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This paper aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chain (SC) sustainability learning. In particular, it focuses on the learning associated with changes in the sustainability initiatives of emerging economy suppliers.

Through studying three scenarios (pre-outbreak, buyer-centred peak and supplier-centred peak) over a nine-month period, a multi-case study strategy was used to gain an understanding of the learning of export-oriented Brazilian coffee producers, using both exploitation and exploration capabilities. Content analysis was developed after each data collection phase to investigate how sustainability initiatives had changed.

Social sustainability was observed to be the main priority by suppliers facing this unprecedented outbreak, in ways that go beyond expected sustainability certification requirements. For instance, there was evidence of outstanding contributions to the local community. Suppliers initially developed their sustainability initiatives during the outbreak without any support from global buyers, certification bodies or government. In spite of this, stronger relationships with buyers ultimately emerged facilitating greater SC sustainability. Consequently, by using both exploitation and exploration learning capabilities, multiple levels of learning were observed (i.e. individual, organisational and SC) as related to planning, new procedures and social awareness.

A greater awareness of supplier learning processes will aid buyers in developing recovery plans that are appropriate for their global SC partners.

This paper provides an understanding of how emerging economy suppliers of global SCs are coping with this unprecedented outbreak in regard to sustainability management. Moving the spotlight from buyers to suppliers, the research demonstrates that supplier learning is central to global SC sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how horizontal collaboration aids organisations in responding to modern slavery legislation and in gaining a socially sustainable competitive advantage.

Action research has been conducted in the textiles and fashion industry and a relational perspective adopted to interpret five collaborative initiatives taken to tackle modern slavery (e.g. joint training and supplier audits). The primary engagement has been with a multi-billion pound turnover company and its collaborations with 35 brands/retailers. A non-government organisation and a trade body have also participated.

Successful horizontal collaboration is dependent on both relational capital and effective (formal and informal) governance mechanisms. In collaborating, firms have generated relational rents and reduced costs creating a socially sustainable competitive advantage, as suggested by the relational perspective. Yet, limits to horizontal collaboration also exist.

The focus is on one industry only, hence there is scope to extend the study to other industries or forms of collaboration taking place across industries.

Successful horizontal collaborative relationships rely on actors having a similar mindset and being able to decouple the commercial and sustainability agendas, especially when direct competitors are involved. Further, working with non-business actors can facilitate collaboration and provide knowledge and resources important for overcoming the uncertainty that is manifest when responding to new legislation.

Social sustainability improvements aim to enhance ethical trade and benefit vulnerable workers.

Prior literature has focussed on vertical collaboration with few prior studies of horizontal collaboration, particularly in a socially sustainable supply chain context. Moreover, there has been limited research into modern slavery from a supply chain perspective. Both successful and unsuccessful initiatives are studied, providing insights into (in)effective collaboration.

The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of institutional pressures, institutional logics and institutional complexity on Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) practices across mixed public and private sector supply chains.

Multi-case study data were collected from three tiers of food and catering supply chains: the customer/consumer tier; focal public sector UK Universities; and private sector suppliers/contractors.

The findings indicate that: normative and mimetic pressures are more prevalent in focal Universities, compared to suppliers; there is typically no single dominant logic across these supply chains; and the multiplicity of institutional logics (e.g. sustainability logic versus financial logic) increases institutional complexity. Therefore, in the typical case of homogeneity in terms of institutional pressures and logics, e.g. with a dominant sustainability logic throughout the supply chain, radical change in SSCM practices is facilitated. In contrast, in the more typical case when there is heterogeneity, with competing logics at different supply chain tiers, this limits SSCM to more incremental changes in practices.

This study is limited to three tiers of the food and catering supply chains of UK Universities.

To aid in the successful implementation of SSCM, this study suggests a need for managers to develop an initial understanding of the prevailing institutional logics and pressures at different tiers of the supply chain.

A number of the SSCM practices studied address social sustainability.

No previous studies have empirically investigated the impact of institutional complexity in the context of SSCM practices across supply chains, involving both mixed public and private sector organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate effective management strategies for 14 sources of supply chain uncertainty, with a particular emphasis on uncertainties or strategies that involve ethical issues.

Manufacturing strategy theory, underpinned by alignment and contingency theory, is used as the theoretical foundation. Multi-case study data are collected from 12 companies in the Indonesian food industry, including four focal manufacturers, four first-tier suppliers, and four first-tier customers (retailers).

Within the context of appropriately aligned management strategies to address 14 sources of uncertainty, three ethical issues are empirically identified: first, collusion amongst suppliers to ration supplies and increase prices; second, unethical influences on government policy; and third, “abuse” of power by large retailers at the expense of smaller competitors. Joint purchasing is argued to be a key strategy for combatting the first of these ethical issues.

The study is limited to the Indonesian food industry, and so further research is needed in other cultures/contexts.

