Green supply chains and the missing link between environmental information and practice

Within the field of green supply chain management (GSCM), an interest in supply chain cooperation to create sustainable competitive advantage, i.e. the collaborative paradigm, has made researchers turn their attention to information related aspects of the supply chain. This study contributes to an understanding of a suboptimal use of environmental information, which is critical for all collaborative efforts aiming at sustainable competitive advantage. The aim of this article is to describe the use of environmental information at different stages of the Swedish food supply chain. The results from this case study of the Swedish food supply chain indicate that environmental information is perceived and used differently by purchasers in the supply chain depending on where (in the supply chain) they are situated in relation to other chain actors. The main contribution of this study is the suggestion of a stage‐dependent connection between perceived environmental cost and perceived environmentally informed consumer demand, which are barriers to GSCM practice discussed in recent GSCM literature. The missing link between information sharing and (environmental) performance of supply chains is explained as distance to end‐consumer in terms of supply chain stages. Implications for GSCM practice and theory are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

木质林产品供应链碳足迹研究与展望

以木质林产品供应链为研究对象,归纳总结了常用的碳足迹核算标准和核算方法,并从森林生产、采购与运输、林产品加工、仓储与配送以及废弃回收等方面对木质林产品单一供应链环节的碳足迹研究进行综述;从企业内部供应链和外部供应链的角度对木质林产品全供应链的碳足迹的相关研究进行总结,阐明了木质林产品碳足迹因供应链环节的不同而产生的差异。最后基于当前木质林产品碳足迹的研究现状提出了展望,旨在为木质林产品供应链低碳化发展和有关绿色经济政策制定提供借鉴和参考。     

Supply chain vulnerability assessment: A network based visualization and clustering analysis approach

Supply chains are large, complex, and often unpredictable. Purchasing and supply managers and supply chain risk managers need methods and tools to enable them to quickly understand how unexpected disruptions in the supply chain start and grow and to what extent will they negatively impact the flow of goods and services. This paper introduces a methodological approach that can be used by both researchers and managers to quickly visualize a supply chain, map out the propagation path of disruptive events from the supply side to the end customer and understand potential weaknesses in the supply chain design; taking into account the structure, connectivity, and dependence within the supply chain. The approach incorporates a Petri net and Triangularization Clustering Algorithm to offer insights into a supply chain network's vulnerabilities and can be used to efficiently assess supply chain disruption mitigation strategies, especially in complex and difficulty to analyze supply chain systems.     

低碳经济下的供应链管理研究

作为全球变暖的根源,温室气体排放一直是人们关注的重点。企业在供应链各环节上的活动都伴随着二氧化碳等温室气体的排放,在全球减排的总趋势下,降低供应链决策对环境的影响是企业面临的重要任务。文中介绍目前学术界将碳排放和供应链结合起来的研究热点,包括可持续供应链、碳足迹和碳交易,最后总结了研究现状,指出了以后的研究趋势。     

The Wicked Character of Sustainable Supply Chain Management: Evidence from Sustainability Reports

Supply chains are changing their business paradigm as they strive for sustainability and not just for increasing profits. Sustainability, however, is a concept that is open to interpretation since it is based on societal and organizational values. Little is known about what companies actually mean when referring to sustainability, and how this contrasts with the understanding at different echelons of the supply chain. Diverging interpretations and translations of sustainability among stakeholders, termed wicked problems, affect the progress of sustainable supply chain management. This paper aims to contribute to closing the gap between our common sense expectations and the actual evidence from sustainability reports of how sustainability evolves from abstract ideas to operational practices across the supply chain. To this end, this study employs a computer‐aided content analysis of 142 corporate sustainability reports across 12 industries. Building on the findings, and using the lens of wicked problems, this paper provides guidance to practitioners on how to develop strategies that are effective across the whole supply chain. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Green supply chain management in the automotive industry: A study in Brazil

