More Sustainable Supply Chains

Resource Investment ◽

Complex Variety

Management efforts to design, develop, and operate more sustainable supply chains encompass an increasingly complex variety of social and environmental issues. More sustainable supply chains must now consider how product, operations, natural resources, technologies, and multiple tiers of organizations collectively create value for a diverse set of stakeholders. For multiple reasons, research and practice have tended to adopt an outcome-based perspective, whereby these efforts focus on a sustainability “destination,” which suffers from several shortcomings. Drawing from research in operations management, stakeholder theory, institutional theory, and innovation, this chapter posits how more sustainable supply chains might be co-defined and co-developed by emphasizing a journey that engages multiple stakeholders beyond supply chain partners. Design thinking is a very promising approach, with its iterative steps of empathy, defining the problem, ideate, prototype, and test. This journey-based perspective provides a framework for structuring engagement and encouraging openness to new observations and insights. Finally, the breadth and depth of collaboration with stakeholders, the nature of governance mechanisms, and the form and scale of resource investment all provide the means to assess the journey as it occurs.

Vertical Contracts in a Supply Chain and the Bullwhip Effect

Management Science ◽

10.1287/mnsc.2020.3630 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Zhan Qu ◽

Horst Raff

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Operations Management ◽

Bullwhip Effect ◽

Price Effect ◽

Demand Shocks

This paper shows that decentralized supply chains, in which upstream firms use linear wholesale prices, may experience lower upstream production and downstream sales volatility than vertically integrated supply chains and may be less susceptible to the bullwhip effect by which the variance of upstream production exceeds the variance of downstream sales. The reason is that decentralized supply chains exhibit a price effect, whereby upstream producers raise wholesale prices in the case of positive demand shocks and lower wholesale prices in the case of negative demand shocks. Whereas upstream producers benefit from the price effect and, thus, from a dampening of the bullwhip effect, downstream firms may lose, and overall supply chain profit may decrease. This paper was accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management.

Green Supply Chain Management for Sustainable Business Practice - Advances in Logistics, Operations, and Management Science ◽

Recent Developments in Green Supply Chain Management

10.4018/978-1-5225-0635-5.ch007 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 191-217 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jay R. Brown ◽

Maxim A. Bushuev ◽

Andrey A. Kretinin ◽

Alfred L. Guiffrida

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chain Management ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Decision Models ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

Chain Management ◽

Recent Developments ◽

Day To Day Operations

In today's supply chains, green and sustainable business practices have become an integral part of long-term strategy as well as the day-to-day operations, and sourcing and logistics play fundamental roles in ensuring the success of sustainable supply chains. In this chapter, we review recent research on three classes of decision models that are used in the logistics and sourcing functions of sustainable supply chains. Specifically, we examine and summarize recent developments in sustainable decision models for supplier selection, inventory lot-sizing, and last-mile delivery. Our review of the green and sustainable features found in these three models results in a single-source consolidation of models used in sustainable sourcing and logistics. This review may prove useful to researchers who focus on sustainable supply chain management and to practitioners who seek to expand their toolkit of models for the management and control of their supply chain.

Global Perspectives on Green Business Administration and Sustainable Supply Chain Management - Advances in Logistics, Operations, and Management Science ◽

Product Deletion and Sustainable Supply Chains

10.4018/978-1-7998-2173-1.ch001 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-15 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Qingyun Zhu ◽

Joseph Sarkis

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chain Management ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Portfolio Management ◽

Product Portfolio ◽

Chain Process ◽

Chain Management ◽

Design And Manufacture

Products and their associated material, capital, and information are critical flows within supply chains. Supply chain management needs to facilitate product portfolio management. Some example activities include material sourcing, product design and manufacture, product delivery and transportation, product usage, and service. Closing the supply-chain loop, especially for sustainable supply chains, include end-of-life disposal and repurposing activities. Sustainable supply chain development typically focuses on three major dimensions of organizational competitiveness, economic, social, and environmental. Organizations make product deletion continuously. These decisions can profoundly contribute to sustainability. Alternatively, sustainability performance of various supply chain process and product or material flows may also be strategic product deletion reasons. This chapter will review the integration of product deletion with sustainable supply chain management. It will entail the impact of product deletion on sustainable supply chains.

