Start-up-driven innovation for logistics: a classification framework

Start-ups are often frontrunners to foster innovation, contributing to developing and spreading original thinking and solutions. In recent years, start-up ecosystems have experienced significant growth worldwide, and many start-ups have also emerged in the field of logistics. Despite this rising trend, the academic literature has underestimated start-up-driven innovation in the logistics industry so far. To act as a bridge between theory and practice, the purpose of this study is to investigate and formalize the main directions of innovation brought by start-ups operating in the logistics field. First, both available academic literature and secondary sources were examined, along with financial reporting data retrieved from commercial databases. As a result, 501 start-ups founded after 2015 and having logistics services within their core business were identified worldwide. Then, a classification framework was developed, according to start-ups’ value proposition. Four macro-categories were drawn ‒ new logistics players, logistics platforms, software developers, and hardware developers ‒ and further subdivided into sub-categories to better acknowledge specific peculiarities. Funding received and the number of start-ups per each category were considered as proxies for the value of and potential for innovation. New logistics players and hardware developers emerged as the start-ups categories offering the widest opportunities. The study offers an original approach to map and classify startup-driven innovation in logistics, simultaneously allowing for identifying the most promising directions for future developments, also in the wake of the increasing concerns about environmental and social sustainability. On the one hand, the growth of hardware solutions such as electric or self-driving vehicles calls for additional exploration of the related managerial implications. On the other hand, further research could investigate how logistics service providers could introduce innovative solutions in their daily operations, such as for urban deliveries.