An ISM approach for the barrier analysis in implementing sustainable supply chain management

The purpose of this research is to propose a Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) implementation framework grounded in a literature review while categorizing practices adopted by firms’ and industries. Given the evolution of the SSCM field and emerging trends, we examine why and how companies implement SSCM practices within a country context. The research methods employed in this study include theory building from a review of the literature and synthesis of insights regarding the design of SSCM implementation frameworks using multiple cases in Taiwan. The review of the literature, content analysis, and findings provide new insights into designing an implementation model, and generalizable models for reactive, cooperative, and dynamic SSCM implementation. Practical implications include but are not limited to the generalization of implementation frameworks in supply chain management, and opportunities to improve global practices. Our development of the conceptual framework complements existing theory by offering new knowledge on SSCM implementation practices. This study can help guide research, practitioners, and policymakers in future sustainability and supply chain management initiatives.

This study aims to identify and analyze the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) implementation barriers in the context of Iran to determine the barriers and establish a cause-and-effect relationship between them. The Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) is used to assess the barriers to SSCM implementation in Iran, and a fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) is used to obtain qualitative assessments from multiple experts regarding how to mitigate the impact of the barriers. To validate the proposed methodology, out of 20 barriers identified through the literature review and 9 more barriers suggested by experts, 26 barriers are identified to be relevant to the context of Iran using FDM. Six SSCM implementation barriers (i.e., economic sanctions; banking problems; economic instability; high inflation rate; lack of regulation and guidance from the government and lack of a globally competitive environment) were determined as important barriers in the cause group. All of them are related to Iran’s economic situation, the economic sanctions against Iran, and the government’s neglect of the importance of sustainability issues, all of which are obviously out of the companies’ control; moreover, the impact-relation map for each has been developed to facilitate the visualization of its interactions (i.e., influencing and influenced) with other barriers. The outcomes achieved are unique to Iranian companies and cannot be generalized to every company in other countries; however, the proposed approach might serve as a foundation for analyzing and comprehending the interactions between barriers. The suggested technique would identify the most effective areas for directing resources and efforts to reduce the effects of barriers to successful SSCM implementation.

The technological innovation capability of enterprises has many functions and many influences on the implementation of sustainable supply chain management. The study aims to shed light on how technological innovation capabilities (TICs) affect the implementation of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and how they can help organizations overcome internal barriers to SSCM implementation. This descriptive survey was conducted in the context of Iran. The survey was carried out with 27 responses, which were analyzed by one-sample t-test to determine the relationships between variables, and the Friedman test to rank the results. This study employs SPSS for statistical analysis. The study reveals that all TICs have a substantial effect on SSCM implementation in general, especially the learning capability, resource allocation capability, and manufacturing capability, which all have an almost identical positive and significant effect on SSCM implementation. Interestingly, organizing capability had the least influence on SSCM implementation. In addition, the results demonstrating improved TICs could assist firms in overcoming internal barriers to SSCM implementation. From a practical standpoint, the relationship between TICs and SSCM implementation and its barriers may give insight into how organizations can enhance their SSCM implementation by improving TICs. Moreover, policymakers and sustainable supply chain managers in Iran can benefit from the identified relationships in this study. This study is one of the first to analyze the impact of TICs on SSCM implementation, and the findings provide a novel paradigm for understanding how TICs influence the implementation of SSCM.

Challenges faced by the mining sector in implementing sustainable supply chain management in Zimbabwe

PurposeRecently, sustainability aspects are gaining importance among supply chain management (SCM) research field, hence this study aims to explore barriers to sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) implementation in Egyptian industries and the interrelationships among these barriers to provide a structured detailed model for barriers and suggest recommendations to deal with these barriers.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is an empirical study with a descriptive research approach using qualitative methodology. Data were collected through interviewing experts involved in sustainability implementation within supply chain functions. Afterward interpretive structural modeling (ISM) for barriers was conducted to develop a structured model representing possible interrelationships between barriers.FindingsFindings have reported slight differences among barriers to SSCM implementation in Egyptian industries other than those stated previously. ISM analysis helped in shaping barriers into a detailed structured model where interrelationships among barriers can be clearly defined. Additionally, based on the data collected and the ISM model, this study managed to offer recommendations to deal with these barriers.Research limitations/implicationsFuture researches might consider developing ISM analysis for a smaller number of barriers, or focus on each of internal and external barriers individually to minimize ISM analysis complexity and enhance its accuracy. As ISM analysis technique is highly dependent on experts' opinions and experience, validation is highly recommended either by structural equation modeling (SEM) or linear structural relationship approach.Practical implicationsThis study provides insights for managers about internal and external barriers to SSCM implementation in Egyptian industries, a detailed structured model for interrelationships among these barriers and recommendations to deal with these barriers.Originality/valueThis study is one of the very first studies to implement ISM for barriers to SSCM on data collected from Egyptian industries. Consequently, it will direct further research focusing on developing strategies or recommendations to overcome these barriers.

