Supply chain logistics initiatives

Purpose – Intends to provide insights from observaions of field practices and initiatives from researchers in supply chain logistics seeking contexts and inspiration for future research.Design/methodology/approach – Describes supply chain logistics practices and initiatives perceived positions and impacts (2003‐2004), based on interviews with protagonists of 19 major practices/initiatives in the field.Findings – The 19 are divided into three groups: new, wide adoption, and traditional. New refers to strategic, high revenue/growth, wide adoption refers to the normal maturing process, whilst traditional refers to commodity, as in business impact. As companies progress in their initiatives from new to wide adoption to traditional, finds that resarch opportunities develop differently.Originality/value – Adds value to the original editorial (IJPDLM, Vol. 34 No. 1, 2004), which noted five general categories of research.