Transparency for Multi-Tier Sustainable Supply Chain Management: A Case Study of a Multi-tier Transparency Approach for SSCM in the Automotive Industry

Supply chain transparency for sustainability – an intervention-based research approach

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all manufacturing sectors from basic products to luxury goods including the automobile industry. This has necessitated a new line of research on competency building, transparency, and sustainability in automotive supply chains. In this study, the authors examine the competencies required to improve the automotive supply chain routine operations to address the parts supply crisis from multitier suppliers in the post-COVID-19 environment. The authors also propose a list of competencies required in the automotive supply chains to deploy the transparency for sustainability (TfS) framework on a long-term basis.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have adapted a cross-case study process using intervention-based research and a design science approach for use in this study and used multiple sources for data collection such as published literature, operational experience, and critical opinions of original equipment manufacturer representatives. The research design includes interviews with global OEMs practitioners as one of the relevant sources of information.

Findings

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak on automotive manufacturing operations and global supply chains is unprecedented. The TfS framework cycle has been validated using the real-world semiconductor supply crisis which deals with multitier sustainable supply chain management (MTSSCM), and the authors found that there are competency gaps when compared with existing literature. The list of key competencies identified along with the formulation of design propositions to facilitate both the supply crisis and collaboration among automotive firms to enhance their business performance were also presented.

Research limitations/implications

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the automobile sector significantly. This situation has created many opportunities and obstacles, but this paper only considers the automotive semi-conductor shortage situation, which may be resolved in the near future when there are more installed capacities. Therefore, it is unclear whether the proposed responses will result in long-term solutions. Further adjustments may be needed to revisit the TfS framework. The research paper only addresses the automotive side of the current supply crisis, but more sustainability issues may arise in the future, which need to be dealt with separately.

Practical implications

Research findings may prove particularly interesting to global automotive vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and policy makers who are seeking to understand multitier supply networks to resolve the current challenges associated with the post-COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Originality/value

In addition to contributing to developing competency requirements, this study enhances the evolving research stream of MTSSCM by linking it to wider research applications of intervention-based research coupled with design science.

A sustainable sourcing competence model for purchasing and supply management professionals

In order to implement sustainability standards in practice, capabilities are needed at the organizational level as well as at the individual level. The presented sustainable purchasing and supply management (SPSM) competence model is based on the combination of a systematic literature review (SLR) and a Delphi study. The competence model outlines specific SPSM competences which are divided into functional-oriented, cognition-oriented, social-oriented and meta-oriented competence clusters. We also discuss their applicability during typical purchasing and supply management processes. Each of the 26 competences is presented with a short definition as well as exemplary behaviors. For research on SPSM from an organizational point of view, the analysis of the relevance of competences with regard to purchasing process stages offers a conceptual basis for bringing sustainability into overall PSM models, instead of positioning sustainability as an ‘add-on’ activity, which risks the potential of sustainability issues becoming marginalized. The resulting SPSM competence model can serve as a basis for improving teaching and training in both higher education and professional training contexts. In practice, it can also serve to aid the selection of new employees, evaluate employee performance, create development plans or build HR systems.

Enhanced sourcing strategy for centralized multitier multiple suppliers network with failure risks

Purpose

This paper attempts to address three key objectives. The primary aim is to enhance sourcing strategy for a centralized and coordinated multitier multiple suppliers networks with uncertain demand and supplier failure risks. The second objective is to enumerate all possible practical supplier(s) failure scenarios and quantify expected loss of demand cost. Finally, the work illustrates statistical experimentation to identify “influential” variables that can significantly impact the expected supply network and loss costs.

Design/methodology/approach

A seven-step solution framework is proposed to derive an optimal sourcing strategy for the specific network configuration with varied supplier failure scenarios. Five distinct models are formulated to address all possible scenarios of supplier failure events. Mixed-integer nonlinear programming technique is used to derive expected supply network cost and loss cost. The solution framework is verified using a real-life case.

