The e-commerce industry has been developing extremely dynamically for many years. This development was intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the research conducted by the authors of this paper, in Poland, during the pandemic, the number of delivered parcels increased 20–100%, depending on the courier company. The research of the authors of this article focused on the energy efficiency of the last mile, which is very important for the efficiency of the entire delivery process to customers. As the authors calculated, the last mile can consume over 70% of energy of the whole distribution channel. The article presents the results of research concerning the energy efficiency of deliveries performed by couriers and express companies in Poland. Two models of distribution used Poland have been compared—direct deliveries to final customers, and deliveries to parcel lockers. The research methods are interviews with the managers and couriers, analysis of the literature, and the simulation method. According to the results of the simulations performed by the authors, distribution with the use of parcels lockers can help reduce the consumption of fuel even by 74–87% per parcel or 36% per m³. Apart from this, the authors calculated the impact of scale of operations on the energy efficiency of the transport processes on the last mile, which is an indirect effect of the growth of the e-commerce market, caused by the pandemic. Based on the results of the original research of the authors, it can be assessed that the growth of the number of the delivered parcels during the pandemic resulted in the consumption of fuel per one parcel being reduced in some cases by over 36%. The novelty of the authors’ research is that the conducted simulations regarded not only the efficiency of the processes, but also the energy consumption in delivering parcels at the last mile and during the pandemic.

The supply chain strategy has a significant impact on energy consumption. This strategy determines the location of individual links in the chain (suppliers, producers, distributors), which affects the costs of logistics processes, including, in particular, transport processes. Currently, due to the rapid increase in fuel prices, the issue of energy consumption in the supply chains is becoming increasingly important. The aim of the article is to present the impact of the increase in fuel and energy costs on the costs of logistics processes and, as a result, on the profitability of different supply chain strategies. The profitability of changing from global to local sources of supply as a result of rising energy prices was especially taken into account. The article presents the results of interviews from enterprises carried out by the authors and the results of simulations carried out using a model developed by the authors. The need to conduct such research resulted from the existing research gap and the need to take into account contemporary changes and conditions. The research was conducted in a period of rapid increase in fuel and energy costs. Both the research conducted by the method of interviews, as well as the calculations and simulations indicated that despite a very large increase in rates for transport services, especially in maritime transport, it is still not profitable to relocate production from the Far East to Europe.

Transport costs are strongly influenced by fuel prices and fuel consumption in transport, i.e., energy efficiency. The aim of the article is to present the problem of energy efficiency in freight transport with the use of Heavy Duty Vehicles (HDV). The authors presented the factors of energy efficiency in road transport, energy efficiency of the road vehicles, the share of fuel costs in the total costs of transport companies and the relationship between the increase in fuel prices and the increase in transport rates. Research methods include, apart from literature analysis, interviews conducted in Polish transport companies in 2022 and the analysis of data collected by the authors on the transport services market over the last 20 years. The increase in rates over the last 20 years, until 2021, largely coincided with the increase in fuel prices, while in 2022, for the first time in this period, the increase in fuel prices was greater than the increase in rates. However, the prices for transport services increased with the increase in energy consumption costs, not with changes in fuel prices. The cost of energy consumption depends on the efficiency of its use, which is constantly increasing, although to a small extent. Research shows that the efficiency of fuel consumption in high-tonnage transport changes at a rate of 0.8–1% per year while the proportion of fuel costs in Polish transport companies transporting goods by road in the last 20 years oscillates between 29% and 46%. There was also an increase in the freight rates on this market, in most cases by over 30%. Despite this, however, the profitability of some companies deteriorated. A large increase in transport rates, compensating for the increase in fuel prices, applies mainly to transport companies whose strategy is to compete with the quality of services, and when high-value loads are transported, while a small increase in transport rates, which does not compensate for the increase in fuel prices, applies mainly to companies whose strategy is to compete on the price of transport services and when low-value cargo is being transported. The results of research on the market in Poland conducted by the authors of the article agrees with the results and opinions of other authors and researchers from other countries. The authors also agree with the view that the possibilities of increasing the efficiency of energy consumption in road transport by the carriers themselves are limited. The road transport market, especially in Poland, is highly competitive, which results in high efficiency of transport processes. However, this efficiency is largely affected by factors beyond the control of these companies (technological factors, infrastructure and energy sources). It seems that the involvement of the state is necessary. The research carried out by the authors of the article also confirmed the existing relationships between the weight of the transported cargo and energy consumption identified by other authors.

