Upstream Supply Chain Research Articles

The Effectiveness of CSR Implementation in the Upstream Supply Chain of Mining Industry: A Stakeholders' Perspective

The case study has derived from an Indonesian geothermal company established in 2008 that focused on one of its projects located in a mining site at Muara Laboh, Solok Selatan, Sumatra Barat, Indonesia. The purpose of this research is to identify the nature and form of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives conducted by the company at the Muara Laboh site; determine stakeholder contribution to the sustainability of CSR outcomes; analyse the relationship between stakeholders and the company; analyse the expectation differences between the company, stakeholder, and CSR/Stakeholder theory; identify future agenda development on the next stakeholder program; gives a reference for the subsequent research regarding a sustainable CSR program. The research method used in this research was a qualitative case study with a semi-structured interview as the source of primary data, where the population of this research was stakeholders of the company, with the method of purposive sampling for attaining the information. The study was imperative to learn the effectiveness of the company’s CSR in supporting stakeholders of the upstream supply chain. The result showed that the company has effectively implemented CSR for local communities in the Muara Laboh mining area. Moreover, local communities have had a good relationship and felt helped since the company came to their villages. However, there has been some expectation discrepancy between the company and local people. The distinction happened because the locals wanted material things such as donations and infrastructure. Nevertheless, they need more economic empowerment programs that can support sustainability or programs that can generate long-term benefits, not only material things that will run out if not used properly

Leveraging supply integration, mass customization and manufacturing flexibility capabilities and the contingency of innovation orientation

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the relationship between supply integration and firm performance by first, investigating the mediating effects of manufacturing flexibility and mass customization; and second, exploring the moderating role of innovation orientation on the link between internal capabilities and performance.Design/methodology/approachResource orchestration and contingency theories are used to address the mediating and moderating effects. A cross-sectional data set on 242 Swedish manufacturers is used to test for the hypotheses using structural equation modeling.FindingsThe findings provide support for the mediating roles of manufacturing flexibility and mass customization in the relationship between supply integration and firm performance. However, the results point to contrasting contingent effects of innovation orientation. While innovation orientation positively moderates the association between mass customization and firm performance, it shows a negative impact on the link between flexibility and performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe study contributes to the literature on the integrative activities with upstream supply chain actors. Specifically, the authors highlight how specific capability configurations comprising of supply integration, manufacturing flexibility and mass customization lead to firm performance. Moreover, the authors provide insights on the contingency role of innovation, especially if firms consider flexibility or customization capabilities.Originality/valueWhile the individual impacts of flexibility and customization on performance have been addressed previously, there is a paucity of research on how these two capabilities are integrated with supply integration. Moreover, there is little known regarding the role of innovation orientation on these integrated relationships.

Robust Sourcing Under Multilevel Supply Risks: Analysis of Random Yield and Capacity

We consider the optimal sourcing problem when the available suppliers are subject to ambiguously correlated supply risks. This problem is motivated by the increasing severity of supply risks and difficulty evaluating common sources of vulnerability in upstream supply chains, which are problems reported by many surveys of goods-producing firms. We propose a distributionally robust model that accommodates (i) multiple levels of supply disruption, not just full delivery or no delivery, and (ii) can use data-driven estimates of the underlying correlation to develop sourcing strategies in situations where the true correlation structure is ambiguous. Using this framework, we provide analytical results regarding the form of a worst-case supply distribution and show that taking such a worst-case perspective is appealing due to severe consequences associated with supply chain risks. Moreover, we show how our distributionally robust model may be used to offer guidance to firms considering whether to exert additional effort in attempt to better understanding the prevailing correlation structure. Extensive computational experiments further demonstrate the performance of our distributionally robust approach and show how supplier characteristics and the type of supply uncertainty affect the optimal sourcing decision. History: Accepted by Pascal Van Hentenryck, Area Editor for Computational Modeling: Methods and Analysis. Funding: K. Pan was supported in part by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong [Grant 15501920] and in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant 72001185]. Supplemental Material: The software that supports the findings of this study is available within the paper and its Supplemental Information ( https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/suppl/10.1287/ijoc.2022.1254 ) or is available from the IJOC GitHub software repository ( https://github.com/INFORMSJoC ) at http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7129356 .

