Sustainable Supply Chain and Innovation: A Review of the Recent Literature

Sustainable supply chain management and green technologies: a bibliometric review of literature

To attain ecological sustainability and transition to sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), effective technological innovation (TI) and solid waste management (SWM), as likely impending resources, are essential components. From 2000 through 2021, a detailed map of SSCMs in the context of TI and systematic history will be created, highlighting the most significant research themes and trends, primary features, development, and possibly relevant areas for future study. Due to utilizing bibliometric analysis, text mining, and content analytics methodologies, the following concerns were addressed: (1) How has SSCM research progressed over time in the TI domain? (2) Which SSCM research areas and trends receive the most attention in the TI domain? Additionally, (3) what are the research directions for SSCM in the context of TI? As a result, bibliometric networks were developed and examined using 983 journal articles from the Scopus database to highlight the substantial body of literature. As a result, SSCM has been divided into five crucial study themes: (i) transition to TI, (ii) SSCM in closed-loop supply chains, (iii) municipal solid waste management (MSWM), (iv) environmental consequences and life-cycle evaluation, and (v) policymakers and practitioners in SSCM can use the SSCM research landscape and its primary highlight patterns to guide and add in the TI. Considering SSCM research as a way to reduce waste, future study directions are also suggested.

Assessing green innovation in supply chains: a systematic review based on causal mechanisms framework

Purpose

There have been several reviews of green, ecological and sustainable innovations, but a thorough assessment of green innovation (GI)'s mechanisms in a supply chain setting has not been attempted yet. The purpose of this paper is to review how GI was investigated in supply chains through the lens of a multilevel framework of innovation mechanisms.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors provide a comprehensive assessment of prior studies using a systematic literature review approach and content analysis of 136 papers identified from the Web of Science Core Collection database.

Findings

Current literature on green innovation supply chains (GISC) has been categorized according to three main causal mechanisms: situational, action-formation and transformational mechanisms. Three different levels of analysis were considered for the three mechanisms: macro, meso and micro. In addition, the authors have also assessed the value creation and appropriation outcomes of GI. The authors identified relevant research gaps in the extant literature and a set of propositions that may guide future research in this area.

Research limitations/implications

This review provides a novel perspective on GISC based on a multilevel theoretical framework of mechanisms.

Practical implications

The causal mechanisms assessment of GISC can be adopted by organizations to convince their SC partners to engage in collaborative and more ambitious initiatives in the field.

Social implications

The findings of this review could serve as an argument for more encompassing and ambitious GISC initiatives which can be of benefit to society.

Originality/value

A thorough assessment of the interacting mechanisms in GISC has not been attempted before. The authors identify gaps in current literature and provide several propositions for further research avenues based on causal mechanisms framework.

Developing Return Supply Chain: A Research on the Automotive Supply Chain

The purpose of this study is to investigate and discuss the challenges namely, the barriers and solutions to developing return supply chain policies in automotive industry. This industry has been suffering governmental pressure to achieve sustainability in all industrial processes. The solution is to reorganize the supply chain and rethink the product from the beginning (closed-loop supply chain evolving to cradle-to-cradle supply chain); however, the literature about this process is scarce. This paper presents exploratory research into the automotive supply chain in order to study the processes developed to achieve more sustainable supply chains. A strategic business net is used as theoretical sample to collect data. The results show that climate change concerns and governmental guidelines lead to sustainable organizational culture. It was found that sustainability is integrated in all processes, which affects business interaction with partners. The business interaction is difficulted by total product recycling. To overcome this barrier, innovation strategies, strategic alliances and governmental politics are presented as enhancers to return supply chain policies development. Organizational and cultural elements were presented as difficulties, but could be easily mitigated with the enhancers, alongside commitment and proactivity of companies. The research shows that when the challenges are overcome, the companies can integrate cradle-to-cradle design frameworks into their supply chains. This reorganization is necessary to achieve sustainability and accomplish governmental guidelines.

Eco-Innovation Diversity in a Circular Economy: Towards Circular Innovation Studies

Transition to a Circular Economy (CE) is about structural change and is predicated on the introduction of transformative eco-innovation (EI). Research on the CE–EI nexus has recently attracted attention both from an analytical and regulatory perspective. However, in-depth research exploring EI dynamics within the CE is still marginal, especially concerning the trends and dynamics of the pro-CE innovation policy and strategy. This paper addresses this gap by taking advantage of the burgeoning research on CE of the last 20 years and offers a new working synthesis. By implementing a “(systematic) review of (systematic) reviews”, this paper provides a new comprehensive framework for understanding pro-circular innovation strategies and, as a complement, argues the need to advance “circular innovation studies” as an agenda in its own right. Innovations related to recycling and recovery CE strategies along with business-model innovations and systemic/transformative innovations are found to be a major current trend in the research, connecting supply and demand side innovations and also driving other forms of innovation linked to design, product manufacturing, logistics and reverse logistics and end-of-life management and recovery. Additionally, of note is that the conceptual understanding of EI dynamics within a CE is still mainly implicit (rather than explicitly discussed) limiting the possibilities to advance knowledge in the area of innovation for CE: this is why we propose a “circular innovation studies” agenda.