Management strategies that aim to reduce an uncertainty at its source lead to better overall supply chain performance than strategies that merely cope with uncertainty, which only have an impact on firm-level performance.

The ethical issues identified have implications for fair negotiations between customers and suppliers.

This study is unique in its in-depth case study-based empirical investigation of the management of multiple supply chain uncertainties; and in its discussion of ethical issues in this context.

The management of customer enquiries is a particularly pertinent issue for make‐to‐order companies in which each enquiry concerns a unique order. Such companies must make tenders which are both competitive and realistic in terms of characteristics such as the delivery date and price, if they are to win the order and to secure future orders. Often, the need to ensure that a tender is realistic is given a low priority and thus orders that are won are delivered late and/or made at a loss. Proposes a Decision Support System which assists in determining tenders which are both realistic and competitive. Input/output control is used so that the input in terms of orders is controlled at the same time as the output is controlled in terms of capacity.

This paper aims to investigate how the extant literature on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) empirically explores the perspective of emerging economy suppliers operating in global supply chains (GSCs). It thereby explains the role of emerging economy suppliers in determining the success of SSCM.

A systematic literature review of 41 empirical papers (published between 2007 and 2021) was conducted, involving both descriptive and thematic analyses.

The findings demonstrate that emerging economy suppliers have a key role in SSCM, given their use of positive feedback loops to proactively create remedies to surpass barriers using their collaboration mechanisms, and exploit authentic sustainability outcomes as reinforcements to drive further sustainability initiatives. The authors also demonstrate that suppliers are particularly focused on the cultural and institutional dimensions of sustainability. Finally, the authors provide an explanatory analytical framework to reduce the institutional distance between buyers and their global suppliers.

This review identifies avenues for future research on the role of emerging economy suppliers in SSCM.

Recognising remedies to surpass barriers and reinforcements to drive new actions can aid SSCM in GSCs and improve understanding between buyers and suppliers.

The valorisation of cultural and institutional issues can lead to more responsible supplier interactions and improved sustainability outcomes in emerging economies.

This review only analyses the viewpoint of emerging economy suppliers, whereas prior SSCM reviews have focused on the buyer perspective. Thus, the authors reduce supplier invisibility and institutional distance between GSC participants.

Make‐to‐order (MTO) companies manufacture goods to customer specification. They produce a large number of different items, each unique because of the particular requirements of each customer. These companies do not commence production of any item until they have a firm order and have agreed a price and delivery date with the customer. Their characteristics and manufacturing management problems contrast sharply with those of Make‐to‐stock (MTS) companies, which mass produce a small variety of similar items. As most of the research to date has been aimed at the latter type of company, the need to develop manufacturing management systems specifically for the MTO sector is evident. A thorough review of the literature carried out at Lancaster illustrated that even modern manufacturing management systems such as Optimised Production Technology (OPT) and Just‐in‐Time (JIT) have failed to address the specific problems of this sector of manufacturing.

The world of manufacturing has recently undergone many major changes leading to guidelines on what is “best practice” or world class manufacturing (WCM) in terms of both methods of operation and of performance. These guidelines are based on the companies that have been most successful, mainly the mass production industry, that has been transformed into the mass customisation sector. This paper argues that such guidelines cannot be entirely appropriate to other industry sectors, in particular to the traditional “make‐to‐order” (MTO) sector. The highly variable customer demand in this sector often means that it is strategically desirable to retain a job shop layout for at least part of the business, rather than converting the business to a series of focused cells. This paper seeks to propose a set of alternative guidelines on how MTO companies that choose to retain a job shop layout should attempt to attain WCM status. To justify the proposals, it presents some case study evidence giving two examples of companies that have remained job shops and explaining how one of them has nonetheless made substantial improvements in performance and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the state-of-the-art in socially responsible sourcing (SRS) research, leading to an agenda for further work; and to evaluate the use of theory in this context. SRS is defined as the upstream social issues within the sustainability literature, where social issues include human rights, community development and ethical issues but exclude environmental concerns.

A systematic literature review of 157 papers that include SRS published in ABS listed journals. The papers have been analysed according to their research content, with a particular focus on the use of pre-existing theories.

Key findings for researchers and managers alike include an analytical discussion of strategies developed to date to embed SRS in an organisation; and key research gaps include a particular need to consider the supplier perspective in developing countries. In terms of the use of theory, a typology is proposed, which (in ascending order of effectiveness) is as follows: theory dressing, theory matching, theory suggesting/explaining and theory expansion.

The review is limited to papers published in the ABS list; and the analysis of the use of theory is limited to the SRS literature. The findings suggest that insightful papers can be written without any use of theory but that as a field develops, a greater depth of application of theory is needed to aid understanding.

This is the only review that focuses exclusively on social issues SRS, excluding environmental issues, thus allowing for a greater depth of discussion on social issues; and is unique in its detailed critical analysis of the use of theory.