A multi-agent architecture for reverse logistics in a green supply chain

Green supply chain issues have attracted a lot of attention in recent years with growing awareness of environmental concerns. This has drawn the considerable world-wide attention of academics and practitioners. Therefore, recycling has now become an integral component of the supply chain. Recycling of used products and the related logistics management pose a significant challenge to manufacturing industries. In order to resolve the complexity of the task, this study proposes a multi-agent architecture to handle recycling and reverse logistics issues, which have so far been neglected. It addresses the different aspects of recycling such as waste classification, recycling, logistics and reuse of products. Additionally, it also discusses how the agent communicates and acts autonomously to facilitate the efficient logistics of materials between different units. The proposed agent architecture can assist manufacturing industries in efficiently managing their green supply chain system and complex logistics issues.     

Traceability as a means to investigate supply chain sustainability: the real case of a leather shoe supply chain

In recent years, the growing attention to environmental challenges has shown that these issues are becoming of more and more interest to both research and industry. Companies are expected to ensure their products are fully traceable and more sustainable, which requires the involvement of all of the actors in the production network. According to this aim, this study proposes a structured approach that uses the traditional traceability concept as a means to identify the main information needed to assess environmental impacts along the whole supply chain (SC). The proposed approach is composed of four main steps: (i) SC modelling to identify all stakeholders and their inter-relations, (ii) data sharing to collect all relevant data, (iii) data elaboration to calculate performance at different levels of detail and (iv) result interpretation to optimise the SC. The distributed implementation of the approach at different SC steps represents a useful means to practically realise a sustainable SC management. A case study involving a leather shoe SC is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach in identifying criticalities, supporting the selection of the most appropriate suppliers and correctly setting a management strategy towards the optimisation of internal and external traceability and environmental sustainability performances.     

Effects of green supply chain integration and green innovation on environmental and cost performance

This paper argues that mechanisms such as information sharing and collaboration used in green supply chain integration (GSCI) to improve information processing capacity can reduce uncertain outcomes of green product and process innovation. Based on data from a survey of Chinese (Hong Kong) firms, the paper tests whether the three dimensions of GSCI (green internal, customer and supplier integration) improve environmental performance and cost reduction by facilitating green product and process innovation. The results show that green customer integration improves cost and environmental performance through green process innovation (not green product innovation). Both green product and process innovations are facilitated by green customer integration (not green supplier integration), while both green customer and supplier integration significantly depend on green internal integration. These suggest that the distinctive information processing capacity created by green internal and customer integration can facilitate the green process innovation required to improve environmental and cost efficiency, while green product innovation and green supplier integration cannot create such efficiencies.     

绿色供应链管理的基本原理

人口、资源与环境三者之间的矛盾日益突显，要求制造业提高其活动与环境的相容性。绿色供应链管理是从系统的观点与集成的思想出发解决制造业与环境之间冲突的有效方式。从可持续发展的思想出发建立了绿色供应链的概念模型，分析了绿色供应链管理的目标，在此基础上探讨了绿色供应链管理的基本原理，认为共生原理、循环原理、替代转换原理与系统开放原理是实施绿色供应链管理应该遵循的基本原理。     

Green supply chain contracts with eco-labels issued by the sales platform: profitability and environmental implications

Considering environmentally conscious consumers, a manufacturer, and a sales platform which provides eco-labels for qualified manufacturers, this paper develops a supply chain model to study how eco-labels affect green supply chain operations, from the profitability and environmental perspectives. The results show that the sales platform prefers the agency contract, but the manufacturer prefers the wholesale price contract. Considering the performance of the supply chain, the agency contract brings a higher profit while the wholesale price contract results in a bigger environmental improvement. An unexpected but interesting result is that when the agency contract is used and consumer green awareness increases, the sale price declines rather than increasing as it does under the wholesale price contract. This decline happens because the required marketing effort of the sales platform will be lower, which incentivises the platform to reduce the commission rate. Consequently, the manufacturer faces a lower commission rate and a higher margin when consumers display greater green awareness. Moreover, as the core and more powerful player of the supply chain, the sales platform can propose a platform-led revenue sharing contract to fully coordinate the supply chain, which improves the performance of the supply chain both in profitability and environmental perspectives.     

