Logistics Performance Measurement and Greening Supply Chains: Diverging Mindsets

Abstract

Although there has been considerable effort placed on measuring supply chains in order to assess their performance, these techniques have been found to be time and cost focused, aimed at coping with rapid change. This approach tends to have a short‐term outlook. Work on greening supply chains is much longer‐term in outlook. Is information intensive and biased towards the supply side? These two mindsets appear to be diverging, developing in conflicting directions. This is an alarming prospect for the environment, which has no place in future supply chain performance measurements, thus running the risk of being increasingly side‐lined; and for performance measurements, which is unconcerned with longer‐term sustainability in terms of the environment. The case is made to amalgamate the advantages of both schools of thought to allow long‐term views to be represented by short‐term performance measurement.

Applying a network level in environmental impact assessments

“…The difficulties of assessing environmental impacts properly (McIntyre, Smith, Henham, & Pretlove, 1998;Bäckström, 1999;Vasileiou & Morris, 2006) support arguments in favor of not allocating them at all. Traditionally, society did not charge companies or individuals for their environmental harm, nor did society distribute environmental impact in a non-monetary manner.…”

“…Previous assessment models have mainly concerned descriptions of independent stimuli (McIntyre et al, 1998;Vasileiou & Morris, 2006) and have not focused on assessment as an embedded activity with consequences for interaction.…”

Themes and challenges in making supply chains environmentally sustainable

“…Environmental measurement and monitoring are other managerial aspects which can be found inMcIntyre et al (1998b),Bickel et al (2006), andJanic (2006), respectively. Analyses of roles of information and communication technology (ICT) in sustainable transport(Janelle and Gillespie, 2004) as well as environmental evaluations of suppliers…”

Achieving supply chain environment management: an exploratory study

“…The type and scope of involvement from various supply chain partners we identified is by no means definite. For instance, even though we did not specifically discuss the involvement of logistics service providers, the literature has previously introduced such involvement ( Mclntyre and Smith, 1998). Specifically, this study does not attempt to define the precise role of various supply chain parties play in environmental protection.…”