scholarly journals From Suspicion to Sustainability in Global Supply Chains

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 383-418
Author(s):  
Robert C. Bird ◽  
Vivek Soundararajan
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Trust Building ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Economic Survival ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Sustainability Practices

Global supply chains power 80% of world trade, but also host widespread environmental, labor, and human rights abuses in developing countries. Most scholarship focuses on some form of sanction to motivate supply chain members, but we propose that the fundamental problem is not insufficient punishment, but a lack of trust. Fickle tastes, incessant demands for lower prices, and spot market indifference force suppliers into a constant struggle for economic survival. No trust can grow in such an environment, and few sustainability practices can take meaningful root. Responding to multiple calls for scholarship in the supply chain literature, we propose a trust-building process by which supply chains can evolve from indifference and hostility to a relational partnership that produces joint investments in sustainable practices. The result is a supply chain that is more efficient, more humane, and embeds sustainability in the supply chain for the long-term.

A Review on Understanding Blockchain Technology in Global Supply Chains; Opportunities and Challenges for Agribusinesses

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Continuous Distribution ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Trust Building ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Limited Knowledge ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Blockchain Technology

The present study was conducted to systematically investigate blockchain technology adopted in global supply chains, its potential opportunities and challenges of implementation. The Mendeley database was used to gather English papers on the blockchain domain. Descriptive findings from the review showed that research on the topic was predominant in 2020, which could be attributed to the COVID-19 outbreak. Also, transparency, trust-building and traceability were the most acknowledged benefits of blockchain technology in supply chains. Despite these benefits, some underlying challenges impeding blockchain implementation include the high cost of adoption, limited knowledge on blockchain architecture, and lack of formal laws and regulations of blockchain platforms. Therefore, it is recommended that intense education and capacity-building training should be channelled to supply-chain firms. Further, government and stakeholders should focus on scaling the blockchain-enabled supply chain to ensure the continuous distribution of goods and services in the wake of any unforeseen pandemic such as COVID-19. As such, research targeted at investigating small-scale agribusinesses' readiness to accept blockchain technology would be necessary.

scholarly journals Sustainable CSR in Global Supply Chains

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Robert N. Mefford
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Multinational Firms ◽  
Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Environmental Practices ◽  
Improvement Programs ◽  
The Common ◽  
Sustainability Practices ◽  
Quality Improvement Programs

Multinational firms face many challenges in extending sustainability practices to their global supply chains. Establishing standards for environmental practices and working conditions for suppliers through codes of conduct, and then monitoring their performance with audits, is the common method used by MNEs. However, this approach has proven deficient in many cases as the suppliers are often not capable or unwilling to make the changes necessary to assure long-term sustainability of their operations. Audits often are insufficient in uncovering practices that do not meet the codes of conduct, and in any case, do not usually reveal if the firm is on a path to continue to improve their sustainability practices. Drawing upon the experiences of firms that have implemented productivity and quality improvement programs in their global supply chains, some implications for how to implement successful sustainability programs can be found. The challenges that MNEs and their suppliers must overcome to achieve this are discussed and suggestions made on how to achieve real sustainability in global supply chains.

scholarly journals Global Supply Chains: New Trends in the Context of the Coronavirus Pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 42-48
Author(s):  
I. V. Boiko ◽  
A. G. Getman
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Global Supply Chain ◽  
The Other ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The One ◽  
National Governments

The article is dedicated to the new trends emerging in the global supply chain, related to the coronavirus pandemic COVID-19, substantially affected production, transportation and marketing of goods. The authors underline a high risks of initial chain location in China, which sporadically leads to a localization of production supply within national borders. This biase in the international logistics is rather long term than short term I terms of national sustainability. The authors underline the icreasing significance of risk reduction and supply chain reliability over minimization of cost in the logistical decision makings. The ambivalency in the trade of the pandemic emergency goods is analysed in a sense of providing specifically favourable terms for its sirculation among the countries on the one side and the national protection issued for such goods by the national governments, pursuing its sufficient provision on the domestic market on the other side.