Sustainable supply chains for supply chain sustainability: impact of sustainability efforts on supply chain risk

Supply chain managers across the globe are finding it difficult to manage the increasingly complex supply chains despite adopting a variety of risk mitigation strategies. Firms on the other hand have also been adopting various kinds of environmental and social sustainability practices in recent times to reduce carbon footprint and improve their image on the social front. However, very few studies in the extant literature have examined the impact of sustainability practices on supply chain risk. We address this important gap in literature by empirically testing this relationship, using primary data from six manufacturing sectors and 21 different countries including developed as well as emerging markets across the globe. Our findings indicate that risk mitigation strategies do not always reduce the actual supply chain risk experienced by firms, whereas sustainability efforts help reduce supply chain risk, especially in emerging market contexts. In addition, we find that, while reactive risk mitigation strategies on their own fail to reduce supply chain risk, they are effective when used in conjunction with sustainability efforts. We also find that preventive risk mitigation efforts are only effective in mature supply chains such as the OECD countries.     

A hierarchical fuzzy TOPSIS approach to assess improvement areas when implementing green supply chain initiatives

Implementing green supply chain management (GSCM) initiatives can generate more business opportunities for firms. It also requires changes in firms’ operational capabilities and resources that may have an adverse effect on firms’ operations performance. In order to achieve sustainable economic and environmental performance, it is essential for companies to evaluate different green initiatives and assess improvement areas when implementing green initiatives. This study proposes a fuzzy hierarchical TOPSIS approach to support such an assessment. It enables decision makers to better understand the complete evaluation process and provide a more accurate, effective and systematic decision support tool. An illustrative case is presented to help researchers and practitioners understand the importance of developing an appropriate organisation strategy in implementing green practices.     

The impact of strategic inventory and procurement strategies on green product design in a two-period supply chain

This study analyses the impact of power structures and strategic inventory on the development-intensive and marginal-cost-intensive green product types under three procurement strategies. The results suggest that (i) in the manufacturer-Stackelberg game, the retailer retains strategic inventory to earn higher profits. The retailer's decision improves profit for the manufacturer and greening level of the product; (ii) for the marginal-cost-intensive green product, the power structures and procurement strategies cannot make any impact on the greening level and the retailer cannot build up strategic inventory under retailer-Stackelberg game; (iii) under the Nash game, the procurement decision creates conflict between the supply chain members for marginal-cost-intensive green products; (iv) if the retailer does not maintain strategic inventory or procures product in a single lot, then the manufacturer prefers to produce marginal-cost-intensive products and retailer prefers to sale development-intensive products to receive maximum profits under manufacturer-Stackelberg game. The optimal preferences are concurrent under retailer-Stackelberg game, but not under the Nash game; (v) single-period equilibrium solutions may exhibit sub-optimal characteristics, but two-period planning can lead to exemplary outcomes in the perspective of the greening level and profits of the supply chain members.     

A strategic decision framework for a value added supply chain

Supply chains are becoming increasingly complex. The structure of the supply chain and the suppliers who participate in it are critical decisions for managers. The supply chain is no longer simply a source of inputs or services but an integral source of value added. It is clear that in some cases strategic supply chain objectives may require trade-offs, for example, between cost and innovation capability or between managing risk and maximising flexibility. These decisions balancing trade-offs between desirable partner characteristics are critical and can make a significant contribution to business performance. A framework is outlined, based on the foundation of extant literature, within which firms can make strategic decisions on supply chain structure by categorising the characteristics they prioritise in their supply chain strategy. There is also a strong foundation in the literature on developing mathematical models that provide insight into the decision-making process. A mixed integer programming model is specified that incorporates the opportunity for diversification and provides a demand allocation decision. The model is robust enough to allow for single or diversified supplier strategies based not only on capacity constraints but also on risk pooling and minimum performance requirements for key characteristics that form the basis of the strategy. A Lagrangian relaxation is proposed and satisfactory performance results are provided.     

