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1 – 10 of over 55000Rameshwar Dubey and Angappa Gunasekaran
– The purpose of this paper is to identify sustainable supply chain skill and propose a conceptual training framework for sustainable supply chain talent.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify sustainable supply chain skill and propose a conceptual training framework for sustainable supply chain talent.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have used exhaustive literature review of extant literature published in academic journals, reputable reports, trade magazines, books and monographs. The authors further consulted leading experts from reputable bodies to further finalize the sustainable supply chain skills matrix and check the content validity of the constructs of our proposed conceptual framework.
Findings
The sustainable supply chain skill matrix has been identified and a conceptual framework has been proposed. The authors further outlined the future research directions.
Research limitations/implications
This is a conceptual paper based on the literature review and analysis. This offers opportunities for empirical research.
Practical implications
This paper will alert companies to focus on developing talents that would help to achieve sustainable supply chain.
Social implications
Better talents lead to better support for sustainable supply chains.
Originality/value
The present study is unique in terms of scope and its contribution to theory of supply chain management and operations management and human resource management practice. The study has identified the sustainable supply chain skill matrix and proposed a conceptual training framework for sustainable supply chain talent.
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Elisa Truant, Edoardo Crocco, Laura Corazza and Edoardo Borlatto
This study aims to holistically explore the intersection of sustainable supply chain management, carbon accounting and life cycle assessment (LCA). The purpose of this study is to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to holistically explore the intersection of sustainable supply chain management, carbon accounting and life cycle assessment (LCA). The purpose of this study is to derive state-of-the-art knowledge of this landscape and use it to build a structured research agenda that can help to further develop this field.
Design/methodology/approach
Seventy-eight distinct contributions, identified through a rigorous, transparent and replicable search protocol, are analyzed through a systematic literature review. Additionally, bibliometric information on the studies is extracted from the Scopus database and visualized through the use of VOSViewer and RStudio.
Findings
This study outlines the current state-of-the-art knowledge across three spheres of supply chain management, synthesizing the extant literature into several nascent themes – namely, the significance of Scope 3 emissions; how LCA can be integrated into carbon accounting and sustainability disclosures, the differences between countries and industries in terms of carbon emissions and policies for a concerted effort toward carbon reduction.
Practical implications
Several practical implications can be drawn from the research for both practitioners and policymakers. The research provides a comprehensive, bird’s eye view on the discrepancies between different industries and countries in terms of carbon emissions, along with how carbon accounting should move toward strategic and predictive adoption.
Social implications
The results show that adopting life cycle thinking can contribute to more transparent monitoring of carbon emissions in supply chains; however, its use in sustainability reporting needs to become more widespread, encompassing not only the carbon footprints of products and services but also the organization as a whole.
Originality/value
Using bibliographic and critical qualitative analyses, this study reviews the literature on LCA in sustainable supply chain management and carbon accounting. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this review is the first attempt to synthesize this relevant and rapidly growing nexus between the three literature streams mentioned above.
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Maicom Sergio Brandao and Moacir Godinho Filho
This study aims to investigate the evolution of terminology in supply chain management (SCM) and its implications for the field’s strategic orientation. It also aims to understand…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the evolution of terminology in supply chain management (SCM) and its implications for the field’s strategic orientation. It also aims to understand how SCM terms adapt to interdisciplinary contexts, reflecting shifts in theoretical and practical approaches within the discipline.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a systematic literature review and analyzes over 3,500 unique SCM-related terms extracted from approximately 33,000 abstracts. By using Descending Hierarchical Classification and factor analysis, the research methodologically identifies key shifts in terminology and discerns underlying patterns.
Findings
This study categorizes terminological variations in SCM into three main clusters: product–agent, performance objective orientation and structure. These variations signal not only linguistic changes but also strategic shifts in SCM understanding and practice. Notably, terms such as “green,” “sustainable” and “circular” supply chains have emerged in response to evolving internal and external pressures and trends. In addition, this paper offers a nuanced understanding of these terminological adaptations, proposing a reference framework for navigating SCM’s evolving lexicon and highlighting global usage and geographical and cultural nuances in SCM discourse.
