Sustainable operations management study notes

Sustainable operations management  study notes

References with extracted contents

Ahi, P., M.Y. Jaber and C. Searcy. 2016. "A comprehensive multidimensional framework for assessing the performance of sustainable supply chains" Applied Mathematical Modelling 40, Elsevier: 10153-10166.

"Sustainability is commonly defined as using resources to “meet the needs of the present in a way that the future generations’ ability to meet their own needs will not be compromised”[1] . However, such an all-encompassing definition can present challenges when the aim is to operationalize sustainability. As a result, there is no collective consensus on what key characteristics can be used to comprehensively portray the sustainability concept in a business context".

"Based on a review of previously published definitions, Ahi and Searcy [4, p. 339] provided a comprehensive definition of SSCM: “The creation of coordinated supply chains through the voluntary integration of economic, environmental, and social considerations with key inter- organizational business systems designed to efficiently and effectively manage the material, information, and capital flows associated with the procurement, production, and distribution of products or services in order to meet stakeholder requirements and improve the profitability, competitiveness, and resilience of the organization over the short- and long-term.” The definition was explicitly written to capture the key characteristics of both business sustainability (i.e., economic, environmental, social, stakeholder, volunteer, resilience, and long-term focuses) and SCM (i.e., flow, coordination, stakeholder, relationship, value, efficiency, and performance focuses)";

"...one of the underlying foundations of SSCM is that it assumes that the concept of sustainability cannot be confined within the limits of any one firm, as its implications extend well beyond those boundaries [12] . The many players in a supply chain (e.g., suppliers, focal firm, distributors, customers, etc.) greatly increase the complexity of incorporating sustainability into SCM. This is, in part, due to the large number of potential interactions between the players in the supply chain [13,14] . This complexity is also due to the inherently multidimensional nature of sustainability, which encompasses the “triple bottom line” of economic, environmental, and social aspects as a minimum. Moreover, the fact that these issues and interactions must be considered over time adds further complexity to the subject. These challenges highlight the fact that it is difficult to determine if a sustainable state has been reached. Measuring progress toward, or away, from sustainability is often the best that can be achieved";

"Drawing on the recent research by Hassini et al. [17] , Seuring [18], Brandenburg et al. [19] , Brandenburg and Rebs [13] , and Beske-Janssen et al. [20] , quantitative analytical modeling approaches suggested for assessing sustainability issues in the supply chain may be categorized as summarized in Table 1 . As highlighted in the table, these categories include life cycle assessment (LCA) based models, applications of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), equilibrium models, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) models, models based on input-output (IO) analysis, and composite metrics"

"....it has been conceptualized that any supply chain, and the respective players within it, will have some capacity, as determined through the application of the framework, to overcome the sustainability challenges it faces. In this light, the enabler factors increase the capacity of the supply chain to move toward sustainability and to overcome its key sustainability challenges. The inhibitor factors, on the other hand, represent challenges to the supply chain and/or reduce the capacity of the chain to endure and overcome such challenges. The framework is based on the principle that if the supply chain’s capacity exceeds the challenges posed by the inhibitors, it will be making progress toward sustainability".

Sarkis, J., C. Bai, A.B.L.d.S. Jabbour, C.J.C. Jabbour and V.A. Sobreiro. 2016. "Connecting the pieces of the puzzle toward sustainable organizations" Benchmarking: An International Journal 23(6), Emerald: 1605-1623.

"Operations management has evolved in recent years due to changes in market requirements and competitiveness including an increase in environmental awareness, causing industries to rethink their productivity and quality strategies (Gunasekaran and Ngai, 2012). Natural environmental management requires strategic integration with business processes and other company functions in order to maintain consistency between operational strategic planning and environmental planning".

"SOM [sustainable operations management] can be defined as strategies, actions and techniques that support operational policies to achieve economic and environmental objectives simultaneously (Gunasekaran et al., 2014)";

"Hart and Milstein (2003) proposed a framework whose purpose was to present how organizations could pursue the creation of sustainable value for shareholders. Some strategies were suggested for organizations that could contribute to SD. The strategies suggested were pollution prevention, product stewardship, cleaner technologies, and vision of sustainability. The framework can be used by organizations as a diagnostic tool and for identifying opportunities to develop capabilities for achieving sustainable value and thus new markets. The framework was based on four quadrants: today and tomorrow internal and today and tomorrow external";

"Kleindorfer et al. (2005) alluded to the proposal by Hayes and Wheelwright (1984) regarding the four stage model for evaluating the role and contribution of the production function in a company’s competitive advantage. They proposed four strategies: internal present, external present, internal to the future, and external to the future. These strategies generally suggest actions that organizations can follow in order to improve environmental aspects of their operations. Those authors believed that supply chains could be involved for external strategies".

"Operations management influences environmental improvement through alterations in production processes and by taking into account the systemic logic of production systems (Corbett and Klassen, 2006). Operations management principles and philosophies such as JIT, TQM, TOC, Six Sigma and lean manufacturing can be adapted to support environmental management systems and improvements (MacCarthy et al., 2013).";

Jaehn, F. 2016. "Sustainable Operations" European Journal of Operational Research 253, Elsevier: 243-264.