Findings

A cross-case analysis indicates that an increase in suppliers' failure risk (SFR) probabilities or customer demand rate increases the expected loss of demand costs for a multitier supply network. Besides, an increase in unit component prices increases the expected supply network cost.

Research limitations/implications

A two-tier automotive supply network for a single product is considered for all case studies.

Practical implications

The enhanced strategy can facilitate practitioners enumerate different supply network failure scenarios and implement the best solution.

Originality/value

There is no evidence of earlier research to derive optimal sourcing strategy for a centralized, coordinated multitier multiple supplier's network, considering demand uncertainties and SFR.

Sustainability in the Aerospace, Naval, and Automotive Supply Chain 4.0: Descriptive Review

The search for sustainability in the Supply Chain (SC) is one of the tasks that most concerns business leaders in all manufacturing sectors because of the importance that the Supply Chain has as a transversal tool and due to the leading role that it has been playing lately. Of all the manufacturing sectors, this study focuses on the aerospace, shipbuilding, and automotive sectors identified as transport. The present study carries out a descriptive review of existing publications in these three sectors in relation to the sustainability of the Supply Chain in its 4.0 adaptation as an update in matters that are in constant evolution. Among the results obtained, Lean practices are common to the three sectors, as well as different technologies focused on sustainability. Furthermore, the results show that the automotive sector is the one that makes the greatest contribution in this sense through collaborative programs that can be very useful to the other two sectors, thus benefiting from the consequent applicable advantages. Meanwhile, the Aerospace and Shipbuilding sectors do not seem to be working on promoting a sustainable culture in the management of the Supply Chain or on including training programs for their personnel in matters related to Industry 4.0.

Dear supplier, how sustainable are you?

This article analyses one of the most common tools employed by global focal companies in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) across all industries: supplier sustainability self-assessment questionnaires. Extant research has moved beyond the questions of whether and which suppliers should be assessed. Current research is already focussing on how to share and standardise such assessment data. Despite mounting general research on SSCM, we identified that specific tools such as self-assessment questionnaires have not been empirically analysed in SSCM literature. Thus, this paper addresses the research questions of what differences there are among supplier self-assessment questionnaires and how supplier responses to such questionnaires might be influenced. Our research involves an abductive multiple-case study design and an analysis of over 25,000 responses from globally dispersed suppliers to two types of supplier sustainability self-assessment questionnaires administered and requested by a global automotive focal company.

Although the two questionnaires covered similar areas of sustainability practices and were administered to suppliers of the same focal company, the suppliers’ responses demonstrated various observable differences in average sustainability scores.

Social desirability bias and supplier assessment fatigue were identified as issues confronting such questionnaires. We find that questionnaire design, how the questionnaire is embedded in the focal company’s processes and institutional settings are factors that potentially influence suppliers’ responses and could counteract social desirability bias and supplier assessment fatigue. Based on these findings we make suggestions for improving these SSCM tools and provide recommendations for further research.

Is Honesty the Best Policy? Examining the Role of Price and Production Transparency in Fashion Marketing

Transparency is one of the most prominent demands of consumers today. Numerous fashion brands are responding to this demand for transparency by sharing information on the cost-breakdown of products and manufacturing processes. Research shows that transparency can become a vital tool for product, process, and business model innovation. Nonetheless, little is known about the role of transparency and how it affects consumers’ perceptions of a brand in a fashion context. By applying the signaling theory, the purpose of this study is to investigate how consumers react to fashion brands that provide price or production transparency. The study further examines whether the extent of information disclosure and perceived fairness of the information also play a role. An experiment of nine scenarios using a fictitious fashion brand was developed, and data were collected from 349 American consumers through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). The findings suggest that both price transparency and production transparency positively affect the overall brand equity and consumers’ purchase intentions as long as the information is perceived to be fair regardless of the extent. This study extends our current understanding of the role of transparency as an extrinsic signal and also suggests that brand transparency may be another key dimension of brand equity.