A paler shade of green: implications of green product deletion on supply chains

Product management activities by operations, marketing, and finance functions have typically focused on the innovation, acquisition, growth, and management of product lines and products. The same is true when considering product management for green products. The latter stages of critical strategic decisions related to product deletion or discontinuation have received less emphasis. In this conceptual paper, the focus is on green product deletion implications for supply chain management and operations. Organisations may view green product deletion as evolving from a deep green to a paler shade of green in their product offerings. A proposed strategic framework pays particular attention to the implications of the green product deletion decision for supply chain processes and operational competencies. In this situation, lessened organisational greenness needs to be weighed against other organisational and operational competencies. The strategic and inter-organisational relationships associated with this decision help set the stage for future research on this critical, yet neglected, organisational and operational supply chain issue.     

Order allocation in purchasing management: a review of state-of-the-art studies from a supply chain perspective

Supplier selection (SS) and order allocation (OA) are strategic decisions that have a substantial effect on a company’s performance. However, order allocation is often neglected, since it results from supplier selection and is considered supplementary: little attention has been paid to its specific nature and complexity. Consequently, the authors conducted a systematic literature review specifically regarding order allocation methods. The research aimed to evaluate how often and when the issue has been dignified with an individual focus, independently of the supplier selection problem. This study conducted a comprehensive examination of the order allocation models and solutions, criteria for order quantity allocation, features of suppliers, items, planning periods, and demand most commonly considered in the literature. Finally, it aimed to discover whether supply chain configurations and trends have been considered in efforts to find a solution to the problem. The scientific contribution of this study is threefold: (i) to expand the review of scientific literature regarding order allocation models, (ii) to identify research gaps and highlight research opportunities, and (iii) to suggest a research agenda for the development of order allocation models according to the requirements of current trends in supply chain management.     

A GIS-based green supply chain model for assessing the effects of carbon price uncertainty on plastic recycling

Recycling plastic can abate the environmental pollution as well as CO₂ emissions by saving the carbon-intensive feedstock input. The uncertain carbon price places significant effects on the establishment and operation of the whole supply chain. This study develops a green supply chain model combined with geographic information system (GIS) to account for carbon price uncertainty and evaluate its effects on the closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) of plastic recycling. A two-stage stochastic programming model is constructed, in which the stochastic variable, CO₂ price is modelled as a geometric Brownian motion process. Six scenarios are designed with respect to price expectation and volatility. A case study is performed with the GIS information of the plastic supply chain in Zhejiang province, China. The results illustrate that triggering the establishment of reverse logistics requires a carbon price threshold significantly beyond the current level. Lower price volatility would facilitate the decision-making of investment into the reverse logistics. Mechanisms to alleviate the market variation shall be introduced. A sound market condition is desired to obtain the optimal balance that encourages the CLSC without creating extra pressure on the firms. The proposed modelling framework can be easily applied to other sectors with similar characteristics.     

Proactive environmental strategies and performance: role of green supply chain processes and green product design in the Chinese high-tech industry

Though many firms still believe that passive environmental strategies are sufficient, it is pertinent that they move beyond this belief and take a proactive supply chain-wide environmental stance so as to create a sustainable environment. In this paper, we seek to extend current work within green supply chain management by considering multiple green supply chain capabilities and performance measures. We hypothesise the linkage between environmental orientation, green supply chain capabilities and performance by drawing upon stakeholder theory and natural resource-based view. More importantly, our study is the first to distinguish between product and process-related capabilities in the green supply chain area and study their direct and mediating role with respect to environmental and financial performance measures. Using survey data collected from 256 Chinese-based high-tech firms, we analyse several hypothesised relationships. Our results provide strong support for the significant role that green product design and green supply chain processes can play in improving firms’ environmental and financial performance. Interestingly, our results also suggest that green product design may not have a direct impact on financial performance.     