Towards a Conceptual Development of Industry 4.0, Servitisation, and Circular Economy: A Systematic Literature Review

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies have been highlighted in recent literature as enablers of servitisation. Simultaneously, businesses are advised to implement a circular economy (CE) to bring new opportunities. However, it is pertinent to mention that little attention has been given to assess the role of I4.0 in adopting the CE and servitisation in a fully integrated manner. This research fills this gap by developing a conceptual framework through a systematic literature review of 139 studies investigating the relationship between the I4.0, CE, and servitisation. This study identifies the impact of these variables on a firm’s operational and financial performance (revenue stream, growth, and profitability). Our research findings advocate that adopting I4.0 technologies to the business and manufacturing model enables sustainability, energy and resource efficiency while enhancing performance and offering innovative products through smart services. Thus, firms must systematically adopt I4.0 technologies to support a CE model that creates value through servitisation. This study identifies the research gaps that are unexplored for practitioners and future researchers while providing insight into the role of I4.0 in implementing CE in the servitisation business model.

Coordination Mechanism of Dual-Channel Supply Chains Considering Retailer Innovation Inputs

In response to the online channels established by manufacturers, physical retailers are starting to offer innovative services, which will intensify conflicts between manufacturers and retailers. Considering that the conflict will affect the operation efficiency and sustainable development of the supply chain, the coordination mechanism of a dual-channel supply chain has been established. In this study, we construct the Stackelberg game model based on consumer utility theory to analyze the complex mechanism of retailers’ innovation input level affecting supply chain operation and design the double coordination mechanism. The results show that: (1) an optimal combination of wholesale prices, retail prices and innovation input levels can optimize the operational efficiency of the supply chain, (2) Noncooperation among channel members affects the retailer’s product pricing, decreases the market share of the physical channel and increases the market demand of manufacturers, (3) The dual coordination mechanism can alleviate channel conflicts, which can improve the operational efficiency of the supply chain. This study provides several insights on the theory of organizational coordination and sustainable development in conflicts of dual-channel supply chains.

Paths to Innovation in Supply Chains: The Landscape of Future Research

This chapter presents a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for supply chain and it is the result of an intensive work jointly performed involving a wide network of stakeholders from discrete manufacturing, process industry and logistics sector to put forward a vision to strengthen European Supply Chains for the next decade. The work is based on matching visions from literature and from experts with several iterations between desk research and workshops, focus groups and interviews. The result is a detailed analysis of the supply chain strategies identified as most relevant for the next years and definition of the related research and innovation topics as future developments and steps for the full implementation of the strategies, thus proposing innovative and cutting-edge actions to be implemented based on technological development and organisational change.

A Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization to Solve the Put-Away Routing Problem in Distribution Centres

Put-away operations typically consist of moving products from depots to allocated storage locations using either operators or Material Handling Equipment (MHE), accounting for important operative costs in warehouses and impacting operations efficiency. Therefore, this paper aims to formulate and solve a Put-away Routing Problem (PRP) in distribution centres (DCs). This PRP formulation represents a novel approach due to the consideration of a fleet of homogeneous Material Handling Equipment (MHE), heterogeneous products linked to a put-away list size, depot location and multi-parallel aisles in a distribution centre. It should be noted that the slotting problem, rather than the PRP, has usually been studied in the literature, whereas the PRP is addressed in this paper. The PRP is solved using a discrete particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm that is compared to tabu search approaches (Classical Tabu Search (CTS), Tabu Search (TS) 2-Opt) and an empirical rule. As a result, it was found that a discrete PSO generates the best solutions, as the time savings range from 2 to 13% relative to CTS and TS 2-Opt for different combinations of factor levels evaluated in the experimentation.

Overview of Dynamic Facility Layout Planning as a Sustainability Strategy

The facility layout design problem is significantly relevant within the business operations strategies framework and has emerged as an alternate strategy towards supply chain sustainability. However, its wide coverage in the scientific literature has focused mainly on the static planning approach and disregarded the dynamic approach, which is very useful in real-world applications. In this context, the present article offers a literature review of the dynamic facility layout problem (DFLP). First, a taxonomy of the reviewed papers is proposed based on the problem formulation current trends (related to the problem type, planning phase, planning approach, number of facilities, number of floors, number of departments, space consideration, department shape, department dimensions, department area, and materials handling configuration); the mathematical modeling approach (regarding the type of model, type of objective function, type of constraints, nature of market demand, type of data, and distance metric), and the considered solution approach. Then, the extent to which recent research into DFLP has contributed to supply chain sustainability by addressing its three performance dimensions (economic, environmental, social) is described. Finally, some future research guidelines are provided.

