The topic of sustainable supply chain management has become an increasingly popular research area in recent years because sustainability issues have received growing attention. Today, the new challenges faced by companies are how to manage the supply chain while considering problems of rapid climate changes, address the negative impact of the financial crisis and prices, deal with the growing public interest in ecology (e.g. green logistics), and ensure environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.
Consumer awareness regarding green products must be anticipated by effective supply chain management that considers consumers’ growing demand for transparency and increasing awareness of the conditions under which products are manufactured and distributed.
There are numerous definitions of the terms ‘sustainable’ and ‘supply chain’. For the purposes of this special issue, we have chosen to use the following simplistic, but practical, definitions. Supply chain (SC) is the flow of materials, information and funds between different parties or organisational functions. Supply chain management (SCM) is the design, planning, execution, control and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objectives of creating value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronising supply with demand, and measuring performance globally.
Sustainability interfaces with economics through the social and ecological consequences of economic activity. Sustainability is a social stimulus that entails international and national law, urban planning and transport, local and individual lifestyles, and ethical consumerism. Sustainable supply chain management (s-SCM) is an approach to managing raw materials and services from suppliers to manufacturer/service providers to customers and back with improvement of the social, environmental and economic impacts explicitly considered.
Sustainability issues have attracted many researchers in the context of supply chain management. Some problems have always been associated with decision making at strategic and tactical levels and involve many people. The main aim of this special issue is to advance our theoretical and empirical understanding of models and methods for the development of sustainable supply chain systems in different industries. Theoretical, methodological and/or empirical research papers are welcome.
Suitable topics include but are not limited to:
- Supply chain policy and strategy
- Third party logistics
- Product development in supply chain management
- Multi-criteria decision making in supply chain management
- Managing demand and aggregate planning
- Inventory management
- Transportation and distribution strategy
- Performance measurement systems
- Risk assessment and mitigation
- System dynamic applications for sustainable supply chains
- Soft computing-based models
- Information systems for supply chain management
Manuscript submission: 1 August, 2012
Notification of initial decision: 1 December, 2012
Submission of revised manuscript: 1 February, 2013
Notification of final acceptance: 1 March, 2013
Submission of final revised paper: 1 April, 2013
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