The auto industry is experiencing a time of restlessness, which stems from several elements that currently threaten the stability and status quo of its supply chains. Among these elements are autonomous driving, connectivity, electrification, and trip sharing that has led to new forms of mobility. In this context, this article presents the results of a research, which had three main objectives: (1) to identify the green supply chain management (GSCM) practices most commonly implemented in all industrial sectors worldwide, (2) to evaluate how these practices are considered by professionals in the automotive industry and by researchers working on the subject in Brazil, and (3) to identify and evaluate which practices are most widely adopted within these companies and/or supply chains and influence their environmental performance. The research method combined a qualitative research step (Delphi) with another quantitative one (survey). The results show that most of the reality of the automotive industry in Brazil is in line with studies on GSCM practices worldwide, but some specific findings have also been identified and discussed.     

Practices and strategies for sustainability-related risk management in multi-tier supply chains

This study investigates how sustainability-related risks are managed in multi-tier supply chains. It focuses on the strategies and practices that companies use to manage sustainability-related risks and how these differ between supply chains and supply chain tiers. We use a multiple-case study with 25 companies forming 5 multi-tier supply chains. As a result of this study, we present a conceptual framework for sustainability-related risk management practices in multi-tier supply chains and apply it empirically by defining sustainability-related risk management profiles for the case supply chains. We show that in multi-tier supply chains, companies need direct and indirect collaboration and direct and indirect monitoring practices for managing sustainability-related risks emanating from not only their first-tier suppliers but also lower-tier suppliers. Our framework helps purchasing and supply chain managers understand the dimensions of sustainability-related risk management in a multi-tier setting and develop strategies and practices for mitigating and managing those risks. We also empirically show the challenge of extending sustainability-related risk management practices beyond first-tier suppliers due to the different practices in different supply chain tiers.     

The role of intermediaries in establishing a sustainable supply chain

In sustainable supply chain management, buyers may use intermediaries to bridge exchanges with suppliers when knowledge of suitable sustainability practices is weak and in need of facilitation. Understanding how supply chain intermediaries perform this role and what happens when intermediation is no longer needed is important in establishing more sustainable supply chains. Two supply chain intermediaries have been investigated with the resulting case study evidence analysed using the Gioia methodology. The findings suggest supply chain intermediaries add value to the buyer-supplier exchange by facilitating sustainability-related information transfer, knowledge development, risk management and improved capabilities. For example, specific practices such as corrective action reports, often managed by the intermediary, underpin the development of a sustainable supply chain. When the intermediary is no longer needed, they become disintermediated from the specific buyer-supplier exchange but may be re-employed in a new triadic relationship in the future with previous parties. This provides positive spill-over effects through intermediation–disintermediation–post-intermediation cycles for both the buyer and supplier populations and for broader society. Overall, the findings highlight the value of the transient position of supply chain intermediaries in establishing sustainable supply chains and the intended consequences of their involvement.     

Optimal strategic alliance in multi-echelon supply chains with open innovation

We propose a game-theoretic approach to examine several possible coalition strategies in a four-echelon supply chain consisting of a supplier, manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer. A solitude model is used to probe the role of learning in quality improvements, and experimental design is conducted to evaluate all possible supply chain coalition strategies between echelons. The novelty of this study is the comprehensive evaluation of knowledge-sharing strategies in collaborative supply chains. The results confirm that the Delta model with a coalition among a supplier, manufacturer, and retailer is the best strategy.     

Sustainable supply chain management and partner engagement to manage climate change information

Climate change poses significant new risks and challenges for businesses and their supply chains. Additionally, in many sectors, Scope 3 indirect greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the sourcing and distribution of goods and services are larger than firms' own carbon footprints. Here we study how firms engage their key stakeholders in their supply chains in obtaining, processing, and transferring relevant climate change‐related information designed to overcome information asymmetry and drive sustainable development. Grounded in organisational information‐processing theory (OIPT), we draw on data from the Carbon Disclosure Project's Climate Change Supply Chain initiative for a qualitative content analysis of a large sample of global firms. Consistent with OIPT, we find that although firms primarily engage their supply chain partners in a variety of ways to reduce information uncertainty around indirect emissions data, effectively interpreting and managing broader sustainability information equivocality becomes a growing priority. Our findings further suggest that firms engage suppliers, customers, and other supply chain partners through basic, transactional, and collaborative types of engagement. We contribute to literatures on interorganisational information processing and sustainable supply chain management by providing a more detailed understanding of how firms engage supply chain partners in the context of climate change.     