An analysis of keywords used in the literature on green supply chain management

Management Research Review ◽

10.1108/mrr-06-2013-0157 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 166-194 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Amulya Gurtu ◽

Cory Searcy ◽

M.Y. Jaber

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chain Management ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Reverse Logistics ◽

Green Supply Chain Management ◽

Green Supply Chain ◽

Chain Management ◽

Content Type ◽

Green Supply Chains

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the keywords used in peer-reviewed literature on green supply chain management. Design/methodology/approach To determine the keywords that were used in this area, an analysis of 629 papers was conducted. The papers were identified through searches of 13 keywords on green supply chains. Trends in keyword usage were analyzed in detail focusing on examining variables such as the most frequently used journals/keywords, their frequencies, citation frequency and research contribution from different disciplines/countries. Findings A number of different terms have been used for research focused on the environmental impacts of supply chains, including green supply chains, sustainable supply chains, reverse logistics and closed-loop supply chains, among others. The analysis revealed that the intensity of research in this area has more than tripled in the past six years and that the most used keyword was “reverse logistics”. The use of the terms “green supply chains” and “sustainable supply chains” is increasing, and the use of “reverse logistics” is decreasing. Research limitations/implications The analysis is limited to 629 papers from the Scopus database during the period of 2007 and 2012. Originality/value The paper presents the first systematic analysis of keywords used in the literature on green supply chains. Given the broad array of terms used to refer to research in this area, this is a needed contribution. This work will help researchers in choosing keywords with high frequency and targeting journals for publishing their future work. The paper may also provide a basis for further work on developing consolidated definitions of terms focused on green supply chain management.

Supply Chain Competition: A Market Game Approach

Management Science ◽

10.1287/mnsc.2019.3511 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 66 (12) ◽

pp. 5648-5664 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

C. Gizem Korpeoglu ◽

Ersin Körpeoğlu ◽

Soo-Haeng Cho

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Operations Management ◽

Wholesale Price ◽

Market Price ◽

Market Game ◽

Wholesale Market ◽

Supply Chain Competition ◽

Local Supply ◽

Buyer Power

We study supply chains where multiple suppliers sell to multiple retailers through a wholesale market. In practice, we often observe that both suppliers and retailers tend to influence the wholesale market price that retailers pay to suppliers. However, existing models of supply chain competition do not capture retailers’ influence on the wholesale price (i.e., buyer power) and show that the wholesale price and the order quantity per retailer do not change with the number of retailers. To overcome this limitation, we develop a competition model based on the market game mechanism in which the wholesale price is determined based on both suppliers’ and retailers’ decisions. When taking into account retailers’ buyer power, we obtain the result that is consistent with the observed practice: As the number of retailers increases, each retailer’s buyer power decreases, and each retailer is willing to pay more for her order, so the wholesale price increases. In this case, supply chain expansion to include more retailers (or suppliers) turns out to be more beneficial in terms of supply chain efficiency than what the prior literature shows without considering buyer power. Finally, we analyze the integration of two local supply chains and show that although the profit of the integrated supply chain is greater than the sum of total profits of local supply chains, integration may reduce the total profit of firms in a retailer-oriented supply chain that has more retailers than suppliers. This paper was accepted by Charles Corbett, operations management.

Multi-stakeholder initiatives in sustainable supply chains: Putting sustainability performance in context

Elem Sci Anth ◽

10.1525/elementa.262 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Cory Searcy

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Conceptual Framework ◽

Future Research ◽

Economic Thresholds ◽

Starting Point ◽

Enforcement Mechanisms ◽

Multi Stakeholder

The purpose of this article is to explore the role of multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) in sustainable supply chains. I argue that MSIs are needed to help establish and institutionalize the natural and social thresholds in which a sustainable supply chain must operate. While a multitude of MSIs relevant to supply chains already exist, they do not yet adequately address sustainability thresholds. Building on theory and literature, I elaborate on four interrelated roles for MSIs in this area: (1) providing learning platforms, (2) developing standards, (3) developing enforcement mechanisms, and (4) issuing labels and certifications. All four roles emphasize the need for supply chains to operate within the thresholds set by nature and society. Staying within thresholds is what distinguishes between sustainable and unsustainable supply chains. The four roles form part of a broader conceptual framework outlining a way forward for MSIs in sustainable supply chains. Different MSIs could address one or more of these roles. I argue that all MSIs must be developed with special attention to their input and output legitimacy. Stakeholders from both within and beyond the supply chain must be involved in developing and implementing a MSI for it to be viewed as legitimate. I note that the conceptual framework presented here is a starting point. It would benefit from further testing and refinement. For example, future work could add further specificity to the four roles I discuss. Future research could also focus on integrating economic thresholds for sustainable supply chains into the framework.

Benchmarking global supply chains: the power of the ‘ethical audit’ regime

Review of International Studies ◽

10.1017/s0260210515000388 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 41 (5) ◽

pp. 905-924 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

GENEVIEVE LEBARON ◽

JANE LISTER

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Product Quality ◽

Corporate Responsibility ◽

Environmental Issues ◽

Global Supply Chains ◽

Organisational Performance ◽

Corporate Accountability ◽

Compliance Audit ◽

Supply Chain Governance

AbstractThis article critically investigates the growing power and effectiveness of the ‘ethical’ compliance audit regime. Over the last decade, audits have evolved from a tool for companies to track internal organisational performance into a transnational governing mechanism to measure and strengthen corporate accountability globally and shape corporate responsibility norms. Drawing on original interviews, we assess the effectiveness of supply chain benchmarks and audits in promoting environmental and social improvements in global retail supply chains. Two principal arguments emerge from our analysis. First, that audits can be best understood as a productive form of power, which codifies and legitimates retail corporations’ poor social and environmental records, and shapes state approaches to supply chain governance. Second, that growing public and government trust in audit metrics ends up concealing real problems in global supply chains. Retailers are, in fact, auditing only small portions of supply chains, omitting the portions of supply chains where labour and environmental abuse are most likely to take place. Furthermore, the audit regime tends to address labour and environmental issues very unevenly, since ‘people’ are more difficult to classify and verify through numbers than capital and product quality.

