Managing Logistics and Supply Chain in Rural Areas: A Systematic Analysis of the Literature and Future Directions

Despite half of the world population lives not in metropolitan areas but in sparsely populated zones, the rural contexts have been at the periphery of logistics and supply chain management research. The main aim of this paper is to explore the state-of-the-art of the literature on rural supply chain management using a systematic approach. A sample of 51 papers from different disciplines with a management focus have been retrieved and analysed in details. A literature classification framework based on three different topic areas and related sub-topic areas was proposed. Seven research gaps have been identified that may inspire future research in this area. Interestingly, none of the papers identified has an explicit focus on the link between rural supply chain management and local development. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempting to collect, analyse and classify scientific papers related to rural supply chain management.