Data collection

The following sections describe the choices and techniques for data collection undertaken in the project.

4.4.1.1 Semi-structured interviews

As the purpose of the study is to gain a greater understanding of the institutional pressures that logistics service providers in the urban Copenhagen area are faced with and how they manage these, interviews are viewed as a suitable type of empirical data. Specifically, as primary data, three semi-structured interviews

42 were conducted in order to better understand the phenomenon institutional pressures in the context of Copenhagen. In addition, as secondary data, two previously conducted interviews by professors at CBS were used. Semi-structured interviews are characterized by having a structure in terms of themes and key questions that the researcher wishes to cover during the interview, but also by variations in which questions are included and the way they are asked. According to Saunders et al. (2016), in-depth or semi-structured interviews can be an advantageous approach to obtain data if the researchers has many questions that are either complex or open ended, and where the logic and order of the questions need to be varied depending on the interview participant. As can be seen in the interview guide in Appendix 1, the author started out with a set of questions that were deemed important for the understanding of the topic, which was later modified and added to for the purpose of gaining deeper insights. All interviews lasted 40-90 minutes, were digitally recorded and transcribed before the analysis. The interviews were transcribed in the language in which the interview was conducted, either English or Danish/Norwegian, and in the latter case, only the parts used in the thematic analysis and in quotes were translated to English.

The research strategy in the project is that of a case study, thus, the aim of the data collection is not to statistically generalize to a population, rather to generalize to a theory. As such, the interview participants were chosen through non-random sampling, and based on their ability to answer the project’s research question and objectives. Although limited, Saunders (2012, in Saunders et al., 2016) offers some guidance on the minimum sample size for different types of study. According to him, the minimum sample size for semi-structured and in-depth interviews is 5-25.

Interview participants Position Type of company

Participant 1 Policy Affairs Manager Interest organization

Participant 2 Project Manager Local authority

Participant 3 Technical Manager Logistics service provider

Participant 4 a, b, c Group interview Logistics service provider

Participant 5 CEO Logistics service provider

Table 6. Overview of interview participants. Source: Author

Interview 1

The first interview was with a representative from one of several Danish trade associations for transport and logistics (Appendix 2a). The trade association offers expert advice to its members in addition to representing their interests in negotiations with politicians and authorities both in Denmark and in the EU.

43 The interview took place in the association’s Copenhagen office, and lasted one hour. The interviewee did not receive any questions prior to the meeting, but was told that the study was about the environment that urban logistics service providers operate in, as well as current and future challenges in the field. As this was the first interview conducted, there was no possibility of creating a discussion based on insights and findings from other interviews. As such, the interview provided an introduction to the topic and the issues in urban freight transport seen from the totality of logistics service providers’ point of view. It is one of the two interviews in the study that was not with a logistics company directly, and will be used to offer additional insights and discussion points in the analysis.

Interview 2

The second interview was with a representative from the municipality of Copenhagen, focusing on traffic and mobility (Appendix 2b).

The interview took place in the administration’s office in Copenhagen and lasted around 40 minutes. As for the first interview, the interviewee did not receive any questions prior to the meeting, but was informed that the study would be about urban freight transport, the various pressures that logistics companies may experience from different actors, and how they manage these. The objective of the interview was to obtain some insights on how urban freight transport is perceived on a local authority level, as well as the initiatives that are taken from this actor in terms of improving urban freight transport in Copenhagen.

Interview 3

The third interview was with a representative from one of Denmark largest national transport- and distribution systems, serving more than 40,000 business customers (Appendix 2c). The company offers a range of logistics solutions for all types of businesses and for small and large firms. They have day-to-day delivery all over Denmark.

The interview took place in the company’s office in the outskirts of Copenhagen. The interviewee was not given any questions prior to the meeting, as was only informed of the topic of the interview. As the first interview with a representative from a logistics service provider, the objective of the interview was to understand how the company experiences the urban environment it operates in, the institutional pressures it is exposed to, and what impact these have on the company strategy.

44 Interview 4

The fourth interview used in the analysis is a previously conducted group interview with representatives from a large international logistics service provider and a smaller transport company in Copenhagen (Appendix 2d). The interview was conducted by two researchers from CBS, and have not previously been used. The interview was part of collecting data for another project on urban transport and city logistics, and as such, the questions are not the same as the ones posed in the interviews conducted by the author. However, as it is the same area of interest, the participants largely touched upon the topics related to the research objectives and the research question.

Interview 5

Similar to the fourth interview, the fifth interview used in the analysis is a previously conducted interview with a small transport company in Copenhagen (Appendix 2e). It was conducted by a researcher at CBS for a different project on urban transport and city logistics and has not previously been used. The questions are once again not the same as those posed in the interviews by the author, but the participant discussed the issues related to the research objectives and the research question to a large extent.

4.4.1.2 Document secondary data

The second source of data in the project is from documentary information. Documents come in many varieties, including letters, agendas and meeting minutes, other administrative documents, and newspaper articles, to mention some (Yin, 2003). With the aim to provide additional insights on the institutional environment in Copenhagen, the documents used in the study are introductory information about the freight network and the issues and wishes of the transport companies that take part in it, as well as meeting minutes from the two meetings that have been organized since the network was established in December 2015. The documents can be found in Appendix 3.