Supplier selection based on supply chain ecosystem,performance and risk criteria

A supply chain ecosystem consists of the elements of the supply chain and the entities that influence the goods, information and financial flows through the supply chain. These influences come through government regulations, human, financial and natural resources, logistics infrastructure and management, etc., and thus affect the supply chain performance. Similarly, all the ecosystem elements also contribute to the risk. The aim of this paper is to identify both performances-based and risk-based decision criteria, which are important and critical to the supply chain. A two step approach using fuzzy AHP and fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution has been proposed for multi-criteria decision-making and illustrated using a numerical example. The first step does the selection without considering risks and then in the next step suppliers are ranked according to their risk profiles. Later, the two ranks are consolidated into one. In subsequent section, the method is also extended for multi-tier supplier selection. In short, we are presenting a method for the design of a resilient supply chain, in this paper.     

Adoption of green supply chain management practices and their impact on performance: an exploratory study of Indian manufacturing firms

Research on green supply chain management (GSCM) or sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has attracted increased attention in recent years. Although GSCM/SSCM has been studied for developed and developing countries, there has been little information about the adoption of GSCM/SSCM practices in India. This article presents one of the earliest surveys on GSCM practices in Indian manufacturing firms. The items for the survey were developed based on the extant literature and feedback from corporates. Some of the major findings of the survey are as follows. We found that the state of adoption of GSCM practices by Indian firms was still in its infancy, the awareness of environmental sustainability was quite low among consumers, and the regulatory framework was also lacking in terms of promoting environmental sustainability. Results of data analysis showed that supplier collaboration for environmental sustainability had a positive impact on environmentally sustainable product design and logistics, which in turn was positively related to competitiveness and economic performance of the firm. We compared the results with the observations made by other researchers for developed and developing countries and provided managerial implications for the government and manufacturers as to what steps need to be taken to generate awareness towards environmental sustainability and facilitate the adoption of GSCM practices among Indian firms to a greater extent. We conclude the paper by indicating directions for future research on GSCM/SSCM.     

A portfolio approach to supply chain disruption management

A new, computationally efficient portfolio approach to supplier selection in the presence of supply chain disruption risks is proposed, where the selection of supply portfolios for parts is combined with production scheduling of finished products. Unlike most of reported research on the supply chain risk management which focuses on the risk mitigation decisions taken prior to a disruption, the proposed portfolio approach combines decisions made before, during and after the disruption. The two decision-making approaches are considered: an integrated approach with the perfect information about the future disruption scenarios, and a hierarchical approach with no such information available. In the integrated approach, which accounts for all potential disruption scenarios, the primary supply portfolio that will hedge against all scenarios is determined along with the recovery supply portfolio and production schedule for each scenario. In the hierarchical approach, first the primary supply portfolio is determined, and then, when a primary supplier is hit by a disruption, the recovery supply portfolio is selected. For the integrated and the hierarchical decision-making, mixed integer programming models are developed with the two risk-neutral conflicting objectives that account for both time and cost of recovery: minimising expected cost or maximising expected service level. The findings indicate that for both objectives, the integrated decision-making selects a more diversified primary supply portfolio than the hierarchical approach and when all primary suppliers are shutdown by disruption, a single sourcing recovery portfolio is usually selected.     

供应链管理中对供方的评价与选择

供应链管理是企业价值链上的重要环节,对供方的选择评价是供应链管理中的一项重要内容。讨论了建立供方评价指标体系应遵循的原则,对供方的评价选择进行了分析,提出了选择评价供方时应注意的几个问题。     

Integrating packaging suppliers into the supply/demand chain

This paper presents the results from qualitative studies done on leading‐edge companies in supply/demand chain management in Sweden. The aim of the study was to create a knowledge base, identify the network integrators and, with reference to previous studies conducted in the packaging industry, analyse the development for packaging suppliers. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A graph-based model to measure structural redundancy for supply chain resilience

Globalisation and lean initiatives increase the vulnerabilities of the supply chains (SC), where disruptions in any plant in a supply chain network (SCN) can propagate throughout the whole SCN. Redundancy is part of the SC re-engineering to improve supply chain resilience (SCRES). This paper presents a conceptual model of an SCN using graph theory, considering the relationships between plants and materials. Based on the model, the structural redundancy of the SCN is measured, which is used to assess SCRES. This assessment approach focuses on the resilience of the SCN against disruptions. Case studies are discussed to illustrate the applicability of this model and show that increasing structural redundancy of the SCN improves SCRES against disruptions.