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Greening of supply chains is critical for circular economy practices to be sustainable. In this chapter, we overview both these concepts. The circular economy—although popular as a policy and industry concern—has not achieved a consensus definition. One...

Dramatic economic and strategic changes brought about by recent advances in technology, including the internet, the World Wide Web (WWW), broadband, mobile and wireless technologies, have expanded the scope of commerce (Lancioni et al., 2003a). In manufacturing operations, the role of these various electronic commerce (e-commerce) technologies has been accelerating. Manufacturing operations cannot function without its integration to the larger business community and the relevant stakeholders. The extension and integration of such internally focused manufacturing systems as materials resource planning (MRP), enterprise resource planning (ERP), product and process design systems, product document and data management systems to go beyond the walls of the manufacturing plant, has progressed greatly in recent years because of these e-commerce technologies. It is no longer an issue of gaining competitive advantage in these areas, but it is now an issue of just maintaining a business presence. The continued evolution and maturation of e-commerce with manufacturing has occurred in industry, yet academics have been slow to investigate and help industry improve understanding and knowledge of this critical linkage. The concept of virtual and agile enterprises made clear the importance of the various e-commerce tools in managing these visions. Yet, the research in understanding and further advancing these areas has not flourished as much as in practice. Internet-based electronic marketplaces (EMs) are becoming more popular and important in global competition and economy. E-commerce can take place among businesses (B2B) or between businesses and consumers (B2C), but the internet also encompasses a wider spectrum of potential commercial activities and information exchanges and chances for an EM intermediary (Grieger, 2003). Three broad aspects of organizational relationships between trading partners have been identified including transactional, information-sharing, and collaborative relationships (AMR, 1998). These relationships suggest that transactional-oriented EMs are to a lesser degree relying on supply chain management (SCM) principals than collaborative-oriented EMs. During the year 2000, the total investment in business-to-business (B2B) infrastructure exceeded $200 billion – an estimated $10 billion of it for public consortia backed e-marketplaces alone (Lu & Antony, 2003). Even with the ‘burst’ of the technology bubble, there is still continued growth and interest in these technologies, they are not a fad and have become ingrained in organizational functions, policy, and practice. The leverage of power of the B2B marketplace in a supply chain depends upon sellers and buyers competitive advantage. The internet has helped to resolve these tradeoffs between buyers and sellers, and allowed the types of integration necessary between every partner in the supply chain. Web-based technologies are now indispensable for supply chain forecasting, planning, scheduling and execution. The greater the integrated information flow between customers and suppliers, the easier it becomes to balance supply and demand across the entire network (Lee et al., 1997; Froehlich & Westbrook, 2002). According to Lancioni et al. (2000), the internet has enabled companies to more quickly develop EDI information programmes with their customers, making real time management of inventories more practical and transparent to members of the supply chain. The internet facilitates the integration of business processes along the supply chain by facilitating the information flows necessary for coordinating business activities. The internet offers several cost reduction and service improvement opportunities to managers involved in manufacturing operations. These opportunities include the ability to integrate business processes electronically with other supply chain members, the ability to provide worldwide customer service, the ability to track systems status of third-party service providers and the ability to reduce service costs and response time (Lancioni et al., 2000; Garcia-Dastugue & Lambert, 2003). The integration of these systems to the shop floor is also critical, where rapid and flexible response to requirements throughout the supply chain is necessary. The internet is evolving as a powerful tool in the new marketplace where the profile of competition has changed from individual firms to efficient supply chain networks both between firms and within industries. The increased flexibility in managing supply chains that the internet provides has enabled logistics managers to introduce ‘customization’ and integrate customers into their supply chains. The trend will continue to motivate companies to look for additional strategic applications of the internet in their