The development of sustainable logistics in the Burgundy wine industry? Identification of strategies and practices.

Summary The objective of this article is to analyze whether companies in the Burgundy wine industry promote sustainable logistics and how they implement them. The population studied is made up of three types of actors (wine growers, cooperatives, traders). We were able to group the companies into two classes in order to identify the main trends in sustainable logistics strategies. The first class includes companies that have more elaborate logistics strategies, while the second class includes smaller companies that give secondary importance to logistics issues. However, we show that other elements than size contribute to a greater consideration of sustainable development issues. Thus, small companies that have delegated certain functions outside of their core business to logistics service providers with whom they have a real relationship of proximity, that have succeeded in establishing sustainable partnerships with stakeholders and in particular customers, or that have developed innovations such as the pooling of logistics or the use of batch carriers, can also prove to be efficient from a sustainable logistics and economic performance point of view (cost reduction).