Compromise or complement? Exploring the interactions between sustainable and resilient supply chain management

Abstract

Supply chain management (SCM) increasingly needs to address both climate change mitigation and adaptation issues. While mitigation aims at sustainability by reducing the environmental impact of supply chains (SCs), adaptation entails improving resilience by increasing the ability to cope with climate-induced disruptions. Although sustainable SCM (SSCM) and resilient SCM (RSCM) are of increasing importance, there has been little effort to conceptually connect SSCM and RSCM. Our study explores the interconnections between both concepts by outlining theoretical elements and conducting a case study of four companies in the automotive SC based on company documents and interviews. Results show that SSCM is prioritised

How do supply chain managers perceive the relationship between resilience and sustainability practices? An exploratory study

“…Regarding trade‐offs, our findings are very much aligned with previous research about the maintenance of redundant capacity (Govindan et al, 2015; Karutz et al, 2018; Wang et al, 2022). Supply chain managers perceive redundancies as socially and environmentally unsustainable, to the extent that buffer inventory to prevent risks together with slack resources and transient supplier relationships to maintain responsiveness necessarily constitutes waste if risks do not materialize.…”

“…In the specific context of the automotive industry, trade-offs seem to predominate. Expert interviews reveal, for instance, that flexible sourcing practices to ensure resilience impair firms' ability to select suppliers on sustainability criteria and preclude the pursuit of long-term relationships (Karutz et al, 2018). They also disclose that experts perceive practices toward enhancing energy efficiency to be associated with a reduction in redundancies, thus rendering their automotive firms more susceptible to impactful disruptions (Govindan et al, 2015).…”

“…They also disclose that experts perceive practices toward enhancing energy efficiency to be associated with a reduction in redundancies, thus rendering their automotive firms more susceptible to impactful disruptions (Govindan et al, 2015). Furthermore, practices that geographically diversify the supply base are perceived to increase resilience to supply‐side disruptions yet to harm environmental sustainability due to an increased need for transportation (Govindan et al, 2015; Karutz et al, 2018). In the context of the aerospace industry, Ruiz‐Benitez et al (2019) identified potential synergies, though.…”

Using a Product Life Cycle Cost Model to Solve Supplier Selection Problems in a Sustainable, Resilient Supply Chain

“…To verify the RMCGP SCPLCC model problem, we modified the model through mean-weighted-penalty-weighted linear goal programming. The objective function was expressed as an equation presented in a study [13]: T 7 = 6000 (total capacity constraint goal of supplier 3) T 8 = 25,000 (total budget constraint goal of supplier 1) T 9 = 100,000 (total budget constraint goal of supplier 2) T 10 = 35,000 (total budget constraint goal of supplier 3) Subsequently, the numerical example of the SCPLCC problem was solved using LINGO software [50]:…”

“…The basic concepts of resilience SCM (RSCM) are derived from the characteristic elements of resilience theory. Despite the increasing relevance of SSCM and RSCM to enterprises with respect to addressing climate change concerns, studies have largely neglected the need for the systematic integration of the two paradigms [12][13][14][15][16].…”