Sustainability in Supply Chains with Behavioral Concerns

Abstract

Environmental sustainability has received considerable attention in industry and academia. Many firms have begun to adopt sustainability practices, such as investing in cleaner technology and using organic or recyclable materials, to enhance sustainability in supply chains. Such sustainability practices affect corporate social responsibility and business performance. On the other hand, when consumers and supply chain managers make decisions, they may be constrained by behavioral concerns. Behavioral concerns can significantly influence optimization in supply chains. Thus, it is critical to consider the impacts of behavioral concerns on sustainability in supply chains. In this paper, we concisely examine studies in sustainability issues in supply chains with behavioral concerns and introduce the papers featured in this Special Issue.

Main Dimensions in the Building of the Circular Supply Chain: A Literature Review

“…It is not only a question of change in the productive system, but also of incorporating relations between the agents involved. Collaboration in the supply chain enables a network of actors to be connected in their supply chain by managing the transparency of data, flows and exchanges of material, responsibilities, predictability, and benefit sharing [4,83].…”

“…Certain sectors, such as the automotive industry, have a complex supply chain network responsible for much of the environmental degradation in their value chain [2]. Concerned with improving sustainability in their supply chains to enhance their operational, economic, and social responsibility performance, many companies have begun to incorporate new or recycled materials, cleaner technologies, and new organizational and logistical practices [3,4].…”

“…Consequently, it is important to consider behavior at both the individual and organizational level. It is recommended that a strong mechanism be designed to motivate all members of the supply chain to participate in a joint sustainability effort that incorporates several types of perspectives [4]. So, [7] propose a sustainable risk-sharing contract which could distribute profits between channel members and coordinate the system under a fixed risk-sharing degree.…”

Channel Selection and Pricing Decisions Considering Three Charging Modes of Production Capacity Sharing Platform: A Sustainable Operations Perspective

“…In addition, as charging mode changes, the trend of changes in consumer surplus and social welfare is the same as that in the market share of products from the sharing channel.More specifically, from the perspective of actual operations, production capacity sharing brings new directions to sustainable supply chain management issues. For example, as consumers have become more sustainably concerned [16,17], production capacity sharing on the platforms is an effective alternative for manufacturing enterprises to ensure competitive advantage by meeting demands of the market, reduce their risk of wasting capacity, no longer face with the selection limitations, optimize business scheduling, and gain new revenue streams [13]. However, production capacity sharing mechanism design considering sharing features is challenging.…”

“…Consumer purchasing behavior is an important factor affecting the strategies of upstream decision-makers. However, there is a gap between a consumer's actual actions and positive attitudes to sustainability, which means that sustainability consciousness does not always lead to purchasing behavior for products made via the platforms [17]. This raises an interesting question that how consumer's consciousness of sustainability affects their purchasing behavior and then affects the decision-making of upstream supply chain members?…”