Abstract
The need to take the sustainability agenda beyond its technological outset and include supply chain practices is well-established, but still little has happened and the supply chain has remained largely unaffected. This paper asks why this may be the case and investigates what happens in the translation from ambitious strategic goals to operational practices.
To do this an exploratory case study is presented detailing the efforts of a large Danish manufacturing company to introduce an ambitious sustainability agenda in its ongoing supply chain operations. The study aims to develop a deeper understanding of the inter-functional coordination and operational practices when the sustainability agenda is introduced into supply chain. The study points to a lack of tangible environmental performance measurements and to incoherent functional logics as the main factors preventing effective implementation. We find support for a lack of formalized sustainability integration into operations and clear systemic approach to cross-functional coordination.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Lacy, P., Cooper, T., Hayward, R., Neuberger, L.: A New Era of Sustainability. CEO Reflections on Progress to Date, Challenges Ahead and the Impact of the Journey toward a Sustainable Economy. UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study (2010)
Pagell, M., Wu, Z.: Building a More Complete Theory of Sustainable Supply Chain Management Using Case Studies of 10 Exemplars. J. of Sup. Chain Man. 45(2), 37–56 (2009)
Hill, M.R.: Sustainability, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and International Operations Management. International J. of Oper. and Prod. Man. 21(12), 1503–1520 (2001)
Goldsby, T.: World Class Logistics Performance and Environmentally Responsible Logistics Practices. J. of Bus. Log. 21(2), 187–208 (2000)
Kleindorfer, P.R., Singhal, K., Luk, N., Wassenhove, V.: Sustainable Operations Management. Prod. and Oper. Man. 14(4), 482–492 (2005)
Rao, P., Holt, D.: Do Green Supply Chains Lead to Competitiveness and Economic Performance? Int. J. of Oper. & Prod. Man. 25(9), 898–916 (2005)
Hald, K.S.: Sustainable Procurement in Denmark 2011- Nogle Foreløbige Resultater. DILF Orientering (5), 6–12 (2011)
Mentzer, J.T., DeWitt, W., Keebler, J.S., Min, S., Nix, N.W., Smith, C.D., Zacharia, Z.G.: Defining Supply Chain Management. J. of Bus. Log. 22(2), 1–25 (2001)
Yin, R.K.: The Case Study Anthology. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks (2004)
Seuring, S., Muller, M.: From a Literature Review to a Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Supply Chain Management. J. of Clean. Prod. 16(15), 1699–1710 (2008)
Dyer, J.H.: Collaborative Advantage: Winning Through Extended Enterprise Supplier Networks. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2000)
Holt, D., Ghobadian, A.: An Empirical Study of Green Supply Chain Management Practices amongst UK Manufactures. J. of Man. Tech. Man. 20(7), 933–956 (2009)
Porter, M.E., Kramer, M.R.: Strategy & Society. The Link between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility. HBR, 78–92 (December 2006)
Bowen, F.E., Cousins, P.D., Lamming, R.C.: Horses for Courses: Explaining the Gap between the Theory and Practice of Green Supply. Green. Man. Int. 35, 41–60 (2001)
Lubin, D.A., Esty, D.C.: The Big Idea: The Sustainability Imperative. HBR, 42–50 (May 2010)
Kahn, K.B.: Interdepartmental Integration: A Definition with Implications for Product Development Performance. J. of Prod. In. Man. 13, 137–151 (1996)
Pellegrinelli, S., Partington, D., Hemmingway, C., Mohdzain, Z., Shah, M.: The Importance of Context in Programme Management: An Empirical Review of Programme Practices. Int. J. Project Man. 25, 41–55 (2007)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing
About this paper
Cite this paper
Jørsfeldt, L.M., Jensen, P.M., Waehrens, B.V. (2013). Implementation of Sustainability in Ongoing Supply Chain Operations. In: Emmanouilidis, C., Taisch, M., Kiritsis, D. (eds) Advances in Production Management Systems. Competitive Manufacturing for Innovative Products and Services. APMS 2012. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 397. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40352-1_25
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40352-1_25
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-40351-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-40352-1
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)