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1 Introduction
Warehousing has become an important enabler of globalized production networks, and often short lead times, volume and mix flexibility, postponed customizing in terms of assembly and packaging, as well as corporate profitability, are being achieved through warehousing outlets serving particular trade areas ([18] Christopher et al. , 2006; [6] Baker, 2007; [34] Koskinen and Hilmola, 2008; [30] Hilletofth, 2009). Despite the fact that warehousing remains an important enabler of performance among global corporations, it is often outsourced ([13] CapGemini, 2007; [49] Selviaridis and Spring, 2007; [42] Marasco, 2008; [31] Hilletofth and Hilmola, 2010; [32] Hilmola and Tan, 2010). According to long-term forecasts this trend will continue, even if economic turmoil continues throughout the world in the forthcoming years ([54] UNCTAD, 2008, pp. 104-6).
The employment factor is often neglected in warehousing-related considerations. According to [23] Ducruet and Lee (2007), warehouses in 27 large European port cities employed 15.7 percent of total transportation and logistics work force, similar in amounts employed by freight transportation (air, rail, and road). In research, justification for warehouses and their function in transportation logistics system is well articulated, but only a small amount of research exists on larger European warehousing solutions. What is known from previous research is that from total transportation logistics-related costs, warehouses account nearly one-fourth ([7] Baker and Canessa, 2009), and employment has grown, e.g. in USA with several hundred percents during the previous decade ([11] Bowen, 2008).
Europe is very diverse in cultural and economic terms, having implications on the state and readiness of infrastructure and logistics efficiency ([2], [3] Arvis et al. , 2007, 2010). For example, in Germany, The Netherlands, and France, the state of transportation system is entirely different from former Central and East European countries (CEEC), not to mention Ukraine and Russia. In the West, transportation logistics is mostly implemented using road transports in hinterland connections ([55] Vassallo, 2005; [25] European Union, 2007), while further towards the East, railways still enjoy considerable importance (despite widespread railway volume collapse after gaining of independence and introduction of market economy, e.g. [58] Hilmola, 2007; [14] Carbajo and Sakatsume, 2004). Although the European Union (EU) has enlarged with fast pace during the last two decades, major emerging economies of Europe remain outside of this...