Reflections on 40 Years of the Journal of Business Logistics: From the Editors

• Author: David J. Closs,Thomas J. Goldsby,Patricia J. Daugherty,James R. Stock,Stanley E. Fawcett,Matthew Waller,Walter Zinn
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jbl.12208
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• Date: 01 March 2019

Editorial

Reflections on 40 Years of the Journal of Business Logistics: From

the Editors

Thomas J. Goldsby

1

, Walter Zinn

1

, David J. Closs

2

, Patricia J. Daugherty

3

, James R. Stock

4

,

Stanley E. Fawcett

5

, and Matthew Waller

6

1

The Ohio State University

2

Michigan State University

3

Iowa State University

4

University of South Florida

5

Weber State University

6

University of Arkansas

This editorial embodies a series of essays from the current and past editors of the Journal of Business Logistics in marking the 40th anniver-

sary of the journal. The compendium is intended to illustrate the evolution in logistics thought and practice as well as the journal’s role in

documenting and advancing the field. Key trends are identified in each era. Further, each editor expresses opinions of the current and future

state of the discipline. This review reflects on the evolution of the Journal of Business Logistics and envisions the futures of the logistics field

and supply chain discipline.

Keywords: logistics; supply chain management; retrospective; literature review

AN INTRODUCTION TO THIS RETROSPECTIVE

ARTICLE

Greetings from Columbus, Ohio, USA!It was here some 40

years ago that Professor Bernard J. (Bud) LaLonde set out to cre-

ate a new academic journal in the field of business logistics.

While it was not the first journal to reside in the discipline, jour-

nals like Transportation Journal and the International Journal of

Physical Distribution and Materials Management can lay claim

to an earlier beginning, the Journal of Business Logistics (JBL)

set out to communicate new research and to test research ideas

in the area of business logistics (LaLonde 1978, p. v). LaLonde

would go on to explain that there was an unmet need for bring-

ing academics, practitioners, and others to interface for produc-

tive discussion and exchange of ideas—despite a purported

“information explosion”occurring at the time, with the emer-

gence of high-speed computers and a barrage of memos, special

reports, industry papers, and other information of the day.

Despite the challenges, LaLonde would proceed undaunted...

and we are glad he did.

To commemorate JBL’s 40th anniversary, we invited special

guest contributors to help us mark the occasion. In this lead arti-

cle, current and former editors-in-chief were asked to reflect on

their eras of leading the journal. Thomas Goldsby and Walter

Zinn address the LaLonde era (1978–1989); David Closs pre-

sents the era of John Coyle (1990–1995) as well as Closs’own

years of editorship (1996–2000). Successive editors then speak

to their respective eras: Patricia Daugherty (2001–2005), James

Stock (2006–2010), and Stanley Fawcett and Matthew Waller

(2011–2015). Specifically, we asked the past editors to reflect on

their time as journal editor and to comment on the progression

and future of the logistics and SCM disciplines. We further

asked them to comment on the roles of research and the journal

moving forward. What we received exceeded our expectations,

and we are excited to share these perspectives that are, at times,

poignant and pointed.

The articles that follow this essay compendium in the balance

of the issue feature what we are calling the “Greatest Hits”of

each decade. We identified the most cited papers from each of

the journal’s four decades and asked the authors of those papers

to share the motivations for their original work. We then

inquired as to how those topics have advanced in the time since

publication. One might expect—in light of how fast industry is

changing these days—that the topics would offer only distant

memories, serving as relics of the past. That proved not to be the

case, as each paper’s topic remains vital in today’s environment.

Walter Zinn (2019) presents a retrospective of the Zinn and

Bowersox (1988) treatment on the distribution strategy of post-

ponement—an approach that continues to garner great interest

today. Zinn argues that the considerable promise of postpone-

ment has yet to be realized. In Garver (2019), we see a reprisal

of Garver and Mentzer (1999) and their take on logistics research

methods. Garver chronicles key methodological developments

over the past 20 years and brings us up to date on new ways to

enhance validity—especially in light of different levels of theo-

rizing we might employ in our research. Zacharia and Smith

(2019) revisit the most cited article to ever appear in the journal:

“Defining Supply Chain Management”by Mentzer et al. (2001).

Again, one might expect the definition and basic understanding

of supply chain management to be long settled by now, yet

*Corresponding author:

Thomas J. Goldsby, Fisher College of Business, 2100 Neil Avenue,

Columbus, OH 43210, USA; E-mail: goldsby.2@osu.edu

Journal of Business Logistics, 2019, 40(1): 4–29 doi: 10.1111/jbl.12208

© 2019 Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals

Min et al. (2019) suggest that this is not the case. Finally, in the

most recent retro “hit,”Pettit et al. (2019) revisit the concept of

supply chain resilience established in Pettit et al. (2010). They

explore current developments and lay out future research needs

in the area of resilience. We are confident that you will find this

collection of articles to be much more than respun revivals of

golden oldies, as the authors not only bring us up to the present,

but cast us into the future with these still-timely topics and con-

temporary analyses.