Supply Chain Concentration and Green Innovation Activities of Enterprises——An Empirical Study Based on Panel Data of Chinese Listed Companies

Today, China is in an important period from high-speed development to high-quality development. Green development and innovation are important ways for many enterprises to upgrade, transform, enhance their competitiveness and achieve high-quality development. Based on this realistic background, this paper takes the panel data of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2008 to 2019 as the research object, and empirically explores the impact and mechanism of green innovation, an important product feature of enterprise supply chain concentration. The results of this paper show that the higher the concentration of the upstream supply chain of listed companies, the lower their green innovation performance, and the negative effect has always existed and decreased. The further discussion found that the highly concentrated upstream supply chain reduces the input of enterprises' innovation activities and innovation strategy decisions, and thus inhibits green innovation. This paper incorporates green innovation performance and supply chain concentration into the same research system, and theoretically extends the scope of supply chain management research, which has reference and important practical significance for enterprises to carry out green innovation activities and improve their supply chain management and green innovation capabilities.

Tracing the technology development and trends of hard carbon anode materials - A market and patent analysis

As the demand for energy storage is expanding rapidly, concerns have been raised about critical raw materials used in lithium-ion batteries. Post-lithium batteries have the potential to provide a more sustainable option for energy storage by taking advantage of raw materials that are more abundant and unrestricted by supply chains. Sodium-ion batteries are one type that is currently the most widely discussed candidate in light of the approaching commercialization. The most promising anode material for commercial sodium-ion batteries that can be applied in large quantities in the near future is expected to be hard carbon (HC). However, neither the current state of HC's commercialization nor the trend in technology development has been investigated. This work uses an approach that combines literature investigation, expert surveys, and patent analysis to track the growth route of HC and identify potential obstacles. The analysis of 352 HC-related patents and existing production operations shows that the HC market is still in the early phase of market development. As of now, production capacities are limited due to a lack of market forces and uncertain demand. Uneven distribution of market and research activities, lack of information transparency of the upstream supply chain, and potential hype stemming from market immaturity are highlighted as potential challenges in the HC market. To accelerate the commercialization of HC, as a prerequisite for a successful introduction of sodium-ion batteries to the future market, more investment and efficient market conversion of R&D efforts are required. This article offers recommendations to promote the sustainable design and marketing plans of HC-based battery systems.

Consumer trust in social responsibility communications: The role of supply chain visibility

Consumers are becoming more knowledgeable about companies' social responsibility (SR) practices. As a result, they are increasingly skeptical when companies do not provide clear information about these practices. One way to overcome this skepticism is to strengthen consumer trust through improved supply chain transparency. To create transparency requires a company to both gain visibility into its supply chain and disclose information to consumers. However, the current SR literature has only focused on the effect of disclosure on consumer trust, while the effect of visibility on trust in SR communications is not well understood. Our work addresses this gap. In this paper, we employ an incentivized human‐subject laboratory experiment, an online vignette study, and causal mediation analysis to investigate the impact of visibility on consumer trust in a company's SR communication, and as a result, its impact on consumers' purchase decisions. To further enhance our understanding of consumer behavior, we examine how consumer heterogeneity and workers' conditions in the upstream supply chain influence our results. We find that increasing visibility always strengthens consumer trust. Also, opportunities exist for a trust‐driven revenue benefit (due to greater visibility) when consumers are highly prosocial or have low general trust beliefs, or when the impact of an SR initiative is small. Our results underscore the crucial role that supply chain visibility plays in engendering consumer trust. Moreover, identifying trust as a mechanism to help explain the effect of visibility on sales of SR products offers actionable insights to improve a company's communication strategies.

