Abstract
In a previous paper (Mears-Young, 1993) I outlined how research into logistics had supposedly evolved from a ‘traditional’ to a ‘non-traditional’ perspective. That paper then went on to propose that the ‘non-traditional’ approach appears to do little but expand the physical boundaries of the logistics concept with no thought as to the legitimacy of this expanded perspective, nor really, of the acceptance of any form of logistics by the practitioner community. This raises the question as to whether all this effort on the part of logisticians is actually contributing to the evolution of knowledge, or is logistics indeed engaged in a playful ‘infinite regress’? Hence, this paper proposes that a significant step forward would be to be to look to outside of the field of logistics in order to determine whether the movements within the field do actually constitute progress. The meta-theoretical framework put forward by Burrell and Morgan (1979) is outlined to explore the underlying principles which constitute the paradigm on which logistics is based.
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Mears-Young, B. (1995). Logistics Awareness. In: Ellis, K., Gregory, A., Mears-Young, B.R., Ragsdell, G. (eds) Critical Issues in Systems Theory and Practice. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9883-8_88
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9883-8_88
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