Research limitations/implications
This paper presents a reference framework that complements existing SCM definitions, fostering a shared understanding of SCM variations on a global scale. This framework enhances cultural sensitivity within the field and underscores SCM’s adaptability and flexibility. These insights offer a nuanced view of SCM dynamics, benefiting researchers and practitioners alike. Beyond terminology, this study sheds light on the interplay between language and SCM strategy, providing a valuable perspective for navigating the evolving SCM landscape. The study’s scope is constrained by the analyzed abstracts. Future research could broaden this analysis to encompass more SCM literature or delve deeper into the implications of terminological changes.
Practical implications
This study offers practitioners a reference framework for navigating the evolving lexicon of SCM. This framework aids in understanding the strategic implications of terminological changes, enhancing clarity and context in both academic and practical applications.
Social implications
By acknowledging global usage and variations, the research underscores the impact of geographical and cultural nuances on SCM discourse. This global perspective enriches the understanding of SCM as a dynamic and culturally sensitive field.
Originality/value
This research is novel in its extensive and systematic exploration of SCM terminology. This study offers a comprehensive analysis of how language evolves in tandem with strategic shifts in the field, providing a unique perspective on the interplay between terminology and strategy in SCM.
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Eugenia Rosca, Guido Möllering, Arpan Rijal and Julia Christine Bendul
The purpose of this paper is to explore mechanisms of supply chain inclusion in Base of the Pyramid (BOP) settings. It distinguishes micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore mechanisms of supply chain inclusion in Base of the Pyramid (BOP) settings. It distinguishes micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSME)-led local supply chains on the one hand and multinational enterprises (MNEs)-led global supply chains on the other hand. This paper aims to answer the following research question: Which mechanisms of supply chain inclusion are employed empirically by MSMEs and how can these mechanisms influence social impact creation in MNE-led global supply chains?
Design/methodology/approach
A large-scale empirical study of MSMEs operating in BOP markets is performed and a cluster analysis conducted to systematically categorize supply chain inclusion. The cluster analysis and current literature yield theory-based implications for MNE-led global supply chains.
Findings
The cluster analysis reveals three meaningful clusters of supply chain inclusion in BOP markets and highlights two main aspects. They include direct vs indirect mechanisms of inclusion and diversity in supplier relationships with local organizations aimed at either “sourcing” local capabilities needed for inclusion or “outsourcing” the inclusion. Based on these aspects, two scenarios are proposed and evaluated for local-global supply chain symbiosis.
Research limitations/implications
This study aims to contribute to the existing literature with a more fine-grained understanding of the inclusion of BOP actors in local supply chains and by proposing alternative trajectories for global supply chain inclusion.
Practical implications
The findings outline several important decisions that managers need to make to include BOP actors in supply chain activities.
Originality/value
This paper contributes a novel, combined perspective of local supply chains (MSMEs) and global supply chains (MNEs).
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Christian F. Durach, Stefan Kurpjuweit and Stephan M. Wagner
The purpose of this paper is to offer empirical insights on emerging additive manufacturing (AM) processes, barriers to their adoption and a timeline of expected impacts on the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer empirical insights on emerging additive manufacturing (AM) processes, barriers to their adoption and a timeline of expected impacts on the supply chain in the manufacturing industry.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-stage survey study was conducted with a panel of 16 experts from industry and academia.
Findings
Only five out of today’s seven AM processes are of future importance, as are two emerging key processes. In total, 15 barriers to their adoption are identified, all of which are expected to be gone within ten years. Eight propositions are derived postulating as to whether and when supply chain impacts can be expected in terms of changes to supply chain structure, customer centricity, logistics and supply chain capability.
Research limitations/implications
“Soft” barriers are new to the literature, which has traditionally focused on “technical” barriers. Often-discussed barriers such as production speed and costs do not reflect the true concerns of the research panel. Furthermore, some of the supply chain implications discussed in both the academic literature and the media are found to be unlikely to materialize.
Practical implications
The study summarizes AM processes, technologies, barriers and supply chain implications solicited from experts in the field.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to make empirical contributions to a vastly conceptual discussion. It is also the first study to give insights on a timeline for barriers and supply chain implications.
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This paper, a pathway, aims to provide research guidance for investigating sustainability in supply chains in a post-COVID-19 environment.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper, a pathway, aims to provide research guidance for investigating sustainability in supply chains in a post-COVID-19 environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Published literature, personal research experience, insights from virtual open forums and practitioner interviews inform this study.