Agent-system co-development in supply chain research: Propositions and demonstrative findings

In this study, we develop an agent-system co-development (ASC) theoretical framework for behavioral research in supply chains. The ASC framework aims at explaining the dynamic agent-system relationships in supply chains whereby both action-influencing properties of human agents (e.g., beliefs, personalities, attitudes) and governance-influencing properties of supply chain systems (e.g., social norms, power-dependence, partnerial/adversarial relationship forms) mutually influence each other over time. Two empirical studies are conducted to illustrate how ASC can be a useful theoretical framework in supply chain research and to partially validate the central thesis of ASC in the contexts of partnerial/adversarial supply chain relationships and cooperative/competitive attitudes of human agents in supply chains. The results of both studies support the central thesis of ASC regarding the dynamic agent-system relationships. From two replicated experiments in Study 1, the results suggest that agents’ cooperative and competitive attitudes in business relationships are altered as they are exposed to different supply chain conditions of partnerial and adversarial relationships. In addition, from the multi-method research efforts in Study 2, the results from two survey studies and an experiment are largely consistent with one another, suggesting that personnel turnovers in existing supply chain systems can eventually lead to changes in supply-chain-system properties including the degrees of long-term commitment, information sharing, and joint problem-solving between supply chain partners, as well as the frequency of opportunism occurrences in the supply chains. Finally, we propound that the dynamic agent-system relationships proposed in the ASC framework can be a useful analytical lens in viewing various supply chain issues, such as supply chain evolutions and changes, supply chain designs and personnel decisions, and self-reinforcing feedback loops and decision tendencies in supply chains.     

Managing supply chain resilience to pursue business and environmental strategies

Resilience has become a crucial topic in the field of strategic management as it requires companies to design resilient business models to tackle managerial and environmental disruptions of individual firms and supply chains. However, extant research still lacks deep insights into how companies design and manage supply chains according to the resilience principles. With this premise, this paper aims at conducting a state of the art review on supply chain resilience (SCR) considering 125 relevant papers collected from Scopus and Web of Science academic search engine. Starting from the results of the literature review, this study proposes a systemic framework of SCR assessment and contributes to improve the understanding of the impact of different empirically tested constructs on the development of the resilience concept. Further, the findings are summarized in several areas including barriers in developing resilience, metrics to measure the resilience performance, and effective strategies to foster the SCR. Finally, this study outlines promising future research directions for scholars and practitioners.     

“I’m not hoarding,I’m just stocking up before the hoarders get here.”: Behavioral causes of phantom ordering in supply chains

When suppliers are unable to fill orders, delivery delays increase and customers receive less than they desire. Customers often respond by seeking larger safety stocks (hoarding) and by ordering more than they need to meet demand (phantom ordering). Such actions cause still longer delivery times, creating positive feedbacks that intensify scarcity and destabilize supply chains. Hoarding and phantom ordering can be rational when customers compete for limited supply in the presence of uncertainty or capacity constraints. But they may also be behavioral and emotional responses to scarcity. To address this question we extend Croson et al.’s (2014) experimental study with the Beer Distribution Game. Hoarding and phantom ordering are never rational in the experiment because there is no horizontal competition, randomness, or capacity constraint; further, customer demand is constant and participants have common knowledge of that fact. Nevertheless 22% of participants place orders more than 25 times greater than the known, constant demand. We generalize the ordering heuristic used in prior research to include the possibility of endogenous hoarding and phantom ordering. Estimation results strongly support the hypothesis, with hoarding and phantom ordering particularly strong for the outliers who placed extremely large orders. We discuss psychiatric and neuroanatomical evidence showing that environmental stressors can trigger the impulse to hoard, overwhelming rational decision-making. We speculate that stressors such as large orders, backlogs or late deliveries trigger hoarding and phantom ordering for some participants even though these behaviors are irrational. We discuss implications for supply chain design and behavioral operations research.     

