scholarly journals Sustainability Performance in Food Supply Networks: Insights from the UK Industry

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoum Tsolakis ◽  
Foivos Anastasiadis ◽  
Jagjit Srai

The purpose of this research is to introduce a qualitative sustainability performance assessment framework for food supply networks, based on the perception of their key stakeholders’ upper management. Moreover, the paper provides industry insights by exemplifying the value of the proposed framework for the UK food industry. A critical review on the most acknowledged sustainability assessment methodologies and tools resulted in the synthesis of the proposed framework. An illustrative application follows, based on data from semi-structured interviews with C-level executives from key players of the UK poultry sector. The results demonstrate an easy-to-use approach, with a comprehensive and sharp outcome on supply chain sustainability performance assessment. Industry insights demonstrate an adequate sustainability performance with respect to the entire supply chain. A detailed view on different echelons reveals specific areas that could be improved, such as the environmental performance at both farming (production) and processing levels. This work extends the scope of current sustainability performance assessment tools by providing a tangible triple bottom-line overview, as well as echelon-specific and indicator-specific details, in a user-friendly, yet straightforward, way. UK food industry insights are valuable for practitioners and academics. The illustration is based exclusively on C-level executives’ viewpoint; thus, any generalization of the results should be considered to this effect. Supply chain stakeholders, policy-makers, and researchers could perform a quick and reliable supply network sustainability performance assessment.

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana Azevedo ◽  
Miguel Barros

Purpose: The objective of this paper is to assess the level of sustainability of the UK automotive supply chain considering simultaneously the three dimensions of sustainability (economic, social and environmental) representing the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach.Design/methodology/approach: The assessment of the automotive SC’ sustainability is based on the framework proposed by Salvado, Azevedo, Matias and Ferreira (2011) and uses the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method to aggregate economic, environmental and social indicators into a unique index. A case study on the UK automotive industry is used and the data do perform this study is collected from the sustainability reports of the UK’ automotive companies.Findings and Originality/value: The proposed framework represents an important benchmarking tool, offering managers the possibility for assessing the sustainability behaviour of its supply chain and compare it with other supply chains. Once identified the dimension of sustainability where the company or the supply chain is worst performer managers can work closer to their supply chain’ partners in order to improve the performance of those dimension of sustainability.Research limitations/implications: One limitation of the suggested approach is related to the ambiguity of the sustainability’ indicators selection and the definition of weights for each sustainability dimension.Practical implications: The assessment of the SC sustainability by using the suggested framework to compute a SC sustainability index offers managers an opportunity for assessing the level of sustainability of each individual company and the corresponding SC in a very easy way. It also represents an opportunity for improving company performance. In this way managers can use the information on the sustainability index to help adjust their company's behaviour and improve their economic, social and environmental performance.Originality/value: The proposed framework represents a contribution in the area of index construction and a valuable component of organizational management systems and monitoring programs.


2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (9) ◽  
pp. 2097-2125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Manning ◽  
Jan Mei Soon

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify mechanisms for using a quantitative benchmarking approach to drive sustainability improvements in the food supply chain. Design/methodology/approach A literature review was undertaken and then a strategic and operational framework developed for improving food supply chain sustainability in terms of triple bottom line criteria. Findings Using a sustainability indicator scoring approach, the paper considers the architecture for analysis so that strategic goals can be clearly formulated and cascade into specific, relevant and timebound strategic and operational measures that underpin brand value and product integrity. Originality/value This paper is of value to academics and also practitioners in the food industry.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. 132
Author(s):  
Bao’e Song

Environmental degradation has been a great concern for Chinese people.  Sustainable management serves a critical avenue to solve environmental problems and has become increasingly popular and important in theoretical and practical terms. Sustainability assessment is conducive to the shift and improvement of sustainability performance. The aim of this article is to propose an evaluation framework through constructing a comparatively comprehensive set of indicators so as to measure one of the most significant yet complex supply chains. The assessment methodology is the Fuzzy TOPSIS methodology which is utilized to ascertain the weights of indicators as well as comparison of different food supply chains. The study enables stakeholders to gain a better understanding of food supply chain sustainability as well as further inform their decisions. Scholars and practitioners in the sphere of sustainable research in China could utilize the findings of the article to take corresponding countermeasures to enhance sustainability of food supply chain so as to relieve the increasingly severe environmental problems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3870
Author(s):  
Mehrbakhsh Nilashi ◽  
Shahla Asadi ◽  
Rabab Ali Abumalloh ◽  
Sarminah Samad ◽  
Fahad Ghabban ◽  
...  