Findings
COVID-19 pandemic events and responses are unprecedented to modern operations and supply chains. Scholars and practitioners seek to make sense of how this event will make us revisit basic scholarly notions and ontology. Sustainability implications exist. Short-term environmental sustainability gains occur, while long-term effects are still uncertain and require research. Sustainability and resilience are complements and jointly require investigation.
Research limitations/implications
The COVID-19 crisis is emerging and evolving. It is not clear whether short-term changes and responses will result in a new “normal.” Adjustment to current theories or new theoretical developments may be necessary. This pathway article only starts the conservation – many additional sustainability issues do arise and cannot be covered in one essay.
Practical implications
Organizations have faced a major shock during this crisis. Environmental sustainability practices can help organizations manage in this and future competitive contexts.
Social implications
Broad economic, operational, social and ecological-environmental sustainability implications are included – although the focus is on environmental sustainability. Emergent organizational, consumer, policy and supply chain behaviors are identified.
Originality/value
The authors take an operations and supply chain environmental sustainability perspective to COVID-19 pandemic implications; with sustainable representing the triple bottom-line dimensions of environmental, social and economic sustainability; with a special focus on environmental sustainability. Substantial open questions for investigation are identified. This paper sets the stage for research requiring rethinking of some previous tenets and ontologies.
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Mary Luz Olivares Tenorio, Stefano Pascucci, Ruud Verkerk, Matthijs Dekker and Tiny A.J.S. van Boekel
In this paper, a conceptual and methodological framework based on empirical evidence derived from the case of the Colombian Cape gooseberry (CG) supply chain is presented. Using…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, a conceptual and methodological framework based on empirical evidence derived from the case of the Colombian Cape gooseberry (CG) supply chain is presented. Using this case study, this paper aims to contribute to the extant literature on the internationalization of food supply chains by explicitly considering the alignment of quality attributes and supply chain complexity as key elements to understand the process.
Design/methodology/approach
This research has been designed to be qualitative, inductive and exploratory, thus involving multiple data gathering methods and tools. More specifically, during the first stage of the empirical analysis, this study has mapped and analysed preferences and perceptions of product quality at both the consumer and supply chain levels. Then, this paper has analysed the degree of alignment and complexity in the supply chain and finally, this study has derived scenarios for the internationalization of the supply chain.
Findings
The results indicate tensions between supply chain actors related to quality attribute alignment and complexity, which have the potentials to impact the internationalization scenarios of the CG supply chain. Particularly the findings highlight how alignment and complexity of sourcing and product quality attributes can affect supply chain design strategies in different internationalization pathways of a niche food commodity.
Research limitations/implications
The findings have implications in terms of supply chain design perspectives. In fact, while an approach, which would consider only a transactional or governance perspective would have tackled the problems of misalignment – for example, between farmers and wholesalers or wholesalers and international traders/retailers – it would have ignored the problem of alignment caused at the retailing and consumption stage. In the attempt to internationalize the CG supply chain, farmers, processors and traders are misaligned in relation to the preferences of the targeted final consumers, Dutch/Western European consumers in the case.
Practical implications
Given the misalignment issues, this paper identifies a step by step approach as the most suitable pathway to design an internationalized supply chain because it allows the CG commodity supply chain to develop the potential market of credence quality-attribute by supporting the health-promoting compounds of the fruit. In this way, the CG supply chain could also progressively scale up and work on solving its misalignment issues by building a coordination structure of the chain, with quality control and logistics likely led by large retailers.
Social implications
The study indicates that a process of internalization related to a scenario of a “globalized commodity” can only emerge through processes of coordination and integration at the production level, likely led by forms of producers (farmers) associations or a network of producers and traders, leading to strong marketing activities and scale up in terms of volumes. This has profound social implications and calls for rethinking how this study designs the internationalization of niche commodity supply chains.
Originality/value
Through the application of a mixed methodology approach, in which conceptual, qualitative and quantitative methods have been combined, this paper has been able to identify alternative scenarios to the internationalization and the scale-up of a niche food commodity supply chain, with implications for its design and governance. More specifically in the conceptual model, the different scenarios have been related to the risk of misalignment. The model also identifies alternative pathways of internationalization which may or may not arise according to the way complexity unfolds. In the approach, this study has unpacked complexity by looking into two key dimensions: transactional complexity and quality-attribute complexity.
