Smart Warehouses : A case study of organizational planning in unpredictable environments

Abstract: Purpose – The study aimed to investigate long-term organizational planning in a smart warehouse environment with unpredictable demand to understand how these organizations are able to make sustainable decisions from a social and economic perspective.   Methodology – To fulfil the purpose of the study, a single case study was conducted which included six interviews and two observations at the case company. The interviews were conducted to increase the understanding of organizational planning in unpredictable environments whereas the observations were conducted to increase the understanding of smart warehouses. The empirical data was interpreted and analyzed through thematic data analysis and triangulation in order to identify patterns in the collected data.  Findings – Ten sustainable decisions were identified from theory and empirical data, of which five decisions regarding social sustainability and five decisions regarding economic sustainability. These decisions can be used as a guide for organizations operating in smart warehouses to promote sustainable long-term organizational planning.   Implications – The study’s theoretical contributions refer to an insight of how smart e-commerce warehouses are influenced by unpredictable demand and the impact on the daily operations. Furthermore, the study provides an increased understanding of RCSR systems.  The practical contributions refer to the ten sustainable decisions which can promote strategic decision-making for sustainable long-term organizational planning. Moreover, the study contributes to the insight of what competencies are needed within Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 organizations and how to these competencies can be promoted.  Limitations – If a multiple-case study would have been conducted it is possible that further perspectives of the sustainable decisions would have been detected. It is also possible if more employees would have been participated in the interviews that other perspectives would have been achieved.