‘It’s up to the market to decide’: Revealing and concealing power in the sustainable tea supply chain

Critique of Anthropology ◽

10.1177/0308275x211038607 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0308275X2110386

Author(s):

Matthew Archer ◽

Hannah Elliott

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Sustainable Agriculture ◽

Supply Chains ◽

East Africa ◽

Value Chain ◽

Rainforest Alliance ◽

Tea Production ◽

Market Driven ◽

Sustainability Initiatives

In 2007, Unilever, the world’s largest tea company, announced plans to source its entire tea supply sustainably, beginning with the certification of its tea producers in East Africa to Rainforest Alliance standards. As a major buyer of Kenyan tea, Unilever’s decision pushed tea producers across Kenya to subscribe to Rainforest Alliance’s sustainable agriculture standard in order to maintain access to the global tea market; according to a 2018 report, over 85% of Kenya’s tea producers were Rainforest Alliance certified. Drawing on ethnographic material among supply chain actors across different sites along the sustainable tea value chain (from those designing and disseminating standards to tea traders to smallholder tea farmers), this article examines how these actors frequently attributed the power to determine the outcomes of certification to a faceless ‘market’. Deferring to ‘the market’, we observe, served primarily to mask the outsized power of lead firms (in particular Unilever) to determine conditions of tea production and trade. At the same time, ‘the market’ was also in some cases qualified by our interlocutors, allowing them implicitly (and at times explicitly) to reveal power and give it a face. Concealing and revealing power in this way, we suggest, can be seen as a mode of engagement among supply chain actors operating in ‘sustainable’ supply chains, like the Rainforest Alliance-certified Kenyan tea supply chain, in which the power of lead firms tends to be consolidated through market-driven sustainability initiatives. Such a mode of engagement mitigates exclusion from sustainable supply chains while maintaining space for critique.

Control Model for Intelligent and Demand-Driven Supply Chains

Industrial Engineering ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-1945-6.ch017 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 262-283

Author(s):

Jan Strandhagen ◽

Heidi C. Dreyer ◽

Anita Romsdal

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Operations Management ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Control Model ◽

Information And Communications Technology ◽

Future Research ◽

Small Scale ◽

Information And Communication ◽

Trust And Power

Orchestrating supply chains is challenging. This chapter describes how to control a supply chain to make it truly demand-driven – based on the assumption that all relevant information is made available to all partners in real time. The chapter explores the elements of a framework for intelligent and demand-driven supply chain control, with regards to the overall concept and associated principles, and demonstrates these in a case example. Challenges to the realization of the proposed control model include trust and power, supply chain dynamicity and uncertainty, and required investments in competence, standardization, and information and communication technology. Some of these can be met through initial small-scale implementations of the proposed model, to demonstrate effects, and by exploiting facilities for information sharing and collaboration, like supply chain dashboards and control studios. Future research within operations management, technology and information and communications technology (ICT) will support broader realization of the proposed control model.

A Theoretical Framework on Sustainable Supply Chains: Barriers to Measuring Performance

Journal of Management and Sustainability ◽

10.5539/jms.v11n2p123 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 123

Author(s):

Alexei Pérez-Velázquez ◽

Jorge Laureano Moya-Rodríguez

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Theoretical Framework ◽

Sustainable Performance ◽

Theoretical Approaches ◽

Definition Of ◽

Different Levels

The direction for the construction of a sustainable supply chain concept has an evolution and contribution of multiple disciplines that have been elaborated by academic and business bias. From this point on, defining a concept of this subject represents an issue that demands an interpretative effort, since several factors and theoretical approaches influence this category. The objective of this article is to demarcate a theoretical framework on sustainable supply chains and relate it to the barriers present in the measurement of sustainable performance. The method applied in this assessment combines systematic literature review, qualitative analysis of content and bibliometrics, through interconnected steps, which allow a detailing of the dimensions and under dimensions of the sustainability in the supply chain and the identification of the barriers that are associated with the measurement of performance. The material considered is supported through theoretical and empirical studies, which approached the formulation of the concepts and their applicability at different levels of the supply chain. This allows the content analysis to demarcate certain stages of development and the different theoretical approaches that respond and assist the concept. The results contribute to the definition of a roadmap to measure of sustainable performance, an issue that is the basis of future studies over this theme.