supply chain systems (Lancioni et al., 2003b). The internet is a primary conduit of trading along the supply chain. Trading partners of a supply chain fear insecure transactions, as Websites can be counterfeited, identities can be forged and the nature of transactions can be altered (Agarwal & Shankar, 2003). Lau & Lee (2000) discussed the concept of distributed object technology to facilitate efficient data exchange among various data objects which may reside in distributed platforms over geographically isolated regions, thereby leveraging the responsiveness of the supply chain network. For example, automobile makers are trying to execute the novel generic strategy of build-to-order (BTO), which requires not only just-in-time (JIT) practices, but the most advanced computerized versions of ERP (Murillo, 2001). With real-time communications between suppliers, production functions, marketing functions, and the final customer, e-commerce has become an inherent component of BTO. ERP organizes and the internet connects most day-to-day tasks of a business, such as entering orders, tracking product shipments, scheduling production, and updating sales forecasts and balance sheets (Boubekri, 2001). The management of materials, information, and other resources in organizations has expanded beyond the role of typical operations managers. Along with the breakdown of internal and external organizational boundaries has come the more open environment that may envelop organizational boundaries. Practitioners and managers throughout the world have realized the importance of these inter-organizational systems. Central to the development of these systems are concepts, technologies, and tools for electronic commerce. There are several researchers who report the implications of e-commerce enabling supply chain integration and management (Hax & Wilde, 2001; Rudberg et al., 2002; Cagliano et al., 2003). The paperless factory, lights-out manufacturing and other revolutionary ideas have been brought to further realization, and much of this progress may be attributed to e-commerce. In summary, e-commerce encourages and supports communication and cooperation among various functions, vendors, and customers of organizations. Evolving e-commerce paradigms and practices are expected to be central enablers to operations and manufacturing concepts such as concurrent engineering, design for ‘x’, SCM, computer integrated manufacturing, agile and virtual enterprising. Thus, its importance is strategically vital to organizations that wish to remain competitive. Practitioners have realized this importance by spending billions in e-commerce-enabled systems, practices, and supporting processes. Yet, researchers have been slow to critically investigate their roles, especially with respect to manufacturing organizations. Thus, we have decided to help expand the field of knowledge in this area by editing this special issue of the Information Systems Journal. Papers were sought for a special issue, E-commerce Enabled Manufacturing Operations: Issues and Analysis. Conceptual and strategic frameworks, empirical research, case studies, and analytical models focusing on development, design, management and control of e-commerce-enabled manufacturing and operations systems for improving organizational competitiveness were especially encouraged. The result was submissions from all over the world, many with solid contribution and understanding of issues. But only a few of these could be showcased here. We provide a summary of each and its contribution to the scope of the special issue on e-commerce enabled manufacturing operations. The first paper, A Conceptual Framework for Agent-based Agile Manufacturing Cells by Yu and Krishnan, deals with the architecture and cooperation mechanism of web-based agile manufacturing cells. An architecture has been developed using an analysis of structure and organizational requirements of agile manufacturing cells and a comparison of three basic architectures of manufacturing systems. Agent technology is introduced for the implementation of each functional layer to establish an agent-based model of agile manufacturing cells. They also present a real–time interaction mechanism of the agents by considering the activities during the agents’ cooperation in an agile manufacturing cell. This paper highlights the importance of real-time information systems for agile manufacturing cells. In order to be flexible and responsive to changing customer and market requirements, organizations should make decisions based on information as quickly as possible. The agent-based framework provides a reconfiguration capability that is needed to develop an agile manufacturing system in a short span of time. Tang, Yasa and Forrester in their paper, An Application of the Data Model and BPR in Transforming Electronic Business – The Case of a Food Ingredients Company in the UK, presents the results of an action research project. The Delta Model and Davenport's methodology of Business Process Reengineering were adopted to provide an awareness of IT capabilities in launching