How Analytics Is Facilitating Global Trade: Evidence from Modernizing the Global Supply Chain

Purpose – This analysis seeks to explore digitalization as a performance driver of supply chains, particularly the job of data analytics in the digitalization of procurement. The analysis investigates how electronic procurement abilities are connected to information analytics abilities and supply chain functional performance, and how this links to business results. Design/methodology/approach – Using dynamic and operational abilities as foundations for information analytics features, this study analyzed the electronic procurement abilities and proposed the conceptual style and hypotheses for empirical testing. The collected business survey information and structural equation strategy are then assessed to evaluate the hypotheses. Results – The study confirms favorable and significant associations between electronic procurement abilities, data analytics abilities and supply chain efficiency. Electronic procurement abilities mediate the good connection between external data analytics abilities and supply chain efficiency.Functional implications – From the managerial perspective, the findings highlight the benefits of increasing information from gathered information and digitalized procedures. Supervisors should look at information utilization abilities to improve the functionality expected from the digitalization of supply chain activities. Additionally, managers must think about exploiting information through new innovative methods as part of standardized activities. Originality/value – The current study plays a role in the present understanding by checking out the mediating role of data analytics features in between the digitalization of procurement and supply chain efficiency. The findings support a good connection between the data analytics abilities and supply chain performance in electronic upstream supply chain procurement procedures. The current study additionally clarifies the effect and role of data analytics features in electronic supply chain growth and achievement.

The Effect of Natural Hazard Damage on Manufacturing Value Added and the Impact of Spatiotemporal Data Variations on the Results

This study examined the effect of natural hazards on manufacturing industry value added and the sensitivity of the results from changes to spatiotemporal resolution of the data. We measured the negative effects of hazards, rather than the net effect. Three models were developed with varying spatiotemporal units for the continental United States: annual/county units; annual/state units; and quarterly/state units. Three simulations were run using each model to estimate the negative effect of damage from all natural hazards on value added across spatiotemporal scales. Finally, an investment analysis was conducted to examine the return from public investments in hazard resilience. The results do not demonstrate that, locally, natural hazards reduce value added. However, the evidence suggests that natural hazards in the upstream supply chain have statistically significant impact when modeled at the annual/county scale and at the quarterly/state scale. Neither local nor supply chain hazards have a statistically significant effect when modeled at the annual/state scale, suggesting that broader spatiotemporal units may obscure the true downstream effects of natural hazards. The investment analysis, utilizing model results, suggests that an investment of USD 100 billion or less is economical if it results in a reduction in losses of 10% or more.

Green Supply Chain Productivity Modeling for Oyster Mushrooms Agroindustry Improvement

Oyster mushrooms agroindustry in Indonesia have been potential in an effort to support local economic development. The objectives in this paper are to analysis the requirement of system design green productivity oyster mushrooms supply chain, to select the important attributes and to determine development strategies for increased green productivity. In order to analyze the requirement system, use case diagram and Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) were used in this paper. Relief method was used to select the important parameter attributes which sufficiently describe environment variables affecting the upstream and downstream supply chain of oyster mushroom. Then, to establish the rule in the formation of strategy formulation, Association Rules Mining was applied. The results are analysis in this paper system with BPMN business flow diagram can describe the system more easily. Relief method shows that the most important economic variable is sawdust. Association Rules Mining shows that economic variables with high corn and high ring was produced low sawdust with 100% confidence level and support value of 0.167 This research is expected to facilitate prediction of strategy to increase productivity oyster mushroom agroindustry based on existing environment condition.

