Environmentally Sustainable Logistics Performance Management Process Integration between Buyers and 3PLs

PurposeThis study aims to explore how to apply and integrate the performance management (PM) process in humanitarian supply chains (HSCs) among and between humanitarian organizations (HOs) and donors so as to improve cost-efficiency (CE) and lead-time effectiveness (LTE) in the stage of natural disaster preparedness.Design/methodology/approachThis study adapts and operationalizes a framework for the PM process used in commercial supply chains to assess HSCs. A multiple-case study with two types of actors – six HOs and three donors—is used to describe the applications of the PM process and analyze the level of integration between the actors.FindingsThe activities in the PM process could sometimes be only vaguely described. Both actors emphasized improving CE, with less emphasis on LTE. Both actors have a low level of integration in each PM process activity, decreasing the CE and LTE. Therefore, guidelines for improving the level of PM process integration are provided.Research limitations/implicationsTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to combine literature on HSCs and PM process integration, thereby contributing to both literature fields. The concrete contribution of this study is a framework for PM process application and integration among and between HOs and donors.Practical implicationsThe PM process framework can be used to assess PM process application, as well as current and increased level of integration, to improve CE and LTE. The current applications can also inspire other HOs and donors.Originality/valuePrevious studies indicate the lack of frameworks in the PM domain of HSCs, especially in the stage of natural disaster preparedness.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyse the extent of the integration between manufacturers and third party logistics (TPL) providers at present and how the integration is expected to develop in the near future. The focus is on studying what tasks are part of the cooperation, what information and communications technology (ICT) tools are used for support, and what types of services are supplied and are expected to be supplied by TPL providers in the future.Design/methodology/approachA multiple case study of seven manufacturers and TPL providers is conducted. As the basis for the study a literature review is presented focusing on supply chain management and TPL provider integration as well as operationalisation of the integration concept. A framework is chosen for developing a detailed interview guide.FindingsCooperation is primarily found in sub‐processes of three out of the eight business processes studied. Further integration in the same processes is expected, based on ICT tools and with a focus on cost. ICT competences are primarily seen as a qualifier not a differentiator. Because the future TPL industry is expected to be characterised by more standardised services, more segmented markets for the various services and more intense competition, the manufacturers do not expect increased dependence on the TPL providers.Research limitations/implicationsManagerial and behavioural components are not part of this study and their effect on integration will require further investigation.Originality/valueFrom a supply chain management perspective, the study sheds light on a rarely explored area concerning the integration between manufacturers and TPL providers and its future development.

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to investigate systematically the discipline of supply chain management (SCM) within the context of sustainability. The two concepts are increasingly aligned, and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) represents an evolving field where they explicitly interact. Given their complex and holistic nature, breaking down the literature to understand its structures, processes, connections and limitations can provide an objective view of the status of research in these highly important fields, identifying key areas for future research/theory development.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review of current SCM literature is carried out, specifically in relation to the social and environmental dimensions of sustainability.FindingsSSCM and the integration of sustainability into supply chains is a significant but evolving field evidenced by a current bias in the literature towards theory development and highly qualitative research methods. The environmental dimension is significantly better represented in the literature through specific processes at all stages of the supply chain. The social dimension is recognised, but receives less emphasis than expected given SCM's focus on interaction, relationships and communication. These two dimensions are treated separately in the literature with limited insight on how to integrate them and current SCM and sustainability research provides limited practical outputs.Research limitations/implicationsThe review focuses on environmental and social sustainability within supply chains without explicit consideration of the economic dimension.Practical implicationsThe review highlights the key themes and issues for supply chain managers faced with implementing sustainability. It also illustrates a number of areas for future research, along with the need for researchers to develop more practical tools for implementing SSCM.Originality/valueIndicates the extent to which sustainability is integrated within SCM and where the research emphasis currently lies. The environmental dimension is significantly more defined and developed in the literature. SCM literature emphasises the importance of long‐term supplier relationships, but this “people‐focused” approach does not appear to translate into socially responsible supply chains. It suggests that the more process‐driven nature of environmental sustainability makes it easier to put into supply chain practice. There is also limited research or evidence on how the two dimensions can be integrated despite recognition of their inter‐relationship.