e-business for a brick-n-mortar company in the food processing industry (Hax & Wilde, 2001). The authors conduct a case study based on the Delta Model framework, a recent innovation. The thrust of the Delta Model is centered on e-commerce (and e-business). Considerable details from the company, Whetstone Food Ingredient were collected, analysed, and presented. The information technology/system forms the core of the data collection process and analysis for obtaining more accurate and useful information for decision-making in a global operations environment. This paper further justifies the role of e-commerce in manufacturing. Ibbott and O’Keefe in their paper, Trust Planning and Benefits in a Global Interorganizational System, describe an example of an interorganizational system (IOS) developed as part of a strong interfirm relationship. Using a model previously developed by Gallivan & Depledge (2003), the authors explore the roles and dynamics of trust, planning and benefits. They posit that a journey or improvisional approach to IOS development works where a relationship is strong and levels of inter-firm trust are high. They suggest that the nature of the inter-firm relationship is more important than the approach to IOS development. This paper deals with the importance of trust in a global inter-organizational system. This concept is especially important when developing an integrated supply chain using ERP systems. The paper, The ERP Challenge in China: A Resource Based Perspective by He, introduces a resource-based perspective (RBP) model on ERP challenges to help make ERP decisions in China. This research assesses major ERP challenges in China based upon a three-tier decision process in pursuit of a sustainable competitive advantage. The RBP model is then evaluated with data from survey-based empirical research to illustrate potential applications and managerial implications. They argue that within their environment, without ERP, it is almost impossible to achieve an integrated supply chain. This consequence is particularly problematic when companies look for global partnerships and strategic alliances. Thus, the results further highlight the significance of ERP in SCM. These experiences within Chinese industry on ERP challenges provide additional insights to the subject of e-commerce enabled operations management. The author shares the experience of various companies in China regarding the implementation issues of ERP. The final paper, Analysis, Design, and Development Model: A Case Study of an E-Commerce Production System by Gharamani, presents a case that describes an application of a normative Analysis, Design, and Development Model. This case outlines the architecture of an e-commerce production system. The system has a three-tier structure consisting of the client Interfaces, a Java Server Page, and Database Module. The model assists in designing economic production operations in an industrial setting by allowing a client to retrieve current production data needed for operations through the internet. The contribution to the scope of the special issue is through discussion of the development of an e-commerce-based foundation for a production system. Innovative system architecture has been introduced for an e-commerce supported production system. This special issue addresses some key issues in internet-enabled SCM. The emergence of e-commerce in manufacturing operations has significantly contributed to the success of achieving an integrated supply chain. The articles in the issue show the significant potential of the various technological, procedural and design practices of this linkage. They also identify the difficulties and hurdles to overcome in reaching an effective and efficient linkage. We believe that researchers, and practitioners, can benefit greatly from these select articles that help to bridge some gaps in this critical research area. The benefit of this special issue also arises from identifying additional opportunities for further investigation in this growing domain of inquiry. We were overwhelmed by the response to the ‘Call for Papers’ on E-commerce Enabled Manufacturing Operations: Issues and Analysis. We could not have done this by ourselves, thus we appreciate the efforts and the professionalism of all who were involved in making this special issue possible, including the authors, referees, and editorial staff of the Information Systems Journal. These efforts included review by at least three referees. The Guest Editors gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided by the Editor (Professor Guy Fitzgerald) of the Information Systems Journal and the more than 30 referees who reviewed manuscripts for this special issue. The editors of this special issue express their sympathy and condolence for the loss of Dr Nelson Tang, one of the co-authors of ‘An application of the Delta Model and BPR in transforming electronic business’, which appears in this issue. Dr Tang was an active researcher, teacher and a great friend. His contribution to the academic community will always be remembered.