Reflecting on the past to illuminate the future, we invite you

to return to the journal’s beginning.

THE JOURNAL’S FOUNDING AND FIRST DECADE:

THE LALONDE ERA (1978–1989)

Thomas J. Goldsby and Walter Zinn

Professor LaLonde founded JBL in 1978 and would lead the

journal for its first decade and change, from 1978 to 1989.

1

Upon the sad occasion of LaLonde’s death just over a year ago,

Goldsby and Zinn (2018) examined the early foundation for the

journal, as expressed in the resolute beliefs of LaLonde (1978)

first editorial. There, he employed the life cycle concept to

explain how the journal would evolve from an energetic outset

to address the following objectives:

•To provide new and helpful information about transportation

and distribution;

•To provide new theory or techniques in transportation and dis-

tribution;

•To provide researched generalizations about thought and prac-

tice in the field of transportation and distribution; and

•To provide articles in subject areas which have significant cur-

rent impact in thought and practices in transportation and/or dis-

tribution and which present challenges for the future (p. vi).

Succinctly, LaLonde spoke to the aspiration for the academic

perspective to inform practice in the field of business logistics.

Further, he specified the academic perspective as embracing the

guiding policies of objectivity, flexibility, and rigor. He envi-

sioned the journal demonstrating these qualities routinely as the

underlying principles for informing practice.

Accentuating the premise of informing practice, LaLonde pop-

ulated the editorial review board generously with senior industry

executives. Only 8 of the 19 review board members were full-

time academics at the journal’s outset. While the review board

would expand throughout LaLonde’s tenure, practitioners would

remain prominent throughout. Leading practitioners also con-

tributed thought leadership through articles and reports. As a

champion of transportation deregulation, Robert Delaney (1980)

illustrated how freedoms from competition-constraining eco-

nomic regulations would enhance transportation productivity—

which has proven to be the case in the nearly 40 years since

(economic) deregulation swept through the air, rail, and motor

carrier industries. In the fifth year of the journal’s existence,

LaLonde (1984) would implore for more practitioner input, sug-

gesting that he wanted to see a 60/40 split in academic and prac-

titioner led articles in the journal. While the practitioner yield

would never quite materialize to that level, it was a worthwhile

goal to call upon those engaged in the strategic formulation of

logistics activities lend their insights to the forum. In one such

example that followed, Land O’Lakes Logistics executive

Howard Gochberg (1988) documented a visit to the Soviet Union

to examine the logistics of food distribution in this distant land.

It is an engrossing read of our discipline in a place and time far

removed from the present.

Advancing the journal’s evolution, LaLonde instituted a new

component in 1982 with a section dedicated to Applied Logistics

Decision Support Systems (aka, the “systems section”), appoint-

ing Omar Keith Helferich as the inaugural section editor. The

stated goal of this innovation was to “increase communication

about decision aids including management science, information

systems, and database management, as applied to business logis-

tics [with] emphasis on practical applications of the integration

of these technologies to provide decision support systems for the

logistics manager”(LaLonde 1982 p. i). Following Helferich’s

tenure, systems editors included Tom Mentzer, David Closs,

Walter Zinn, Phillip Evers, and Matthew Waller. The systems

section would continue through 2010, when it was no longer

regarded as distinct for the journal, with articles featuring deci-

sion support systems and related technologies making common

appearance in mainstream logistics research.

In another editorial some years later, LaLonde (1987) would

examine the roots of the formal discipline of logistics. While he

was careful to acknowledge the influence of Economics, Market-

ing, and Engineering toward the development of modern logistics

thought and practice, he took special care to recognize the role

of military logistics in shaping business logistics. He notes that

the formal study of logistics originated in the military and that

the very word “logistics”was derived from the French word

“loge”—meaning “to lodge.”He went on to note that the term

dated back to the Napoleonic era in reference to the military offi-

cer responsible for securing lodging and provisions for troops.

Beyond the academic disciplines and military influence, however,

LaLonde (1987b) returns to the influence of business logisticians

toward the researching and teaching of the field. The relationship

between business logistician and logistics academics was special,

he writes, and quite different from that observed in other disci-

plines where there is a “significant separation between practi-

tioner and researcher”(p. ii). As described next, practitioners of

business logistics would experience a time of rapid change and

uncertainty during the journal’s early years—and the relationship

between those who practice and those who research the subject

would elevate in importance.

A discipline coming of age

The late 1970s and early 1980s marked a significant period of

change for the world economy, as well as the U.S. business

logistics sector. A rise in international trade called for expertise

to support exchange through import/export activity and

1

Volume 1, Issue 1 would be published in 1978. Volume 1,

Issue 2 was published in 1979. Similarly, Volume 2 encom-

passed 1980 and 1981. The year 1982 (Volume 3) would be the

first to have two issues.

Reflections on 40 Years of JBL 5