An integrative approach to assess environmental and economic sustainability in multi-tier supply chains

Abstract

An integrative approach to assess environmental and economic sustainability in multi-tier supply chains Multi-tier supply chain sustainability is paramount to achieve corporate sustainability, due to the significant impacts from organisations beyond the focal firm boundaries and its direct suppliers. However, including environmental considerations within the dominant profit-centric logic of supply chain related decisions is prone to generate sustainability tensions. This work aims to support organisations address tensions between sustainability dimensions by adopting an integrative approach for sustainable supply chain management performance assessment thanks to an innovative eco-intensity based performance assessment method, which achieves a balanced consideration of environmental and economic performance in a weak sustainability perspective. The method, using primary data sourced from actual practice and featuring an indirect multi-tier approach with decentralised responsibilities across organisations, is applied to a case study of a machinery supply chain. The proposed integrative approach can support addressing sustainability tensions in the area of sustainable supply chain management, facilitate sustainable supplier evaluation and identify supply chain hotspots for operational improvement.

The role of network structural properties in supply chain sustainability: a systematic literature review and agenda for future research

“…Page 45 of 55 Supply Chain Management: an International Journal p p l y C h a i n M a n a g e m e n t : a n I n t e r n a t i o n a l J o u r n a l 3 Beckman et al, 2009;Ciliberti et al, 2009;Kauppi and Hannibal, 2017;Sayed et al, 2017;Tura et al, 2019;Villena and Gioia, 2018;Vurro et al, 2009 Adoption of sustainability initiatives b) Transformational leadership style Alvarez et al, 2010;Jia et al, 2019;MacCarthy and Jayarathne, 2012;Meqdadi et al, 2017;Touboulic et al, 2018 Diffusion of sustainability targets a) Access to many suppliers and compliance information symmetry Brockhaus et al, 2013;Castka and Balzarova, 2008;Lim and Phillips, 2008;Lund-Thomsen and Lindgreen, 2014;Sarkis et al, 2011;Touboulic et al, 2018 Villena andGioia, 2020;Vurro et al, 2009 (-) Hartmann and Moeller, 2014;Jia et al, 2019;Mejías et al, 2019 c) Focal firm delegation of sustainability-related responsibilities to first-tier suppliers Nair et al, 2016;Tachizawa and Wong, 2014;Tuni et al, 2019;Villena and Gioia, 2020;Wilhelm et al, 2016a a) Reduce operational burden on the focal firm Tachizawa and Wong, 2014 c) Lower-tier suppliers' commitment towards sustainability Gong et al, 2018;Wilhelm et al, 2016b c) Focal firm lack of resources c) First-tier suppliers' strong sustainability management capabilities Tachizawa and Wong, 2014;Wilhelm et al, 2016b First-tier supplier betweenness cent...…”

“…In particular, the various governance mechanisms that firms adopt to manage the sustainability of lower-tier suppliers (Alexander, 2020; Tachizawa and Wong, 2014; Villena and Gioia, 2020) generate specific connectivity patterns in the network. For instance, the direct governance approach, in which a focal firm bypasses the first-tier suppliers and establishes direct contact with lower-tier suppliers in achieving its sustainability goals (Tachizawa and Wong, 2014; Tuni et al , 2019), would create a highly centralised network position for the focal firm.…”

The hidden side of sustainable operations and supply chain management: unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs and tensions

“…However, after a more detailed analysis of the sample papers, it became clear that a wide range of papers mainly discuss the term "trade-off", but less so "tension" and very rarely "(un) anticipated outcomes" (Table 2). (Tuni et al, 2020). Consequently, many studies typically investigate trade-offs within a single sustainability dimension, such as the trade-off between land use and CO 2 emissions (Niu et al, 2020); between two different sustainability dimensions, such as financial vs environmental objectives (e.g.…”

Transdisciplinary perspective on sustainable multi-tier supply chains: a triple bottom line inspired framework and future research directions

“…For instance, social sustainability issues such as human rights, safe working conditions, diversity, ethical behaviour, and forced labour (Hannibal and Kauppi 2019) need a lot of attention as stakeholders such as customers, NGOs and the media pay particular attention to these. Similarly, economic and environmental sustainability issues such as pricing, profiteering, cost minimisation as well as emission, energy consumption, land occupation and water consumption (Tuni, Rentizelas, and Chinese 2020) have become issues that stakeholders now expect companies to be accountable for. Following the identification of the sustainability issues that encompass all elements of the triple bottom line, the next step is the work towards achieving the outcome of sustainable multi-tier supply chains.…”