Logistical " mutualization " in contractual networks: can the experience of the food retailing industry be reproduced?

International audienceThe sustainable use of rare logistical resources is now an acute issue in many countries. In view of increasingly high environment constraints, it has become imperative to avoid wastes resulting from redundancy of logistical equipment. In this new context, logistical mutualization (or pooling), now necessary, looms large in the thinking of decision makers and academics. This paper looks into the mutualization approaches initiated in the food retailing industry and tries to determine whether they could be applicable to contractual networks