Sustainable Supply Chain Management—A Literature Review on Emerging Economies

In recent years, the interest in sustainable supply chain management has increased significantly in both business and academic areas. This is reflected in the growing number of articles, conferences, special publications and websites devoted to the subject. Nonetheless, sustainable development in emerging economies just started gaining importance. The objective of this article is to review, from a global perspective, the existing literature regarding sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in emerging economies. For this purpose, a systematic literature review was performed, analyzing 56 articles from the year 2010 to April 2020 from a descriptive and content approach. Subsequently, the results are presented, showing the increasing interest in SSCM, however lagging behind in emerging economies’ research versus developed ones. Findings indicate the context in developing countries plays an important role when conducting empirical or case study investigations. Additionally, the integration of the three dimensions of sustainability and how they impact supply chain performance becomes crucial to research from an emerging economy perspective. Consequently, limitations of this work are presented, and opportunities are identified for future lines of research, in particular in key supply chain functions. Finally, the conclusion confirms the need for further research from different supply chain viewpoints, such as collaboration, sustainable practices innovation, sourcing and supplier development from emerging countries’ standpoint and background.

Antecedents to supply chain innovation

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine organizational and environmental (competition, capital scarcity and organization of labor) factors that affect firms' innovation activities within the supply chain.

Design/methodology/approach

This study empirically examines the factors that affect firms' innovation activities using firm-level data from the last round of Business Environment Enterprise Performance Surveys (BEEPS). The analysis covers major supply chain functions: production, delivery and support systems.

Findings

The study shows that drivers of innovation vary with the type of innovation activity; as such, innovation efforts across supply chain functions should prioritize strategic resources that will create competitive advantages. Our results also reveal that sustainability efforts in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) region should prioritize labor market reforms over capital market reforms.

Originality/value

Current research on innovation and supply chain issues does not explicitly analyze innovations that occur in different sustainable supply chain functions, and empirical studies that focus on the determinants of innovations in the supply chain network are very limited. The data used in this study cover 30 economies in EECA, many of which are low- and middle-income countries, and thus contribute to the implementation of sustainable practices in developing countries.

Bibliometric Analysis of Supplier Management: The Theme and Cluster Perspectives

This paper conducted a bibliometric analysis based on 4687 papers on supplier management from 1997 to 2017. Through a comparative analysis of the four stages using Bibexcel and Ucinet6 software, this paper explores the evolution of supplier management from the theme and cluster perspectives. The results show that supplier management research has made breakthroughs in both breadth and depth. Representative research themes, such as “sustainable supply chain”, “corporate social responsibility”, “knowledge management”, etc., have gradually penetrated into the field of supplier management. Research related to “supplier selection” and “supplier relations” have always been of the highest strategic importance, and themes in “supplier relations” cluster such as “trust” and “commitment” have gradually attracted more and more researchers’ attention. The “inventory” cluster has also been a research focus, and the structural stability and maturity of the cluster have gradually improved. The “innovation” cluster is a relatively “open” cluster, and its impact on the entire research filed of supplier management has been gradually increasing. More importantly, the “sustainability” cluster is an evolving cluster, research themes related to “sustainability”, such as “green supply chain”, “sustainable supply chain” and “green supplier selection”, will play an increasingly important role in the field of supplier management.

Measuring Sustainability Performance with Multi Criteria Model: A Case Study

The proposal of this research is the development of a hybrid multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) model of sustainability performance. The model is applied to a Brazilian oil and gas company and is constructed from the MCDA associated with statistical analysis. The MCDA technique is a preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE), with analysis of 20 indicators of the dimensions of sustainability. In the statistical analysis, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) are used. The results of PROMETHEE showed that the company’s best sustainability performance was in 2011 and 2010. The worst sustainability performance was in 2015 and 2016. The application of the PCA technique aims to eliminate the existing multicollinearity and capture the direction of variability of the indicators. The first PC with 53.2%, the second PC with 25.6%. An estimate based on the MLR equation was performed. The limitation of the paper is with data from the company’s sustainability reports as well as the choice and quantity of indicators. The analysis of the sustainability performance of the company through multi-criteria models is not new but their combination with mathematical models, comparing the sustainability reports per year, brings more complete results on the sustainability performance of the company.

Implementation of Collaborative Activities for Sustainable Supply Chain Innovation: An Analysis of the Firm Size Effect

This study examines the effects of collaborative and implementation activities on environmental performance for sustainable supply chain management. Specifically, the proposed research investigates the moderating effect of firm size on the effect relationships. The structural equation modeling with AMOS 23.0 was employed to test hypotheses. The results confirm the positive effects of collaborative activities on environmental performance and the positive relationship between collaborative activities and green certification programs in both small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large-sized firms. Contrary to general belief, firm size did not moderate the relationship between autonomous collaborative activities and green activities. However, other relationships were supported in the research model, thus firm size partially moderates the relationships of collaborative activities with implementation activities and environmental performance. The study demonstrates that implementation activities play a key role in improving collaborative activities with suppliers and vendors for sustainable supply chain innovation. Additionally, it contributes to the practice of sustainable supply chain innovation as well as to efficiency through collaborative activities in the supply chain process.