Recently, many disruptions have occurred in the environment of companies, mainly caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also, for example, by the war in Ukraine and by the sharp increase in fuel prices. The aim of the article was to present the competitive strategies of chosen companies from the garment industry and the impact of environmental instability on the competitiveness of enterprises using the example of the clothing industry in Poland. The author has been conducting comprehensive research in Polish clothing companies since mid-2017, using, first of all, the method of interviews with company management. This article presents partial results of these studies concerning the competitiveness of companies, especially in terms of the instability of the environment. On the basis of the conducted research, it can be concluded that the instability in the environment has a significant impact on the competitiveness of clothing enterprises. In the initial period, the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the level of logistic customer service. Because of this, availability of clothing in some stores and quality of deliveries to online customers deteriorated. The war in Ukraine also caused a temporary deterioration of the availability of clothing in the case of companies that outsourced production to Ukraine. Instability in the environment resulted in an increase in logistics and production costs, which in many cases resulted in an increase in the price of clothing for the end customer. The COVID-19 pandemic and the increase in fuel prices have reduced the efficiency of outsourcing clothing production in low-cost countries, but in the surveyed companies, this had not caused a shift of production from global to local. The problems resulting from the instability of the environment were more quickly overcome by those companies that were more flexible and that earlier on had diversified their sales channels (i.e., sold both in the stores and via e-commerce customers) and the sources of supply (production not only in low-cost countries but also in the local sewing factories). The research confirmed the significant impact of instability in the environment on the ability to compete with the level of logistic customer service and price. The instability in the environment did not affect the ability to compete with the quality of clothing in the surveyed companies.

The article presents the results of research on the resilience of companies using management concepts such as Lean Management, Agile, and Six Sigma to the crises that companies have had to face in recent years: the COVID-19 pandemic, rising energy prices, and the war in Ukraine. The implementation of these management concepts should lead to process improvements and a reduction in the consumption of production resources, including energy. The aim of the study was to determine how these crises have affected the efficiency of companies and to determine whether the solutions used so far are sufficient or require modification. The authors used three research methods. Firstly, they analyzed the literature—scientific publications, studies, and expert reports. Secondly, they analyzed the financial results (net profits and share of Costs of Goods Sold in the value of Revenues) in the period before (2016–2019) and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2023) of companies using Lean Management, Agile, and Six Sigma strategies and their combinations. To compare the effectiveness of these management methods, they also analyzed the financial results of international corporations and Polish companies. Third, they conducted a survey among Polish companies applying the Lean Management concept. The results of this research show that the crises of recent years, even if they caused a deterioration in financial performance, were short-lived as companies were able to adapt to the new conditions. Japanese companies using Lean Management increased their profits by an average of 55.56% between 2020 and 2023, and “Lean” American organizations even more (71.64%). Polish companies have been steadily increasing their profits for years (134.14% before the pandemic and 143.27% after the outbreak). The share of COGS will remain at a similar (high) level for many years to come. There are no significant increases in these costs due to crises in the companies’ environment (e.g., increase in energy prices), and, on the other hand, there is no tendency for them to decrease in a large proportion of companies. In the years 2020–2023, the largest decreases in the share of these costs occurred in companies combining Lean and Six Sigma (−11.85%). In companies that use the Agile strategy, there was an increase of 8.05%. However, these are average data, and the analysis of the results of companies from individual groups leads to the conclusion that it is not only the management concept that is important, but also how it is implemented in a given company. In addition, streamlining processes only by eliminating waste is not enough these days. It is necessary to use modern technologies (digital technologies, Industry 4.0). Increasing the efficiency of production or logistics processes leads to a reduction in energy consumption and external costs. However, new, specialized solutions are needed. The issue of energy efficiency is indeed gaining more and more importance in companies and is included in management concepts, e.g., in Lean Management.

The paper presents the results of the authors’ research on the share of energy costs in revenues and their impact on the profitability of companies. This research was inspired by a large increase in energy prices in 2022. The authors analyzed the shares of energy consumption costs in production companies from various industries, using various sources: scientific literature, expert studies, and statistical data. Based on the results of these analyses, the authors simulated the impact of changes in energy prices on the profitability of companies. The research results are as follows: according to the authors, the share of these costs in the value of sales is much lower (several percent) than presented in various literature sources (a dozen or so, and even up to 30% in some cases). Despite this, however, the change in energy prices should significantly reduce profitability according to the simulations conducted by the authors. However, the financial reports analyzed by the authors show that profitability in many cases not only did not deteriorate, but revenues and profits increased in a large number of companies. In many cases, this can be explained by the actions taken by companies to reduce energy consumption costs and by increases in product prices. The authors’ research also shows that if factors such as the specificity of the industry or the size of the company have an impact on energy efficiency, it is only to a small extent. The share of energy costs in sales and financial results, even within a given industry and in companies of similar size, varies greatly. The authors therefore believe that the effectiveness of the management of a given company has the greatest impact. Therefore, the results of the analysis differ significantly from the results of studies presented in the literature. Energy consumption data were analyzed using various literature sources from different countries. However, the main analyses conducted by the authors focused on Poland.