Smart Logistics Management in the Age of Digital Transformation: A Systematic Literature Review

Recently, the Industry 4.0 paradigm has commenced to swiftly grow in the supply chain management and logistics fields. Despite this development in the logistics and supply chain management domain, the investigations of smart logistics (also known as logistics 4.0) are still in maturity. Especially, some areas such as the drivers and inhibitors of smart logistics are still an adequately unexplored area. On the other hand, smart logistics provides highly practical solutions to overcome the increasing difficulties in logistics operations by enabling worldwide cooperation. For this reason, studies in the field of smart logistics are of critical importance. This study addresses this gap by investigating the driving factors to facilitate and barriers to the adoption of smart logistics in the context of the extant literature. A systematic literature review was conducted to provide a comprehensive result to capture the dynamics and benefits of smart logistics and identify barriers deserving of further academic interest. To summarize the novel investigations in this domain, forty (40) papers were chosen and properly analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it was revealed that there are 6 main barriers preventing the adoption and implementation of smart logistics. These are risk-related barriers, data and technology-related barriers, organizational-related barriers, human resource-related barriers, economic-related barriers, and regulation-related barriers. On the other hand, as a result of the literature review, critical factors (such as investing in smart logistics, developing technological infrastructure, generating organizational culture or mission toward smart logistics, and providing top management support) that will both overcome these obstacles and facilitate the adoption of smart logistics have been determined. The accumulation of knowledge and provided insights in this research will provide advantages for both practitioners and academics interested in this emerging novel technology segment.