Building responsive and resilient supply chains: Lessons from the <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 disruption

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to discuss what a fully sustainable supply chain might look like and the consequences that can be drawn from this view. Also, it develops a practical approach towards sustainability supply chain performance measurement and management. The paper develops an analytical framework for the assessment of approaches for the measurement and management of sustainability performance of supply chains (SPSCs). Little research has been conducted on the issues, existing methods and possible approaches to measure and manage SPSCs.Design/methodology/approach– Literature review and conceptual development of framework.Findings– The paper develops an analytical framework for the assessment of approaches for the measurement and management of SPSCs. Existing approaches discussed in the vein of improving supply chains and increasing recycling are examined in the light of our framework, and areas to extend the research on sustainability performance measurement and management are identified.Research limitations/implications– Opportunities for extension of research on sustainability performance measurement and management of supply chains are identified.Practical implications– The framework offers help to managers in their choice of sustainability performance measurement and management approaches.Originality/value– The paper provides a structured overview of sustainability performance measurement and management literature and approaches to supply chain management. The framework proposed provides a foundation for further research.

Outsourcing the non-core business and establishing strategic alliance are vital for Supply Chain Management (SCM), which calls for the collaboration between node enterprise and Third Party Logistics (TPL) provider. On the approach of inventory optimization, the paper constructs quantitative model and reaches the conclusion that the collaboration is effective to optimize the inventory and increase the profit of Supply Chain (SC), which not only promises the whole optimal profit, but also creates a win-win situation.

Purpose– The purpose of the paper is to explore the practices with logistics performance management in two textiles supply chains, and to identify the related best practices and barriers.Design/methodology/approach– The method is a multiple case study of two textiles supply chains with a special focus on the rarely addressed interface between the manufacturer and the retail chain. The retail chains represent one large, global retail chain and one Nordic, comparably smaller retail chain. This paper is primarily empirical and describes practices for logistics performance management. The analysis discusses and explains best practices and barriers for logistics performance managements in textiles supply chains.Findings– Differences were identified regarding practices, priorities and collaboration in the logistics performance management process. No textiles industry-specific practices were found. A way of exchanging action plans between the actors is an interesting best practice, which enables improvement projects even with long geographical distances. Barriers in the shape of difficulties in creating a collaborative culture were found; however, IT support seems no longer to be a barrier.Research limitations/implications– Two cases are explored, why a broader study is necessary to confirm the results. The best practices and barriers identified are similar to those known from manufacturing companies.Practical implications– The detailed descriptions of logistics performance management practices can provide insights for practitioners. Even if the studied supply chains are important for the respective actors, there is a potential for increased effectiveness in textiles supply chains.Originality/value– Supply chains for textiles products “starting at a manufacturer and ending in a retail chain” seem to be an unchartered territory and not many studies have been performed.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is three pronged. First, to review the existing critical success factors (CSF) literature in the context of supply chain management (SCM). Second, to analyze the occurrence frequency of every possible CSF in SCM literature. Third, to identify the “vital few” and the “useful many” CSF that are harmonized across the SCM field. Design/methodology/approach – A time-specific and term-sensitive literature review technique is undertaken to generate a list of possible CSF in SCM. The review yielded 55 papers, but only 26 empirical CSF papers were selected for analysis as the reliability and validity of the factors had been rigorously tested. Consequently, a Pareto analysis approach was applied to trace the CSF frequency of occurrence in SCM literature. By performing a Pareto analysis, this present study is able to identify and categorize the “vital few” and “useful many” CSF that are consistent throughout various fields of SCM. The review and results are tabulated and a Pareto diagram has been constructed to provide a summary of findings. Findings – Out of the 26 selected empirical papers, 25 potent CSF in SCM literature have been extracted. From the Pareto analysis, nine CSF represent 80.68 percentage of occurrence which is regarded as the “vital few” CSF in SCM. The remaining 16 CSF represent 19.32 percentage of occurrence and is regarded as the “useful many” CSF in SCM. The nine “vital CSF” are immensely important, because in order to achieve supply chain and operation success, one must recognize the few vital factors that are responsible for the larger impact onto the industry compared to the other 16 “useful many” CSF. Practical implications – The study offers some sense of assistance to SCM managers in highlighting the vital few CSF that matter most, regardless of their nature of SCM fields. Thus, saving their energy, time, and resources in determining the critical pieces of information. For academicians, this study provides a platform for future SCM CSF research and the results could aid researchers in developing the research instrument. Originality/value – This study is the first attempt to apply Pareto analysis for SCM CSF studies and critically analyzing a wide range of SCM CSF literature. The result could allow supply chain managers to focus on the internal factors, as it could implicate the external factors, and is vital for sustainable supply chain operation, plus, it could stimulate potential researcher opportunities in linking SCM CSF and firm performance.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore and generate propositions of factors that affect the degree of performance management process integration in retail supply chains. Design/methodology/approach – The performance management processes of two retail supply chains were explored and their degree of process integration was classified. Differences in the degree of performance management process integration and affecting factors lead to the generation of five propositions. Findings – Dependence, brand importance, business process integration, performance demand and the existence of a performance management standard seem to be positively related to the degree of performance management process integration in the relation. Both factors that affect process integration in general and performance management process integration specifically are included. Some insights on integration in a vertically integrated retail chain were provided. Research limitations/implications – This study has specified the knowledge in process integration to the performance management process and expanded it into a retail context. It has generated a number of propositions on factors that affect the degree of performance management process integration, including a factor that was not found in previous research on manufacturing supply chains. The contribution to process integration theory is however limited until the propositions are validated in a broader study. Practical implications – Knowledge in affecting factors is useful when “performance management managers” need to communicate integration ambitions with other managers within and outside their own company. The detailed descriptions of performance management processes and integration practices can serve as inspiring benchmarks, as in the daily groceries supply chain, where the industry standard is especially interesting. They can also indicate practices to avoid, as in the home textiles supply chain. Another managerial take-away is the need to handle each relation, manufacturer-wholesaler and wholesaler-retailer store, with their specific affecting factors in specific ways. Originality/value – Previous knowledge on performance management process integration is mainly based on manufacturing companies. This study expands existing knowledge into a retail context.