Carbon footprint and voting preferences of a council

Accounting for carbon should be undertaken at multiple scales to create awareness of the negative environmental impacts of consumption. We undertake a comprehensive consumption-based supply-chain assessment of a community's emissions for a selected council area in the Greater Sydney region of Australia using multi-regional input-output analysis, by constructing a customised input-output table with data from the Australian Household Expenditure Survey on items related to food, beverages, housing, transport, energy, clothing & footwear, household appliances & furniture, medical services, communication, recreation and education. We quantify the Scope-1, -2, and -3 emissions of households in the council area, and put the results in the context of voting preferences of the Council community. Our results suggest that despite left-wing voter preferences, the consumption habits of green voters carry high carbon footprints – the per-capita carbon footprint of Inner West residents is about 1.3 times more than the footprint of residents in the Rest of Greater Sydney. Furthermore, about two-thirds of the footprint is embodied in upstream supply chains for satisfying consumption. This result is significant in that it means that if policy addressed only energy-related direct emissions, it would be missing a majority of the population's CO2e footprint.

Ripple effect mitigation capabilities of a hub and spoke distribution network: an empirical analysis of pharmaceutical supply chains in India

In this study, we focus on ripple effect mitigation capability of the Indian pharmaceutical distribution network during disruptions like COVID-19 pandemic. To study the mitigation capabilities, we conduct a multi-layer analysis (network, process, and control levels) using Bayesian network, mathematical optimisation, and discrete event simulation methodologies. This analysis revealed an associative relationship between ripple effect mitigation capabilities and network design characteristics of upstream supply chain entities. Using stochastic optimisation and Lagrangian relaxation, we then find ideal candidates for regional distribution centres at the downstream level. We then integrate these downstream locations with other supply chain entities for building the network optimisation and simulation model to analyse overall performance of the system. We demonstrate utility of our proposed methodology using a case study involving distribution of N95 masks to ‘Jan Aushadhi’ (peoples’ medicines) stores in India during COVID-19 pandemic. We find that supply chain reconfiguration improves service level to 95.7% and reduces order backlogs by 10.7%. We also find that regional distribution centres and backup supply sources provide overall flexibility and improve occupational health and safety. We further investigate alternate mitigation capabilities through fortification of suppliers’ workforce by vaccination. We offer recommendations for policymakers and managers and implications for academic research.

Applying digital twins for inventory and cash management in supply chains under physical and financial disruptions

ABSTRACT Supply chains (SCs) operate in a highly disruptive environment, where they face a variety of disruptions in product and cash flows. In such an environment, determining suitable inventory and cash replenishment policies ensures that cash and inventory are at the right place at the right time and provides a productive SC with high customer service levels. In this study, we first examine the impact of the disruptions in physical and financial flows on SC performance. We then, investigate the potential of a SC digital twin framework to help decision-makers in managing inventory and cash throughout the SC during disruption, currently absent from the literature. The proposed SC digital twin framework integrates machine learning (ML) and simulation to identify the inventory and cash replenishment policies that minimise the impact of the disruptions on SC performance. This approach proves effective in a SC disrupted by demand increase, capacity reduction, and credit purchase increase. Results show that employing the SC digital twin leads to a noticeable reduction in the cash conversion cycle for upstream members of the SCs. We observe that the cash conversion cycle for the upstream SC members is greatly impacted by the inventory policy employed by their immediate downstream members.

Risk analysis of shallot upstream supply chain in Malang during COVID-19 pandemic

A sustainable supply scenario becomes an important part of supply chain management for agricultural products in a conjuncture situation. In order to invent sustainable agriculture product supply, it is necessary to ensure that the existing upstream supply chain is sufficiently resilient with minimum disruption. This research aims to analyze risk in the shallot upstream supply chain in Malang during the Covid-19 pandemics. In this study, 8 shallots farmers and 3 intermediaries/traders were interviewed as key informants, and the purposive method was used. Upstream supply chain risk analysis is carried out in two stages to analyze risks from farmers and traders. Analysis was done by using a risk matrix. The result shows that the main risk of sustainable aspects within the upstream level is economic aspects. The distribution level needs to be paid more attention to because it has more risks than the farmers’ level.