scholarly journals Recovering Global Supply Chains from Sourcing Interruptions: The Role of Sourcing Strategy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nitish Jain ◽  
Karan Girotra ◽  
Serguei Netessine
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Supply Chain Design ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Sourcing Strategies ◽  
The Impact

Problem definition: Fast recovery from sourcing interruptions is a key objective for global supply chains and for business continuity professionals. In this paper, we study the impact of different supply chain strategies—supplier diversification and the use of long-term relationships—on the ability of a supply chain to recover from sourcing interruptions. Academic/practical relevance: Improving supply chains’ recovery ability has been an important focus area for both practitioners and academics. Collectively, available anecdotal evidence and theoretical analyses provide ambiguous recommendations driven by competing effects of different sourcing strategies. Our paper provides the first rigorous and large-scale empirical evidence relating the use of different supply chain strategies to the ability of a supply chain to recover from supply interruptions. Methodology: We develop a compound estimator of a supply chain’s recovery rate that can be constructed using limited available data (only the time series of firms’ actual sourcing behavior). Using more than two and half million import manifests, we extract firms’ maritime sourcing transactions and use this data to estimate recovery rates of different firm-category supply chains of publicly traded U.S. firms. Results: We find that supplier diversification is associated with slower recovery from sourcing interruptions, whereas the use of long-term relationships is associated with faster recovery. A one standard deviation decrease in the former is associated with a 16% faster recovery, and a like increase in the latter is associated with a 20% faster recovery. Managerial implications: Our paper brings important empirical evidence to the hitherto theoretical debate on the impact of sourcing strategies on faster recovery in supply chains. We therefore provide actionable advice on supply chain design for faster recovery.

scholarly journals Mind the gap: Grass roots ‘brokering’ to improve labour standards in global supply chains

2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 584-609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J Kaine ◽  
Emmanuel Josserand
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Whistle Blowing ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
Implementation Gaps

While governance and regulation are a first step in addressing worsening working conditions in global supply chains, improving implementation is also key to reversing this trend. In this article, after examining the nature of the existing governance and implementation gaps in labour standards in global supply chains, we explore how Viet Labor, an emerging grass-roots organization, has developed practices to help close them. This involves playing brokering roles between different workers and between workers and existing governance mechanisms. We identify an initial typology of six such roles: educating, organizing, supporting, collective action, whistle-blowing and documenting. This marks a significant shift in the way action to improve labour standards along the supply chain is analysed. Our case explores how predominantly top-down approaches can be supplemented by bottom-up ones centred on workers’ agency.

scholarly journals Assessment of behavioral factors influencing cooperation in logistics

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 34-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tetiana Kolodizieva
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Behavioral Approach ◽  
Dual Relationships ◽  
Behavioral Factors ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
The Social

The article explores theoretical and methodical aspects of managing dual relationships that arise between participants in logistic cooperation in the process of formation and functioning of supply chains. The use of a behavioral approach to defining supply chains has allowed identifying and justifying the priority role of behavioral factors that influence modern logistics entities and determine the effectiveness and long-term satisfaction with logistics cooperation. Given the literature summary, the study has classified types of cooperation in logistic activity and proved that among the behavioral factors influencing the of logistical cooperation efficiency, the trust is of particular importance, which remains a limitation, a bottleneck in the process of formation and development of dual relationships in logistics chains. It is proposed to introduce a generic indicator, namely the level of confidence in the supply chain to assess the social, economic and strategic aspects of logistics interaction. A methodological approach to assessing the level of trust in logistic cooperation was adjusted based on determining the composition of criteria that directly affect this indicator and using the expert survey of supply chain participants. The study proposes to use the confidence indicator to form and improve networks and supply chains, taking into account its value when constructing a generalized outsourcing model.

scholarly journals Ethical Issues in Global Supply Chains

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bodo B. Schlegelmilch ◽  
Magdalena Öberseder
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Unethical Conduct ◽  
Production Methods ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Consumer Demands

Despite all technological advances, global supply chains are always based on the interaction of people. And wherever people interact, a kaleidoscope of ethical issues emerges. While consumer demands and concerns have undoubtedly led to an increased awareness of unethical conduct in the supply chain, contravening forces, such as the relentless pressures for low cost products and the ease by which consumers are purchasing non-deceptive counterfeits, should also not be ignored. Many retailers are now embracing ethical issues by emphasising, for example, that they take care of the production methods and working conditions pertaining to the goods they offer.