Global marketplaces, higher levels of product variety, shorter product life cycles, and demand for premium customer services are all things which cause pressure for one supply chain to be more efficient, more time compressed and more cost effective. This has become even more critical in recent years because the advancement in information technology has enabled companies to improve their supply chain strategies and explore new models for management of supply chain activity. Among others, important research area in the supply chain management literature is the coordination of the supply chain. Actually, the understanding and practicing of supply chain coordination has become an essential prerequisite for staying competitive in the global race and for enhancing profitability. Hence, supply chain management needs to be defined to explicitly recognise the strategic nature of coordination and information sharing between trading partners and to explain the dual purpose of supply chain management: to improve the performance of an individual organisation an to improve the performance of the whole supply chain. In this context, we present the business process reengineering as a tool for achievinging effective supply chain management, and illustrate through a case study how business process modelling can help in achieving successful improvements in sharing information and the coordination of supply chain processes. It is well recognised that advances in information technologies have driven much change through supply chain and logistics management services. Traditionally, the management of information has been somewhat neglected. The method of information transferring carried out by memebers of the supply chain has consisted of placing orders with the member directly above them. This caused many problems in the supply chain including: excessive inventory holding, longer lead times and reduced service levels in addition to increased demand variability or the ‘Bullwhip Effect’. Thus, as supply chain management progresses, supply chain managers are realising the need to utilise improved information sharing throughout the supply chain in order to have coordinated supply chain and to remain competitive. However, coordination is not just a mere information sharing. Information can be shared but there may not be any alignment in terms of incentives, objectives and decisions (Lee et al., 1997b). Coordination involves alignments of decisions, objectives and incentives and this can be done only through new reengineered business process models, which need to follow the information sharing. Appropriate business processes are a prerequisite for the strategic

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how to integrate the performance management (PM) process of delivery service in customer/supplier dyads.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a multiple case study of six customer/supplier dyads of manufacturing companies.FindingsThe analysis focuses on describing and comparing the activities of the PM process. Most activities show low levels of integration in the dyads studied. Defining metrics and target setting are considered most important to integrate. Lack of common metrics definitions and ERP deficiencies were important obstacles for integration. Research issues related to four areas of supply chain PM are discussed.Research limitations/implicationsThe study ends with a number of suggestions for further research on the PM process in supply chains. Proceeding into these studies is necessary for increasing knowledge about PM.Practical implicationsThe paper reveals practical problems and outlines practical issues in integrating and handling the PM process in dyads, especially when measuring delivery service using the on‐time delivery metric. It also presents a model for describing and integrating the PM process and its activities.Originality/valuePractical implications and generation of multiple issues for further research applying a dyadic approach in supply chain PM, a research approach that is quite uncommon.