Performance Management of Strategic Sourcing Process: A Case of the Footwear Industry

The paper focuses on strategic sourcing in the upstream supply chain of the footwear industry in Pakistan. It intends to explore the drivers and enablers of strategic sourcing and how the performance of these sources is measured. The study develops a framework for the Performance Measurement (PM) of Strategic Sourcing process. The research has been undertaken using the qualitative research methodology and is a case study of the footwear supply chain in Pakistan. The data is collected through semi-structured interviews, direct field observation, and related documents. The paper contributes to finding out the current practices to measure the performance of strategic sourcing and developing the criteria to measure strategic sourcing, especially in the footwear industry of Pakistan. Eleven approaches are proposed based on a case that will result in better prospects for supply chain development and strategic sourcing in the Pakistani footwear industry. The framework will serve as a guide for developing strategies for strategic sourcing. No previous study has been done in this region concerning strategic sourcing performance. Since this is a single case study, it cannot be statistically generalized. Analytical generalizations have been made nonetheless.

Inputs for staple crop production in China drive burden shifting of water and carbon footprints transgressing part of provincial planetary boundaries

Crop production is the biggest water user and key contributor to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Increasing crop yields to ensure adequate food supply under water and land scarcity is excessively dependents on intensive agricultural inputs (such as fertilizers, pesticides, agri-films, or energy), resulting in unintended environmental consequences. Supply chains bringing environmental-intensive inputs from their place of production to the croplands. However, most food-related environmental assessments ignore the environmental burden of agricultural input production, trade, and consumption. Here, we estimate spatially-detailed water (WF) and carbon footprints (CF) of wheat, maize, and rice production in China with extended system boundary from upstream raw material mining to the field. The agricultural inputs account for up to 24% and 89% of a crop's WF and CF, respectively, at the provincial level. The total local generated WF in Chinese northern provinces and CF in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia provinces for producing crops and agricultural inputs transgresses the corresponding downscaled blue water and carbon planetary boundaries. The study broadens the scope of traditional environmental impact assessments in agricultural production and sheds light on the significances to manage the linkages between the crop production and the agricultural inputs’ upstream supply chains towards more efficient water use and less greenhouse gas emissions in food system.

Strategic Framework for Achieving Sustainability in Telecom Supply Chain, a Case Study of Pakistan

Current research aims to unpack the issues faced by the telecom sector of Pakistan to sustain its supply chain management. While using s qualitative case study method, this research has analyzed the available framework to achieve sustainability in the supply chain. Data Triangulation was used, and data were extracted from Telecom company’s documentation, on-site observation & semi-structured interviews. This paper proposes a strategic framework for developing sustainability in the supply chain of telecom companies. The framework provides the step-by-step implementation of all dimensions of sustainability upstream of a supply chain. The developed framework can be used as a roadmap by the Telecom sector to make their Supply Chain more Sustainable. The research focuses on the upstream supply chain, and the findings argue that telecom supply chains can only use the proposed framework upstream to achieve sustainability.

Using a life cycle assessment to identify the risk of “circular washing” in the leather industry

Although the circular economy is a key strategy to mitigate climate change, the relationship between them has rarely been investigated. This study aims to fill this gap by applying a life cycle assessment to evaluate the benefits of circularity interventions in the tanning industry. We compared the baseline scenario with no circular actions a circular scenario with salt recovery and tannin baths reuse. We then calculated the environmental benefits with regard to vegetable-tanned leather. Although our results proved the positive effects of the circularity activities adopted in the production phase, the environmental impacts related to the upstream supply chain of the leather accounted for 85% of the total negative impact. In fact, the environmental benefits obtained were completely nullified by the impact of cattle raising and slaughtering, which even led to a slight deterioration in the circular scenario. Our study highlighted the need to better align interventions designed to promote circularity and mitigate climate change by expanding the range of actions to the company's suppliers. We revealed that a green supply chain management is key to achieving circularity and a zero-carbon future. Lastly, we also highlighted the importance of adopting life cycle assessments to evaluate the effects of circular business models, but especially to identify the main environmental hotspots. By using an LCA, organisations will be able to avoid circular washing, i.e., circular practices that provide only limited benefits in relation to the overall environmental footprint.

