Sustainable Last-Mile Logistics in Finland: Strategies for Reducing Emissions and Ensuring Reliability in Winter Conditions.
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The last mile of the supply chain is particularly challenging to operate and environmentally unsustainable. In northern climates, the winter months compound this issue by introducing conflict between sustainability and service reliability due to seasonal conditions. Existing literature explores sustainable strategies and delivery reliability separately, resulting in a blind spot in empirical knowledge about the interplay between sustainability and reliability under challenging seasonal circumstances.
This research addresses which last-mile logistics strategies enable emissions reduction and reliable delivery in Finland during winter. The research is informed by contingency theory that suggests organizational efficiency is contingent on the fit between strategy bundles and the environment.
The study is interpretivist, abductive and employs a multiple-case qualitative design. Five semi-structured interviews were held with front-line employees of three Finnish last-mile logistics companies, complemented with secondary data. The analysis involved a six-phase process of thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke, with cross-case comparison of six analytical themes.
Winter was found to be a seasonal contingency, rather than an event, which limits vehicle capabilities, route options and human capacity. Reliability is achieved through a complex set of practices such as time buffering, workforce adjustment, route knowledge and task postponement. Sustainability strategies vary across types of companies—large com
panies focus on formal electrification despite winter constraints, while contractor operators focus on efficiency. The sustainability-reliability trade-off is not universal nor inevitable, but rather constructed within certain organizational contexts, especially where sustainability is institutionalised. This research offers an empirical contingency view of winter last-mile logistics.