This study aims to develop a new approach based on machine learning techniques to assess sustainability performance. Two main dimensions of sustainability, ecological sustainability, and human sustainability, were considered in this study. A set of sustainability indicators was used, and the research method in this study was developed using cluster analysis and prediction learning techniques. A Self-Organizing Map (SOM) was applied for data clustering, while Classification and Regression Trees (CART) were applied to assess sustainability performance. The proposed method was evaluated through Sustainability Assessment by Fuzzy Evaluation (SAFE) dataset, which comprises various indicators of sustainability performance in 128 countries. Eight clusters from the data were found through the SOM clustering technique. A prediction model was found in each cluster through the CART technique. In addition, an ensemble of CART was constructed in each cluster of SOM to increase the prediction accuracy of CART. All prediction models were assessed through the adjusted coefficient of determination approach. The results demonstrated that the prediction accuracy values were high in all CART models. The results indicated that the method developed by ensembles of CART and clustering provide higher prediction accuracy than individual CART models. The main advantage of integrating the proposed method is its ability to automate decision rules from big data for prediction models. The method proposed in this study could be implemented as an effective tool for sustainability performance assessment.


Author(s):  
Alok Choudhary ◽  
Arijit De ◽  
Karim Ahmed ◽  
Ravi Shankar

AbstractThe increasing importance of sustainability has put pressure on organisations to assess their supply chain sustainability performance, which requires a holistic set of key performance indicators (KPIs) related to strategic, tactical and operational decision making of firms. This paper presents a comprehensive set of KPIs for sustainable supply chain management using a mixed method approach including analysing data from the literature survey, content analysis of sustainability reports of manufacturing firms and expert interviews. A 3-level hierarchical model is developed by classifying the identified KPIs into key sustainability dimensions as well as key supply chain decision-making areas including strategic, tactical and operational. A novel multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) based sustainability assessment framework is proposed. The proposed framework integrates value focussed thinking (VFT), intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and IF Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methods. The novelty of the research lies in (1) using a rigorous mixed method approach for KPIs identification and industrial validation (2) the development of a novel integrated intuitionistic sustainability assessment framework for decision making and (3) the innovative application of the proposed framework and associated methodologies in the context not explored before. The practical data on the performance ratings of various KPIs were obtained from the experts and a novel intuitionistic fuzzy TOPSIS was applied to benchmark the organisations for their sustainability performance. Furthermore, the case study shows the applicability of the proposed framework to evaluate and identify the problem areas of the organisations and yield guidance on KPIs by recognising the most significant areas requiring improvement. This research contributes to the practical implication by providing an innovative sustainability assessment framework for supply chain managers to evaluate and manage sustainability performance by making informed decisions related to KPIs.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 749-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Hodgkins ◽  
M.M. Raats ◽  
M.B. Egan ◽  
A. Fragodt ◽  
J. Buttriss ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen S.Y. CHEN

This is a multidisciplinary study on operationalizing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in humanitarian operations through supply chain management methods. It is motivated by the belief that for SDGs to be pursued in humanitarian operations, they need to be contextualized in the idiosyncratic settings and approached systematically. Towards this end, this paper develops and operationalizes a strategic sustainable humanitarian supply chain framework using the design science approach. The study starts with analyzing the humanitarian operations characteristics and identifying the critical supply chain capabilities required for sustainable operations. It then re-conceptualizes sustainability in the humanitarian context and proposes a formula of sustainability performance in humanitarian operations. After that, the humanitarian supply chain structural components are delineated and decomposed into operational elements in order to identify the configurations that lead to optimal sustainability performance. The findings then converge into a framework to enable the identification of context-contingent sustainable supply chain strategies in humanitarian operations. This paper makes three contributions to SDG research: 1) it contextualizes sustainability in the humanitarian setting through postulating the concept and formula of net sustainability value as the single bottom line in humanitarian operations; 2) it increases operationality of SDGs in the humanitarian sector through the design of a strategic framework for sustainable humanitarian supply chains; and 3) it increases the interdisciplinarity of SDG research by using a generic supply chain framework that can be applied to integrate multilevel multidisciplinary sustainability studies.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natnaree Nantee ◽  
Panitas Sureeyatanapas

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the impacts of Logistics 4.0 initiatives (focusing on automated warehousing systems) on the economic, environmental and social dimensions of firms' sustainability performance. To achieve this objective, a new framework for the assessment of sustainable warehousing in the 4.0 era is developed.Design/methodology/approachThe framework, developed via the item-objective congruence index, Q-sort method and interviews with experts, is employed to assess performance changes through management interviews in two warehousing companies after the implementation of automation technologies.FindingsMost aspects of both companies' sustainability performance are considerably improved (e.g. productivity, accuracy, air emission, worker safety and supply chain visibility); however, the outcome for some criteria might be worsened or improved depending on each company's solutions and strategies (e.g. increasing electricity bills, maintenance costs and job losses).Practical implicationsThe findings provide insight into the effective implementation of warehousing technologies. The proposed framework is also a valid and reliable instrument for sustainability assessment for warehousing operators, which companies can utilise for self-assessment.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to establishing a body of literature that explores the previously unclarified effects of Logistics 4.0 on firms' sustainability performance. The proposed framework, which captures critical concerns of corporate sustainability and technological adaptation, is also the first of its kind for warehouse performance assessment.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document