Industrial ecology, industrial symbiosis and supply chain environmental sustainability: a case study of a large UK distributor

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to efficiently assist the decision makers in evaluating and selecting the most appropriate third-party logistics (3PL) provider from environmental sustainability perspective using a two-phase model based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) and analytic network process (ANP).Design/methodology/approachThe study uses an integrated approach of DEA and ANP as an evaluation and selection methodology to select an efficient and requisite 3PL. The integrated model is a sound technique for 3PL evaluation and selection. DEA effectively screens the maximally efficient 3PLs, whereas ANP easily performs the cumbersome process of weighting diverse criteria and ranks various alternatives according to their performance on the basis of these criteria. This study lists the prominent evaluation and selection criteria taking into consideration the environmental sustainability. Finally, a real-life industrial application is presented to demonstrate the proposed method.FindingsThe current research work is devoted to the emerging research topic of environmental sustainability in logistics industry and supply chain management. The results of study indicate that eco-efficient transportation and 3PLs lead better transportation planning, better inventory and warehouse management, lower inventory cost and sustainable supply chain operations. Also, the applied approach enables the decision makers to better understand the complex relationships of the relevant criteria in the decision-making process.Research limitations/implicationsThis study does not investigate the relationships between environmental performances and differentiation advantage from the perspective of 3PLs. Also, sensitivity analysis is not performed.Practical implicationsThe developed integrated model enables decision analysts to better understand the complete evaluation process of 3PL evaluation and selection considering environmental sustainability perspective. Furthermore, the developed approach provides a more flexible, simple, accurate, effective, and systematic decision support tool for 3PL evaluation and selection.Originality/valueThe current study is first of its kind to use the integrated approach in evaluation and selection of 3PLs from environmental sustainability perspective considering the inter-dependencies among the evaluation and selection criteria.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe an emergent supply chain management system that supports a sustainable values based organization (VBO) using a structuration theory‐based framework.Design/methodology/approachA case study of a sustainable beef cooperative employing a structuration theory framework provides insights into sustainable supply chain management models.FindingsThe supply chain design and management afford the key to the VBO's success. In order to attain the necessary price premium, the unique product attributes acquired through the natural beef production process must be sustained along the entire supply chain and communicated to the end customer. Structuration theory is useful in understanding supply chain management in VBOs.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper has implications for studying VBOs, particularly those prioritizing sustainability values. The descriptive model presented is useful in settings where organizational structure and the supply chain are needed to support sustainable products and processes and whose success is facilitated by establishing strategic partners, especially those that make possible economies of scale. The study is limited to one, privately owned firm, operating in a specialty industry sector.Practical implicationsThe paper has implications for those entities with an identified values set that endows the product with unique characteristics that must be conveyed to their end consumer in order to command a price premium and/or differentiate the product from a commodity. The case study provides an example of how a unique product as well as a facilitating organizational structure and supply chain emerge out of the application of a set of core values.Originality/valueLittle previous research focuses on implications of supply chain management in VBOs. In addition, the paper contributes to both the supply chain management and sustainability literature by relating supply chain management to a more comprehensive sustainability agenda including social, environmental, and long‐term economic sustainability and by a theoretically based structuring.

This study takes a holistic perspective of sustainable logistics and supply chain management (SLSCM), exploring the interdependencies among sustainability, financial strength and customer performance in logistics and supply chain management. Firms often struggle to understand when sustainable performance is improving and most importantly, what it costs them in terms of financial and customer performance. The theoretical lens of the wicked problem provides a framework to understand why sustainability performance shows mixed results. Hypotheses that investigate aggregate-level links between sustainable practices of global companies are tested with regression analysis and firm-level data from three widely used databases. Efforts to improve SLSCM can have a positive impact on performance; however, it comes at a price. For example, we find that firms that achieve the highest sustainability recognition have a lower return on assets (ROA) and that a leadership position in sustainability performance requires resources and a long-term view of return on investment.