The evaluation of environmentally conscious manufacturing programs is similar to many strategic initiatives and their justification methodologies. This similarity arises from the fact that there are multiple factors that need to be considered, many of which have long-term and broad implications for an organization. The types of programs that could be evaluated range from the appropriate selection of product designs and materials to major disassembly programs that may be implemented in parallel with standard assembly programs. The methodology will involve the synthesis of the analytical network process (ANP) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). We consider some of the more recent modeling innovations in each of these areas to help us address a critical and important decision that many managers and organizations are beginning to face. An illustrative example provides some insights into the application of this methodology. Additional issues and research questions within are also identified.

The greening of organizational transportation fleets, especially trucks and automobiles, has gained increasing attention by companies in a variety of industrial sectors. The reasons for this concern and attention are due to regulatory and competitive pressures, but also increasing costs of fossil-fuels. Surprisingly the amount of research and modeling for fleet management overall has been rather limited, with the focus on managing green vehicle investments virtually non-existent. In this study we develop a two-stage game theoretic model that helps evaluate, from both policy and organizational perspectives, the implications of greening of transportation fleets. Various parameters are evaluated including factors such as innovations in green vehicle technology, levels of service differences, cost of fuel, adjusting tax policy, regulatory compliance requirements, and adaptation costs. This evaluation provides practical insights into actions that could be considered by regulators and organizations to encourage environmental investments.

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers.

This paper investigates the extent to which supply chain greening and buttressing (building robustness) strategies are supportive or conflicting. A supply chain design model is introduced which uses an environmental performance scoring approach and a robustness measure to explore the relationship between greening and buttressing. Potential tradeoffs to develop robustly green and greenly robust supply chains are evaluated. Data from a multinational apparel company is used. Results show both greening and buttressing can be costly, green supply chains are most sensitive to disruption, robust supply chains have strong long term benefits, and buttressing a green supply chain is a good investment.

Green public procurement (GPP) practices have been recognized as an effective policy tool for sustainable production and consumption. However, GPP practices adoption, especially in developing countries, is still an issue. Seeking to help understand these adoption issues, we develop a conceptual model which hypothesizes moderation effects of GPP knowledge on the relationships between GPP drivers and practices. Using primary data collected from 193 Chinese government officials, we find that regulations, rewards & incentive gains, and stakeholders exert pressure to motivate adoption of GPP practices. Knowledge of GPP regulations, responsibilities and experiences in developed countries is found to be limited. The study also found that voluntary regulations may actually be demotivating GPP practices. This study contributes to further theoretical and practical understanding of GPP practices. The findings can be helpful for policy makers, especially those in developing countries, to establish promotion and diffusion mechanisms for GPP practices as an important sustainable development tool.

In evaluating and selecting sustainable suppliers, we take a triple-bottom-line (profit, people and planet) approach and consider business operations as well as environmental impacts and social responsibilities of the suppliers. Different metrics are introduced to measure performance in these three areas. To examine the influences of different organizational and supply chain operating philosophies, the objectives in selection of suppliers are designed so that some of them favor profit or the business operations, others the planet or the environment and the remaining focusing on people or social responsibility. A novel methodological approach based on a Bayesian framework and Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) simulation is developed to rank and select suppliers using specific selection objectives. This technique is also effective when smaller or missing data sets exist, which is an especially prevalent characteristic for newer and complex measures such as in a sustainability decision environment. Results obtained from the MCMC simulation provide a wealth of information about supplier performance, which form the basis for additional statistical analyses. The model allows the decision maker to execute various scenarios by changing importance weights attached to the triple-bottom-line areas. We present results for some of those scenarios with managerial and research implications and future research directions identified.

Trade plays an important role in redistributing resources and also brings significant environmental impacts to involved countries. This relatively complex research domain of international trade and environmental burden shifts is informed through study of embodied environmental flows of products. Research trends to identify features of international trade embodied flows between 1997 and 2016 are determined through a bibliometric study. Research contribution of countries, authors, institutions and journals are described. Co-citation and network analyses are completed. Results show that there has been significant research interest increase on this topic. Given the interdisciplinary and global nature of this topic, increases in countries, author, and institutional collaborations has occurred. USA, China, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Norway were the top 5 countries with high academic influence, and country as USA and institution as Chinese Academy of Sciences has the largest number of collaborations, respectively. Embodied flows such as carbon emission and water are popular ones associated with international trade in the given period, and the most popular methodological tool is Input/Output Analysis. In addition, hotspots which extracted from keywords are analyzed, additional avenues of research are also discussed in this study.

