Publications

Developing performance measurement is a necessary element for the effective management of organisations. Performance measurement has been gaining in importance in both operations and management literature. In this paper an evaluation of the development and implementation of performance measures is presented. Investigation of the process from an actual organisational view-point provides insights into the advantages and disadvantages of a strategic activity-based development framework for performance measurement. General issues and implications for the management of performance measurement development and implementation provide some fundamental guidelines.

Environmental issues in supply chain management are of increasing importance to business operations. Organizations realize that effectively managing their

Challenges and strategies related to Green Growth transitions are occurring globally. European and Asian regions of the world play a very considerable role in these transitions. This final chapter provides a closing to the book with contributions clearly identified....

This study examines the resilience and sustainability of supply chains amid global disruptions, with a particular focus on the essential role of reverse logistics. Through a game-theoretic approach, we explore manufacturer decisions to source from either reliable but expensive raw materials or cost-effective yet riskier recycled or recyclable materials from the reverse logistics channel. Our analysis outlines three primary sourcing strategies: sourcing exclusively from suppliers (SS), sourcing solely through retailer reverse channel (RS), and a balanced dual sourcing (DS) approach. Our findings reveal the economic viability that recycling outsourcing is influenced by market demand and disruption risks. Notably, in scenarios of constrained market potential, the cost advantage of using recycled materials from less reliable reverse logistics channels surpasses the risks associated with supply chain disruptions, suggesting a complex cost-benefit landscape amidst supply uncertainties. Moreover, the stability of suppliers emerges as a pivotal factor in strategic sourcing decisions, underscoring the need to consider both economic efficiencies and supply reliability. The study also evaluates the dynamic competition between manufacturers and retailers, shedding light on how strategic adjustments driven by sustainability and resilience goals can enhance profitability and sustainability. It was found that despite the threat of disruptions, manufacturers benefit more from engaging with risky reverse channels under specific conditions, underscoring the nuanced decision-making required in uncertain supply scenarios. This research advances sustainable supply chain management by highlighting strategic complexities and the need for understanding economic efficiencies and supply stability, offering insights for navigating disruptions and fostering resilient, sustainable supply chains.

No abstract is provided for this article.

Strategic interorganizational networks aid organizations in gaining competitive advantages and improving production efficiencies. Network organizations, virtual corporations, and value-adding partnerships are envisioned by many experts as the epitome of interorganizational networks for the 21st century. These multi-organizational structures are viewed as a solution for rapid introduction of products while maintaining high quality and minimal costs. One common key issue in designing these new forms of organizations is the partner selection process. The business processes, owned by organizational partners, must be efficient both individually and as a collective group. This paper proposes a two-phase quantitative framework to aid the decision making process in effectively selecting an efficient and a compatible set of partners. Phase 1 identifies efficient candidates for each type of business process (e.g. design, manufacturing, distribution, etc.) utilizing data envelopment analysis. Phase 2 involves the execution of an integer goal programming model to determine the best portfolio of efficient partners based on a number of compatibility objectives. Model application and insights are evident through an illustrative example.

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

The seldom studied intersectoral research and development relationship between government, universities and private organizations has a number of implications for each of these partners. In this paper we investigate this relationship with respect to their performance. A study of over 250 of these projects, funded by Spanish government agencies, is presented in this paper. We investigate, through empirical means, how participating firm characteristics, the R&D project itself, and the intersectoral relationship, influence project performance. Expected and unexpected results are presented and discussed. Performance is determined using a DEA-based model.

The objective of this study is to provide an overview of Blockchain technology and Industry 4.0 for advancing supply chains towards sustainability. First, extracted from the existing literature, we evaluate the capabilities of Industry 4.0 for sustainability under three main topics of (1) Internet of things (IoT)-enabled energy management in smart factories; (2) smart logistics and transportation; and (3) smart business models. We expand beyond Industry 4.0 with unfolding the capabilities that Blockchain offers for increasing sustainability, under four main areas: (1) design of incentive mechanisms and tokenization to promote consumer green behavior; (2) enhance visibility across the entire product lifecycle; (3) increase systems efficiency while decreasing development and operational costs; and (4) foster sustainability monitoring and reporting performance across supply chain networks. Furthermore, Blockchain technology capabilities for contributing to social and environmental sustainability, research gaps, adversary effects of Blockchain, and future research directions are discussed.

