A SCIENCE MAPPING AND LITERATURE REVIEW APPROACH TO ANALYSING THE RELATIONS AMONG THE TERMS LOGISTICS CENTER AND DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Abstract

Modern development has recognized the importance of coordinated logistics, which must function at the regional and global level. However, a need for uniform definitions and naming of logistics services, facilities, systems and functions is present. Terminology in the field of logistics centers is becoming increasingly important because the number of terms correlated with it is large and most terms are used interchangeably without any distinction. In the field of logistics and distribution centers, this problem is clearly evident and can be seen by anyone researching any aspect of these concepts. Various definitions of terms are used by different authors, for example “logistics center”, “freight village”, “plate forme logistique”, “plat forme multimodales”, “distribution center”, “interporto”, “transport centre” etc.. The importance of the logistics center theme has stimulated research into the problems of clarifying ambiguity and classifying concepts that are used in the field of logistics centers and/or distribution centers and warehouses. There has not yet been a clear answer on the delimitation among the two most broadly used terms, which are “logistics center” and “distribution center”. The present paper applies science mapping and literature review in order to find which term is used more often, which researchers are most prominent in this research field, and whether definitions of both terms exist and what are their relations. The main research finding is a lack of consensus among scholars on whether the terms are the same or in a different hierarchical order in the logistics network.