"(Sustainable System) . A system is called sustainable if the environment influences the system in such a way that it can exist permanently. The “permanent existence” of a system is not to be understood in a strict sense, but rather in the sense of a very long time horizon";

"....a system is therefore sustainable if the environment 1. Only adds as much (harmful) things within a period of time to the system as can be absorbed by the system within this time, and

2. Only removes as much (essential) things from the system within a period of time as can be renewed by the system in this time";

"... we focus on economic, environmental and social sustainability, i.e., the sustainability of corresponding systems. Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, from which the Agenda 21 also emerged, these three areas are seen as equally important pillars of sustainable development (the Triple Bottom Line, 3BL). It is assumed that the sustainability of one of these three systems can only be achieved by way of the sustainability of the other two. For example, the earth’s ecological system is influenced by the economy and by the social system, i.e., the latter two are within the environment of the earth’s ecological system. Similarly, the economy and society are influenced by nature. Of course, the interdependency of economic, ecological, and social systems also exists for smaller systems. For example, a small company can be seen as an economic system as well as a social system, both interacting with the (regional) ecological system and a decision maker, e.g., from the company’s management, should keep these systems sustainable";

"Note that the simultaneous consideration of conflicting goals does not necessarily imply multi-objective approaches. It is only required that these goals find some consideration, e.g., as satisfactory goals, which could then be considered as constraints. Especially the implementation of certain ecological or social standards requires models and solution procedures such that these standards can be reached at minimum cost. Such models should obviously not be seen as purely economic models. If the conflicting goals can be expressed in monetary values, which often holds true for economic goals but also, e.g., for emissions within an emission trading system, the goals can easily be incorporated into a single objective";

Gimenez, C., V. Sierra and J. Rodon. 2012. "Sustainable operations: Their impact on the triple bottom line" Int. J. Production Economics 140, Elsevier: 149-159.

"The term sustainability integrates social, environmental and economic responsibilities. Kleindorfer et al.(2005) use the term to include environmental management, closed-loop supply chains and  a broad perspective on triple-bottom-line thinking that integrates profit, people and the planet into corporate culture, strategy and operations. Studying sustainability from the Operations Management(OM) field is essential for two fundamental reasons: First, firms have to account for the energy and other resources they use and the resulting footprint they leave behind. The primary activities that contribute to their foot print are the production, transportation, recycling and remanufacturing of current products and the design of new products; therefore, it is clear that OM can contribute to reduce this footprint (Kleindorfer et al.,2005). Second, companies need to operate in a prudent and responsible manner and take care of employee health and safety and the quality of life of the external community. As Operations is one of the areas employing the most personnel and having the highest footprint and impact on the external community, it can have a significant effect on sustainability’s social dimension".

"A widely adopted definition of sustainability is that used by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987): ‘‘Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs’’ (p. 8). Unfortunately, this macroeconomic definition is difficult for organisations to apply and provides little guidance regarding how they should identify present versus future needs, determine the technologies and resources to meet those needs, and understand how to effectively balance organisational responsibilities between multiple stakeholders (Hart, 1995; Starik and Rands, 1995)";

"Economic sustainability is usually well understood. At the plant level, it has been operationalised as production or manufacturing costs (e.g., Cruz and Wakolbinger, 2008). However, what is sometimes not so clear is the definition of environmental and social sustain- ability. At the plant level, environmental sustainability refers to the use of energy and other resources and the footprint companies leave behind as a result of their operations. Environmental sustainability is often related to waste reduction, pollution reduction, energy efficiency, emissions reduction, a decrease in the consumption of hazardous/harmful/toxic materials, a decrease in the frequency of environmental accidents, etc. Social sustainability shifts the focus to both internal communities (i.e., employees) and external ones (Pullman et al., 2009). Social sustainability means that organisations (and manufacturing plants) provide equitable opportunities, encourage diversity, promote connectedness within and outside the community, ensure the quality of life and provide democratic processes and accountable governance structures (Elkington, 1994)";

Chin, T.A., H.H. Tat and Z. Sulaiman. 2015. "Green Supply Chain Management, Environmental Collaboration and Sustainable Performance" Procedia CIRP 26, Elsevier: 695-699.

"The GSCM [green supply chain management] practices are conceptualized to include green procurement, green manufacturing, green distribution and green logistics. The sustainability performance is investigated from the perspectives of economic, environmental and social";

"Collaboration effort between focal company and supplier is the main ingredient of GSCM to facilitate supply-side environmentally and socially responsible activities. Collaboration in terms of environmental is an approach that helps firms to develop and support the environmental prowess of their supply partners [27]. According to Paulraj [23], environmental collaboration includes cooperating with suppliers to achieve environmental objectives and improve waste reduction initiatives, providing suppliers with design specification that include environmental requirements for purchased items, encouraging suppliers to develop new source reduction strategies, working with suppliers for cleaner production and helping suppliers to provide materials, equipment, parts and services that support organizational goals. Besides, top management plays a critical role in affecting the scope of an organizational sustainability practices";