PAS2050规范下物流服务碳足迹研究

文中在对国内外关于物流与供应链碳足迹研究现状作了一定综述评论,在此基础上提出物流服务碳足迹概念,利用PAS2050规范构建针对第三方物流服务公司分析物流业务碳足迹模型和测算方法,为物流企业清楚地认识在物流服务过程中碳足迹分解提供了一种分析方法,为企业进行低碳物流运作升级提供了理论依据和实践指导。     

The Challenge of Collaborative Governance

Partnerships increasingly play a major role in determining and implementing major policy drives in localities. Under-standing how they may provide value is therefore essential to understanding modern governance principles. This article describes action research aiming to develop a conceptualization of fac-tors inherent in collaborative forms and, hence, about their practicality as governance tools. Different interpreta-tions of what collaborative governance is intended to achieve are first reviewed. Two areas that seriously affect the ability of collaborations to deliver their potential, structural complexity and diversity are then reviewed. The article concludes by considering what is needed to make collaborative governance work.     

冷鲜肉供应链合作机制研究

为提高冷鲜肉供应链效率,有效保证食品安全和改进加工流程．并对其他农产品供应链合作研究提供借鉴,从供应链角度出发,以养殖场为冷鲜肉生产资料供应商、冷鲜肉加工企业为核心企业．超市为冷鲜肉销售商组成的冷鲜肉供应链为研究模型。针对冷鲜肉供应链的行业特点,通过建立数学模型．设计相应的利益分配机制、激励机制及信息协调机制．以期对我国冷鲜肉供应链的发展有所借鉴,促进冷鲜肉供应链企业间合作关系的良向发展,保证供应链的高效稳定运行．同时为后续的研究工作奠定基础。     

Learning, communication, and the bullwhip effect

We investigate the effect of learning and communication on the bullwhip effect in supply chains. Using the beer distribution game in a controlled laboratory setting, we test four behavioral hypotheses – bounded rationality, experiential learning, systems learning, and organizational learning – by systematically manipulating training and communication protocols. We find that order variability decreases significantly in a setting in which participants start with hands-on experience, and are then allowed to formulate team strategies collaboratively. This result indicates that while training may improve individuals’ knowledge and understanding of the system, it does not improve supply chain performance unless supply chain partners are allowed to communicate and share this knowledge. Our results indicate that the bullwhip effect is, at least in part, caused by insufficient coordination between supply chain partners.     

论供应链上的运输战略

Transportation is the important part of the supply chain.In order to make transportation works well in the supply chain,some strategies should he implemented to direct the operation of transportation.They are time-based strategy,security strategy,profit-driven strategy,risk-prevention strategy,IT strategy.competitive advantage strategy and customer response strategy.Each of those strategies and its purpose is explained in details.All of these strategies are working together can cannot be implemented without considering others.In one work,the successful implementation of these transport strategies can help to achieve the efficient supply chain.     

Adapting supply chain management strategies to security – an analysis of existing gaps and recommendations for improvement

The purpose of this paper is to determine the main security threats in supply chains, to understand gaps in today’s supply chain management strategies and to make recommendations to enhance security in the context of supply chain management. Previous research lacks comprehensive studies and recommendations about how supply chain managers deal with security issues in line with the business visions and strategies of their companies. The study methodology is based on an exploratory approach. Data were collected from 20 managers from international companies by means of self-administered surveys, one-to-one interviews and group interviews. Study findings point out risk management as an important tool at the disposal of managers for trading off performance and vulnerability. However, some important challenges also need to be considered, such as lack of data, insiders, IT vulnerabilities, regulatory frameworks, criminal behaviour, etc. Hence, recommendations are made for managers to improve their understanding of supply chain security.