Selection of outsourcing logistics providers in the context of low-carbon strategies

As more attention is given to climate change and sustainable development in China, enterprises start to care about carbon emissions related to their supply chains. One important issue faced by an enterprise is to select a logistics provider who can provide a high-quality service with low carbon levels. To solve this issue, this paper proposes a selection criterion from the perspective of low carbon levels based on previous studies. The selection criterion consists of comprehensive strength, financial status, market competitiveness, development potential and low carbon level. Next, this paper applies a combined method of information entropy and grey correlation vlsekriterijumska optimizacija i kompromisno resenje (VIKOR) model to evaluate the proposed selection criterion. Subsequently, this paper took company S and its four logistics providers as a case study to check the applicability of our proposed selection method and to illustrate how to use it. Sensitivity analysis and comparative analysis are also conducted. Related managerial insights are also proposed based on the evaluation results. One finding of this paper is to establish a decision-making framework to evaluate logistics suppliers under the new background of 'emission peak and carbon neutrality'.