The role of collaboration in the UK green supply chains: an exploratory study of the perspectives of suppliers, logistics and retailers

Abstract

Role of collaboration in green supply chains in the UK: An exploratory study on suppliers, logistics and retailers perspectivesMany companies around the world have started to realise that working alone will not be sufficient in their move towards a greener supply chain (SC). More specifically, recent UK government regulations on implementing strict CO2 reduction encourage SC operators to work collaboratively, in production and logistics or other operations, to achieve their green objectives. In this research, we look at some underlying factors of SC collaboration, focussing on suppliers, logistics and retailers, for the purpose of improving the environmental sustainability of companies' SCs. To facilitate our study, we conduct case studies in two overseas supplier companies with the aim of providing a better understanding of how green issues imposed by European and UK customers influence the companies' actions to meet agreed environmental goals. Based on the initial analysis of the case studies, we develop a conceptual framework which indicates that SC collaboration plays an important role in ensuring companies achieve environmental sustainability of their SCs. Subsequently, staff in middle-management and related roles in sixteen companies operating in the UK are interviewed. This allows us to understand their business practices in terms of SC collaboration with their suppliers and buyers to achieve the goal of CO2 reduction. Finally, drawing upon the information from company reports and websites, a number of UK leading retailers' actions to reduce CO2 emissions are investigated. We develop a conceptual framework of SC collaboration for environmental sustainability to help companies improve their level of collaboration between suppliers and buyers in terms of meeting their environmental objectives. The proposed framework will serve as a base model for the companies using or considering SC collaboration to achieve their environmental agendas, in line with governmental green regulatory requirements.

Collaboration for Sustainability in the Food Supply Chain: A Multi-Stage Study in Italy

“…The growing demand for improved service levels and rising costs for offering better quality products recognize collaboration in the supply chain as a key driver to increase business performance and sustainability [3,6,18,24].…”

“…Then, collaboration for supply chain sustainability is described. At the basic level, supply chain collaboration refers to companies and/or organizations working together to solve problems and/or achieving common goals [3,4,7]. However, supply chain collaboration is difficult to manage because of challenges regarding the decisions surrounding with whom and when to collaborate, for what reasons and how to implement collaboration [4].…”

“…Focusing on environmental sustainability, Vachon and Klassen [2] defined collaborations as the interactions between supply chain (SC) members for shared environmental goals, which can be directed upstream or downstream, and are expected to be intra and/or inter-organizational [3]. Thus, identifying who participates in collaboration initiatives and the goals involved is key to establishing a successful relationship.…”

Green supply chain management – food for thought?

“…There is also a growing research in the role of supply chain (SC) collaboration on sustainability (Vachon and Klassen, 2008;Ramanathan et al, 2014;Grekova et al, 2015;Gunasekaran et al, 2015). However, there have been limited studies on SCM practices of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) (Quayle, 2003;Saad et al, 2006;Lenny Koh et al, 2007;Vaaland and Heide, 2007;Thakkar et al, 2009) and only a few studies on GSCM practices of SMEs (Aragon-Correa et al, 2008;Lee, 2008;Huang et al, 2012;Lee et al, 2012;Bourlakis et al, 2014;Huang et al, 2015), and no research has been found on UK food retail SMEs that has a particular focus on GSCM.…”

The Process of Responsibility, Decoupling Point, and Disengagement of Moral and Social Responsibility in Supply Chains: Empirical Findings and Prescriptive Thoughts

“…In the business models of many markets today the detrimental effects of immoral behavior are often manifested outside of the legal, geographical, and national boundaries of the company in which they are performed (e.g. Alkaya and Demirer, 2014;Ramanathan et al, 2014). The application is called moral decoupling (MDec) and provides a theoretical base to understand the dissonance discussed above from a supply chain perspective.…”