In this paper we introduce a multi-method multiple criteria approach for evaluating the performance of organizations. Performance analysis may include both strategic and operational performance, as well as financial and other less tangible factors. This paper introduces the use of Fuzzy C-Means and TOPSIS for organizational performance evaluation purposes. Using real company data and balanced scorecard accounting and performance dimensions the methodology is applied and evaluated. The predictive abilities of the technique from an organizational performance evaluation approach are evaluated using this data. One of the results from the illustrative application is that economic performance evaluation is not the best predictor of overall viability of some organizations, especially e-commerce based organizations.

Sustainability is hinged on innovation. The importance of sustainable innovation management in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) cannot be underestimated. Studies on SSCM have emphasised the need for sustainable innovation in achieving sustainability but none provide deep insights into sustainable innovation management in SSCM implementation. This lack of research depth stimulates this study to identify and investigate criteria for sustainable supply chain management innovation advancement. This paper proposes a sustainable innovation criteria framework for investigating sustainable supply chains in manufacturing companies. To exemplify the applicability and efficiency of the proposed framework, a sample of five Indian manufacturing companies are used to evaluate and prioritise the sustainable innovation management criteria, using the ‘best–worst’ multi-criteria decision-making (BW-MCDM) model. The criteria weights for all companies from BWM are aggregated, averaged and used for ranking. The respondent managers viewed ‘financial availability for innovation’ as the most important sustainable innovation sub-criteria. The results of the study will inform industrial managers, practitioners and decision-makers on which criteria to focus on during the implementation stage, to increase sustainability in manufacturing supply chains, and further advance corporate and supply chain sustainable development. The framework may also serve as a theoretical construct for a future empirical study on sustainable supply chain innovation in the manufacturing sector. This paper sets the stage for further research in sustainable innovation practices in the manufacturing sector and its supply chains.

This editorial piece discusses the current digitalisation trends and future research directions in freight transport and logistics. We characterise the current trends into three categories based on their transformative roles: connecting, collaborating, and capitalising. Under each category, we discuss the key technologies that are emerging and how they drive major changes in supply chain and logistics systems. We then introduce the special issue papers which address some of the topics under the proposed categories. The article ends with identifying the gaps in the literature and proposes a list of potential topics for future research.

Presents the introductory editorial for this issue of the publication.

Blockchain technology has gained global attention with potential to revolutionize supply chain management and sustainability achievements. The few applied ongoing use cases include blockchain for food, healthcare, and logistics supply chains have emphasized blockchain's untapped potential. Potential support for supply chain and sustainability issues include improving efficiency, transparency, and traceability in addition to billions of dollars in corporate financial savings. Given its promise, the adoption of blockchain technology, although hyped for years, has not seen rapid acceptance. In this study, the technology-organization-environment framework and force field theories are utilized to investigate blockchain adoption barriers. Using various literature streams on technology, organizational practices, and sustainability, a comprehensive overview of barriers for adopting blockchain technology to manage sustainable supply chains is provided. The barriers are explored using technology, organizational, and environmental – supply chain and external – framework followed by inputs from academics and industry experts and then analyzed using the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) tool. The results show that supply chain and technological barriers are the most critical barriers among both academics and industry experts. We further determine the similarities and differences among academics and practitioners in perceiving the barriers. This exploratory study reveals interesting relative importance and interrelationships of barriers which are necessary, theoretically and practically for further adoption and dissemination of blockchain technology in a sustainable supply chain environment. It also sets the stage for theoretical observations for understanding blockchain technology implementation in sustainable supply chains. A series of research propositions and research directions culminate from this exploratory study.

No abstract is provided for this article.

With economic globalisation and the emergence of extended enterprises derived from interrelationships among organisations, there has been a steady increase in offshore outsourcing activities. Subsequently, the strategic importance of offshoring decisions is important. Traditional offshoring decisions mainly emphasise outsourcee (supplier) selection problems, with their focus upon economic factors. Sustainability, which has recently been regarded as a competitive necessity in most industries, rarely enters into the modelling or discussion. Furthermore, additional and integrated facility location factors need to be included into the offshoring decision process. To help integrate these factors and concerns, this paper constructs a model for evaluation and selection of various offshoring alternatives by simultaneously considering facility location factors, supplier selection metrics, and sustainability factors. The model allows for input from a variety of managerial decision-making levels and involves the dynamic perspectives of the competitive environment in its evaluation process. An illustrative case is applied to demonstrate the efficacy of the model. Feedback from practising managers who are responsible for outsourcing/offshoring decisions also support the validity of the model. The paper closes with a discussion of managerial implications and an outlook on aspects for further research.