At present, scholars have thought little of the drivers for sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in developing countries. Drawing upon the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Competing Value Framework (CVF) of organisational culture, this study investigates how the drivers for SSCM motivate Chinese firms to adopt SSCM practices and how such effects are moderated by organisational culture. The results of a survey of 209 firms in China suggest that the eight driving factors for SSCM have significantly impact on SSCM adoption. In addition, organisational culture plays different roles in the relationships between these three dimensions of the driving force and SSCM adoption. Team-based culture and hierarchy culture do not moderate the relationship between SSCM drivers and practices. Market-oriented culture positively moderates the relationship between subjective norm and SSCM practices and negatively moderates the relationship between perceived behavioural control (PBC) and SSCM practices. Active culture has positive moderating effect on the relationship between attitude and SSCM practices, as well as between subjective norm and SSCM practices, but has negatively moderating effect on the relationship between PBC and SSCM practices. The study provides meanings insights into the implementation of SSCM in the context of developing countries.

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to identify key categories of Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and related practices that are required to fulfill the demands of sustainability and, therefore, contributing to sustainability performance. As part of this, the authors will identify different approaches in practice implementation in SSCM and supply chain management (SCM). SSCM has become a topic of great interest and is linked to the assumption that a more sustainable performance for businesses would be achieved on its implementation. Such performance has to be achieved with respect to all three dimensions of sustainability. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is conceptual in nature. The authors draw from literature on SSCM and examine frameworks and critical accounts on the topic. This allows identifying key aspects of SSCM and pointing out differences and overlaps with SCM. Findings – The authors identify five key categories which are of high importance for the sustainable management of supply chains: orientation toward SCM and sustainability, continuity, collaboration, risk management and proactivity. In a second step, the authors describe distinctive practices which allow organizations to follow the goals formulated in the five key categories. Finally, they highlight issues preventing companies that follow a rather “conventional” approach to SCM to reach the level where it can be called SSCM, i.e. how to reach sustainability performance in SCM. Research limitations/implications – The work presented is conceptual in nature. It would be required to operationalize respective categories and, therefore, test them in empirical research. Practical implications – The categories and practices identified within the framework can be used for guiding managers toward the implementation of SSCM. This is the case when management takes performance implication into account without solely considering rather simplistic indicators. At the same time, differentiating a company based on the implementation of sustainability practices has become more difficult, due to the proliferation of sustainability in a wider field. Social implications – Social aspects are integrated into the framework on the same level as environmental and economic aspects, emphasizing the triple bottom line orientation. Originality/value – While all practices applied in SSCM have originally been identified and described by researchers for the case of “conventional” SCM, their particular interrelation and joint implementation makes up SSCM and ensures a contribution to sustainability performance.

Sustainable supply chain management challenges analysis in local plastic recycling business

The primary purpose of the paper was to identify the key capabilities that can be adopted or adapted for successful implementation of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices in a different business environment. This paper reports an in-depth exploratory case study of a global automaker in India. An assessment is carried out for SSCM to generate valuable interorganisational resources that become sources of competitive advantage. This paper after an initial literature review identifies key sustainability practices across a wide range of industries for effective SSCM implementation. The key findings of this research are the capabilities to adopt a set of operating principles such as lean manufacturing, quality management or strategic management practices directly across markets/environments without any change. The research also identifies capabilities to innovate, collaborate and partner that require development of critical resources or changing key resources for successful implementation of SSCM in a different business environment. This paper provides an insight into the dynamic capabilities for SSCM implementation in a different market. Our study findings will help managers configure their supply chains for sustainable benefits in economic, social and environmental spheres in a different market. This work also contributes to research on how organisational routines influence firm adaptation to a major environmental change.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that drive or prevent companies' implementation of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices. To this end, we interviewed 29 senior managers from 23 New Zealand‐based companies. The key reported drivers were customer expectation, top management commitment, moral and ethical values of managers, reputation management, and economic and operational benefits. Conversely, cost concerns, strategic and structural restraints, supplier and customer issues, and a lack of effective regulations were cited as critical obstacles to SSCM implementation. Thus, the evidence from our findings provides support for both instrumental and normative logics for SSCM implementation. The findings further indicate that, in general, instrumental and normative logics are congruent; however, varied tensions arise when managers seek to simultaneously address competing yet desirable SSCM aspects. Accordingly, we argue that it is imperative to understand, work through, and manage such tensions as balancing divergent sustainability aspects holds considerable potential for successful SSCM implementation.

