A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF LOGISTICS STRATEGY: 1990–2008

For over 45 years, the roles of logistics in the firm have been a topic of interest to practitioners, teachers, and researchers. In the 1970's, logistics' role in organizational strategy emerged as a topic of discussion. During the 1980's, Bowersox and Daugherty (1987) presented a typology which postulated three dimensions of logistics strategy: process; market; and information. Their typology has inspired a stream of empirical research over the last two decades which examined it from different perspectives. The analysis and findings reported in this article focus on the Bowersox and Daugherty typology and provides insights into logistics strategy over an 18 year period. This typology was selected because it has been the subject of multiple empirical research studies, and has a reasonable level of credibility and acceptance. The research reported in this manuscript discusses the stability of logistics strategy over time in United States manufacturing firms, alternate logistics strategies, the effects of alternate logistics strategies on three outcome assessments, and implications for practitioners, teachers, and researchers.