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Donna Marshall, Lucy McCarthy, Paul McGrath and Marius Claudy
This paper aims to examine what drives the adoption of different social sustainability supply chain practices. Research has shown that certain factors drive the adoption of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine what drives the adoption of different social sustainability supply chain practices. Research has shown that certain factors drive the adoption of environmental sustainability practices but few focus on social supply chain practices, delineate which practices are adopted or what drives their adoption.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examine the facilitative role of sustainability culture to explain the adoption of social sustainability supply chain practices: basic practices, consisting of monitoring and management systems and advanced practices, which are new product and process development and strategic redefinition. The authors then explore the role played by a firm’s entrepreneurial orientation in shaping and reinforcing the adoption of social sustainability supply chain practices. A survey of 156 supply chain managers in multiple industries in Ireland was conducted to test the relationship between the variables.
Findings
The findings show that sustainability culture is positively related to all the practices, and entrepreneurial orientation impacts and moderates social sustainability culture in advanced social sustainability supply chain adoption.
Research limitations/implications
As with any survey, this is a single point in time with a single respondent. Implications for managers include finding the right culture in the organisation to implement social sustainability supply chain management practices that go beyond monitoring to behavioural changes in the supply chain with implications beyond the dyad of buyer and supplier to lower tier suppliers and the community surrounding the supply chain.
Practical implications
The implications for managers include developing and fostering cultural attributes in the organisation to implement social sustainability supply chain management practices that go beyond monitoring suppliers to behavioural changes in the supply chain with implications beyond the dyad of buyer and supplier to lower tier suppliers and the community surrounding the supply chain.
Originality/value
This is the first time, to the authors’ knowledge, that cultural and entrepreneurial variables have been tested for social sustainability supply chain practices, giving them new insights into how and why social sustainability supply chain practices are adopted.
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Atif Saleem Butt and Syed Hamad Hassan Shah
This paper explores the potential opportunities and challenges that Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) may bring for resilient supply chains.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the potential opportunities and challenges that Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) may bring for resilient supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs multiple case study methodology by considering five south Asian countries. Overall, 36 semi-structured interviews with supply chain managers from three supplying firms, two transportation centers and four buying firms are undertaken. Three supplying firms were based in Pakistan, providing cement and steel products. Simultaneously, two transportation centers were located in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, mainly engaged in cargo and freight handling. Finally, the buying firms were located in Mainland China and India, mainly constructing road and rail networks.
Findings
Our findings reveal both challenges and opportunities for supply chain resilience within the context of BRI. In particular, findings suggest that BRI can improve quality infrastructure, greater connectivity for logistics firms and enhance consumer markets. Conversely, BRI also poses challenges to supply chain resilience in managing large-scale logistics infrastructure and the potential conflicts between countries participating in BRI.
Research limitations/implications
As this study attempts to build a theory, its result should not be generalized to a broader population. Second, this study only explores BRI's implications for resilient supply chains within five South Asian countries.
Practical implications
Firms can use our study results to understand BRI’s implications for resilient supply chains. Particularly, it presents firms with the potential opportunities and challenges that BRI brings for resilient supply chains.
Originality/value
BRI has been the subject of much research in domains like political science, economics and law but its application to the supply chain resilience is rather scant. Our study, therefore, contributes to the emergent literature on supply chain resilience within the context of BRI by exploring its potential opportunities and challenges.
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Atif Saleem Butt and Imran Ali
This research aims to explore the potential impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on sustainable supply chains.
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to explore the potential impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on sustainable supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs twenty qualitative interviews with supply chain managers located on the BRI lane from Asian countries.
Findings
Findings revealed that if not managed properly, BRI can pose a serious threats to sustainable supply chains from environmental perspective. The findings also revealed additional properties which lead to the emergence of these perspective.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study may not be generalizable to a broader population. Second, this study explores supply chain managers’ interpretations from Asian countries only.
Practical implications
Supply chain firms can use the findings from this study to understand the implications of BRI for sustainable supply chains. Particularly, firms can understand how the BRI may harm the organization's sustainable supply chains from the environmental perspective.
Originality/value
This is, perhaps, the first study which provides empirical evidence concerning the potential impacts of BRI on the management of sustainable supply chains.
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