Modeling the evolvement of regional fuel cell vehicle supply chain: Implications for enhancing supply chain sustainability

Fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) represent one important pillar for transport low-carbon transition. While FCV supply chain has received growing attentions, its regional evolvement mechanism remains unclear, impeding the insights into future supply chain development and the measures needed to cope with possible challenges. To fill such a research gap, this study establishes a system dynamics model and forecasts the evolvement of regional FCV supply chain by taking China as the example. The results show that with peak annual demands for vehicle-use fuel cells of China growing to 350–600 GW in the coming decades, the country will likely face the challenges of high import dependence (>50%) on upstream advanced technology commodities, uncertain degree of FCV market penetration and a huge annual platinum demand up to 86 t. To cope with these challenges and improve the FCV supply chain sustainability, China needs to enhance industrial competitiveness in the upstream supply chain with priority, prepare the whole FCV supply chain in a highly elastic way, and reduce the dependence on imported platinum by improving the end-of-life recycling rates of platinum and increasing imports of platinum-containing scraps. With proper measures taken, China's FCV supply chain has the potential to evolve in a sustainable way and support the low-carbon transition of the transport sector.

Public procurement for innovation through supplier firms' sustainability lens: A systematic review and research agenda

AbstractPublic sector purchasing processes are gaining increasing prominence as a demand‐side innovation tool for addressing national sustainability challenges. Accordingly, there has been growing research attention to this topic. Prior studies suggest three key rationales that underlie the use of public sector procurement to drive innovation: (i) the buyer–user rationale (for creating new needs); (ii) the market/system failure rationale (for improving suppliers' capacity to innovate); and (iii) the public services rationale (for improving public services). However, operational activities at the upstream supply chain affecting the sustainable innovation capacities of supplier firms appear to be under‐researched in the public procurement for innovation (PPI) scholarship, despite knowledge about innovation capacity being critical to successfully implementing PPI. This paper adopts a systematic literature review approach to synthesise existing fragmented literature on sustainability‐oriented PPI, focusing on supplier perspectives. Findings from a synthesis of 41 relevant articles suggest, among others conditions, that a procurement framework that maintains a good balance of competition and innovation, builds buyer–supplier relationship and urges strong supply networks, maintains a stable political commitment, offers security for niche markets with effective innovation risk management culture would enhance suppliers' sustainability capacity and propensity to innovate. This paper contributes to the PPI literature and the literature on determinants of sustainable innovation systems from supplier firms' sustainability lens.

China’s power transformation may drastically change employment patterns in the power sector and its upstream supply chains

China’s power sector, as the major CO2 emitter, has experienced significant restructuring that has had profound impacts on employment in both power and its upstream sectors. Combining input–output and structural path analysis, we quantified the direct and indirect impacts of power transformation on employment in China between 2012 and 2017. Direct employment in the power generation sector witnessed a net growth of 0.12 million, while over 10 times that number of jobs (1.40 million) have been lost in the upstream sectors, mainly in coal mining and washing, finance, oil and gas extraction and transportation. Among the top 10 critical paths, the share of employment driven by solar and wind power increased to 12.31% in 2017, more than nine times that in 2012. Furthermore, three scenarios have been set up to evaluate the employment patterns in 2030 and 2050. Under the 1.5 °C scenario, projection shows that the power sector could support over 5 million jobs in 2050, with more than 80% of these being related to renewable energy. Policy suggestions for a just transition, such as resettlement of laid-off workers and job transfer in upstream industries, are comprehensively discussed.