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has increasingly become an important operation task for business organizations in recent decades in orderto be positioned competitively within industry supply chain management. The economic, environmental, and social goals come from the threemajor dimensions of SSCM and they are derived fromcustomer and stakeholder requirements. The social compliance program (SCP)is a basic requirement established and aimsto evaluate suppliers and or business organizations’ SSCM implementation as foundation.An empirical checklist used to commonly use as a tool to evaluate suppliers’ performance in the field of social compliance, but the argument is that it is insufficientand approaches ambiguity when examiningthebusiness efforts of sustainable decisions. Today, for instance, less in-depth theoretical data are qualitativelyutilized for suppliers’ social compliance performanceevaluation. This paper represents a case study to illustrate the proposed SCP criteria used for evaluating and selecting sustainable global suppliers is practicable in field of meeting social compliance perspective. This study adopts the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methodology by using a multi-criteria decision framework to measure the SCP within SSCM. For comparison, we collected the relevant factors and alternatives through aquestionnaire collected from 137 surveys that were submitted by various business units from a global sports brand company, whose suppliers are located in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Cambodia. It appears that, in general, the concept of management involvement, the launch of a management system, communication within collaboration, a training mechanism, and a transparent attitude and performance action are critical elements that lead business decisions and supply chain sustainability. We present reliable factors thatcontribute to the framework decision model and which are applicable to business entities for effectively evaluatingand selectingsustainable suppliers. Moreover, we find that the value mechanism applied to suppliers can also enhance the motivation of the business model and to meet the goal dimension of SSCM.

Sustainable construction and supply chain management (SCM) have, in recent years, become two of the most important performance-related issues within the construction industry. To achieve corporate sustainability within any organisation, it is essential that sustainability issues are addressed throughout the organisation's whole supply chain, a process referred to as sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). The implementation of SCM and sustainability is, however, an extremely complex undertaking. Through an extensive literature review and detailed interviews, this research has identified the conditions and strategies for achieving SSCM within construction organisations. The research also investigated the meaning, barriers and enablers, issues, tools and techniques for achieving successful SCM and SSCM. The study was based on the perspectives of senior managers of exemplar organisations with a proven track record in sustainability and SCM. It has been possible to identify best practice from which other organisations can learn, thus supporting the industry in the move towards more sustainable construction practices.

The role of customer awareness in promoting firm sustainability and sustainable supply chain management

In light of the growing complexity of globally dispersed, multi-tier supply chains; sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has become instrumental in the quest for achieving sustainability compliance along the supply chain. This study investigates how sustainability capability develops within a firm, and then extends to SSCM. Using a fixed-effect model and a global dataset of 2,206 firms between 2002 and 2015, this study shows that a firm’s information environment, proxied by their customers awareness, has a significantly positive effect on their sustainability performance, and on their implementation of SSCM. Our analysis suggests that the influence of a firm’s information environment on a firm’s SSCM performance is mediated by the firm’s own sustainability capability. We also find that this relationship is affected by stakeholder engagement. This research is relevant because, by investigating the factors that influence the development of SSCM, it provides guidance for firms that wish to achieve sustainability improvements in their supply chains during an era when the natural environment, social responsibility and the related strategic opportunities have increased in importance.

In the contemporary marketplace, it is essential for industries to offer environmentally conscious, "green" products. Because industries are aware of demands from both customers and from government policies towards en- vironmental products, Indian industries are particularly pressured regarding issues of environmental adoption. At this point, they presently have less detailed research on the effects of the adoption of environmental practices using traditional supply chain management (TSCM). One sector that is less aware of environmental initiation practices in the TSCM is the fastener manufacturing industry, but they are in a good position to adopt and to improve their environmental performance. Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) is an important concept to improve environmental perfor- mance in TSCM and to provide a useful green image in industrial products. However, there are many barriers to the successful implementation of SSCM, and it should be noted that not all the barriers carry an equal impact. We need to identify the dominant factors required to adopt the SSCM concept, so that industries need to analyze the barriers and their impacts. The main aim of this paper is to determine the relationship between the barriers and to identify the most influential barriers from the recommended barrier list with the help of interpretive structural modeling. In this study, 13 barriers are considered from the extensive literature available. This study has been conducted in two fastener manufacturing industries that are located in the southern part of India.