Supplier selection is a strategic decision that significantly influences a firm's competitive advantage. The importance of this decision is amplified when a firm seeks new markets and potentially a new supplier base. Recognizing the importance of these decisions, an innovative three-phase supplier selection methodology including pre-selection, selection, and aggregation is proposed. Conjunctive screening is used for pre-selection, the best worst method (BWM), a novel multiple criteria decision-making method is introduced for the selection phase. Material price and annual quantity are integrated with the decision at the aggregation phase. Qualitative, quantitative, traditional business, and environmental criteria are incorporated. The proposed methodology is applied within a food supply chain context, the edible oils industry. In this illustration the focal organization faces a global entry decision in a new international market. An extensive search is completed to identify the potential suppliers. Through initial screening a sub-set of qualified suppliers is identified. BWM is then used to find the best suppliers from among the qualified suppliers. Eventually the significance of the supplies in the aggregation phase is determined. The outcome is a relatively meaningful ranking of suppliers. The paper provides insights into the methodology, decision, and managerial implications. Study and model limitations, along with future research directions are described.

This work introduces a methodology to evaluate, rank, and select suppliers for an organisation managing a large and complex construction project. The company's procedure to complete a supplier evaluation is conflated with other supplier features such as product type and complexity, delivery characteristics and requirements, and geographic location of the project. The introduced model segregates the effects of each feature and then aids supplier selection on various criteria without the confounding effects. Model parameters are determined using Bayesian estimators allowing for information integration from prior periods. The estimation approach provides rich model parameter data, allowing for use in additional analysis. This work advances the research in supplier selection by illustrating a practical forecasting and predictive technique for supplier selection. One result is that the separability of factors in a multiple criteria decision environment can prove valuable for managers to help decipher and isolate factors in a complex decision environment. The technique is feasible for smaller problem sets and provides a robust solution. Past performance and future performance potential are both considered. Analysis and future research directions allow for further development.

Organizations have to deal with increasing challenges in their supply chains. Their decision makers brought to balance economic performance with environmental and social issues. Methods and concepts for jointly optimizing economic, environmental and social cost of operations in supply chains are challenging. Decision support systems could help organizations to support sustainability in their supply chains. A collaborative decision-making framework for sustainable supply chain planning is proposed in this paper. This framework facilitates the development of multi-party collaborative relationships across a network to improve the sustainability of delivered products. It supports a new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system platform. The platform provides insight for infrastructure and visibility to support supply chain sustainability requirements. The proposed decision support system proposes simultaneously collaboration and sustainability functionalities missing in many existing supply chain planning systems. This system has been evaluated and validated through a pilot program across a range of food supply networks. The work is motivated and applied by a major European research program in the agri-food supply chain.

This paper provides an efficiency analysis of practices in Solid Waste Management of manufacturing companies in Wales. We apply data envelopment analysis (DEA) to a data set compiled during the National Waste Survey Wales 2003. We explore the relative performance of small and medium sized manufacturing enterprises (SME; 10-250 employees) in Wales. We determine the technical and scale environmental and economic efficiencies of these organizations. Our evaluation focuses on empirical data collected from companies in a wide diversity of manufacturing industries throughout Wales. We find significant differences in industry and size efficiencies. We also find correlations that exist among environmental and economic efficiencies. These variations show that improvements can be made using benchmarks from similar and different size industries. Further pursuit of an investigation of possible reasons for these differences is recommended.

Blockchain technology, the distributed electronic ledger-based information technology, is disrupting business practices. Consensus capabilities and characteristics of blockchain technology include transparency-traceability of information, immutable and reliable information, smart contracts, and incentivization mechanisms. Global interest in blockchain technology continues to increase across sectors including governments, corporations and industry, civil society, and communities. This chapter explores the blockchain interrelationship with social sustainability and supply chains. It introduces the integration of these concepts to improve organizations and their supply chains. We also introduce how valuation—using economic market and non-market valuation—relates and can support to these major integrated issues. The combination of these topics can aid researchers, policymakers, and practitioners while contributing to strategic organizational and supply chain justification, performance measurement, and sustainability. This chapter will address a critical concern of sustainability valuation and blockchain technology; how they relate. Areas for future research are also described.

Presents the introductory editorial for this issues of the publication.