Direct health & safety, quality management, fleet and facilities functions.Major infrastructure projects (buildings sourcing, procurement, fit-out).

2006 Doctoral thesis on horizontal supply chain collaborations between competitors.Publications:"The Contribution of Physical Distribution Management to the Competitive Supply Chain Strategies of Major UK Food Retailers" (with Derek Wright); International Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications; Vol 5 No 1, 2002"Improving food distribution performance through integration and collaboration in the supply chain"; in Delivering performance in food supply chains; Carlos Mena and Graham Stevens (Eds); Woodhead, Cambridge, 2010"Exploring food retail logistics internationalisation in South East Asia"; Charles Stephens, David B Grant, Ruth Banomyong & Chandra Lalwani. Logistics Research Network conference, Derby UK, September 2015"Co-opetition in the UK logistics industry: drivers and barriers"; Vahid Mirzabeiki, Charles Stephens, Carlos Mena & Richard Wilding. Logistics Research Network conference, Derby UK, September 2015"Co-opetition in the UK logistics industry: drivers and barriers"; Vahid Mirzabeiki, Charles Stephens & Carlos Mena. POMS conference, Orlando Fla, April 2016