepts pertaining to sustainable supply chains and logistics of SMEs. Based on the relevant scholarly work and results of empirical evidence and case studies, a conceptual model is designed with propositions and possible future directions for SMEs. The paper showcases empirical findings gathered from the practices of regional SMEs operating in the air cargo transport and logistics service field, thus expanding this poorly conceived research area. The research is based on direct information and insights from SMEs located in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and highlights how SMEs under the given circumstances may streamline their development paths operationally, tactically and strategically. Insights obtained from this paper can be employed as critical tool among SMEs’ managers, strategy planners and policy decision-makers on how to utilize SMEs’ practices in the context of supply chains, logistics networks and emerging scope of globalisation and trade.