Moving toward a Global Supply Chain Operations and the Impact on International Competition

2012 ◽  
pp. 1626-1636
Author(s):  
Seyed-Mahmoud Aghazadeh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Supply Chain ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Domestic Firms ◽  
Foreign Products ◽  
The Impact

As the domestic businesses expand, many are making the choice to use foreign products, labor, and services to aid in their production. Global supply chains are minimizing the costs of the production process but are also creating vulnerabilities to home countries. As the global economy changes, the competitiveness between countries grows. Competitiveness can affect everything from a country’s economy to how a firm conducts international business. Addressing the need to find a method to increase the United States competitiveness in the world economy by improving the use of global supply chains would help to make domestic firms more successful in the global economy. Studying how companies position themselves abroad is important to providing insight into how to become more competitive. Worldwide companies are diversifying by moving more of their supply chain to international locations. This is providing them with many benefits such as better markets for products, lower costs, and more advanced technologies. As a result, the competitive strategy of companies is to increase production and decrease costs through the most efficient global supply chain. Maximizing the potential of domestic firms’ global supply chains is one of the most effective ways to increase U.S. competitiveness. If more big businesses in the United States are willing to participate on the global level, then the US will be able to improve their competitiveness.

Supply Chain in the Cloud

2015 ◽  
pp. 24-36
Author(s):  
Goknur Arzu Akyuz ◽  
Mohammad Rehan
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Strategic Partnerships ◽  
Business Process Outsourcing ◽  
Cloud Technology ◽  
Data Ownership ◽  
Promising Area ◽  
Lock In ◽  
Cloud Applications

Cloud concept is directly related with the beyond-ERP integrity and collaboration across a number of heterogeneous Supply Chain (SC) partner infrastructures. The technology enables partners to form a collaborative SC community without the burden of significant IT investment. Cloud applications offer significant opportunities from SC perspective, and the assimilation of the Cloud Technology is not complete yet in the Supply Chain domain. It also involves various barriers from implementation perspective, as well as the concerns related with vendor lock-in, security, reliability, privacy and data ownership. This chapter provides a comprehensive coverage of the opportunities and barriers as well as the generic treatment from SC perspective. It also highlights how the cloud technology represents a perfect fit with the ideas of ‘Collaborative Supply Chains', ‘Business Process Outsourcing' and ‘long-term strategic partnerships, which are the key themes characterizing the Supply Chains of today's era. This chapter reveals that the intersection of the topics ‘Cloud computing' and ‘Supply Chain' is a promising area for further research. Further studies in a multi-partner setting with respect to a variety of configurations, case studies and applications, as well as the security, reliability and data ownership issues are justified.

Moving toward a Global Supply Chain Operations and the Impact on International Competition

2013 ◽  
pp. 466-476
Author(s):  
Seyed-Mahmoud Aghazadeh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Supply Chain ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Domestic Firms ◽  
Foreign Products ◽  
The Impact

As the domestic businesses expand, many are making the choice to use foreign products, labor, and services to aid in their production. Global supply chains are minimizing the costs of the production process but are also creating vulnerabilities to home countries. As the global economy changes, the competitiveness between countries grows. Competitiveness can affect everything from a country’s economy to how a firm conducts international business. Addressing the need to find a method to increase the United States competitiveness in the world economy by improving the use of global supply chains would help to make domestic firms more successful in the global economy. Studying how companies position themselves abroad is important to providing insight into how to become more competitive. Worldwide companies are diversifying by moving more of their supply chain to international locations. This is providing them with many benefits such as better markets for products, lower costs, and more advanced technologies. As a result, the competitive strategy of companies is to increase production and decrease costs through the most efficient global supply chain. Maximizing the potential of domestic firms’ global supply chains is one of the most effective ways to increase U.S. competitiveness. If more big businesses in the United States are willing to participate on the global level, then the US will be able to improve their competitiveness.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document