Managerial Best Practices to Promote Sustainable Supply Chain Management & New Product Development

Abstract

Applications of Contemporary Management Approaches in Supply Chains 84costs, quality, delivery and flexibility are expected to improve. For example, green partnerships are positively associated with quality, delivery and flexibility performance as well as improving environmental performance [ ]. Strong competition among suppliers and more demanding customers promotes fair wages and human rights within the corporation and motivates companies to contribute more to the well-being of society through local community involvement.Firms are increasingly required to offer high quality, innovative products at competitive prices, and to develop supply chains that are sustainable in the long run [ ]. NPD is the overall process through which an idea is transformed into a commercial product [ ] and includes the idea generation, market research, product design, and detail engineering phases. In order to remain competitive in today s marketplace, SCM must address sustainability issues in NPD. Sustainable product development is the process of developing an improved sustainable product or service for the market [ ]. Sustainability integration into NPD is still evolving and is increasing the product design complexity [ ]. External factors that encourage sustainable NPD include competitors, governmental agencies, regulatory bodies, while internal factors include top management vision and strategy, and employees [ ]. Product designers can significantly influence the product s sustainability over its entire life. Sustainable products addresses fulfilling the users needs with the purpose of reducing environmental and social impacts of products while providing economic value to the company during the whole product s life cycle [ ]. Green NPD, which focuses on the environment and economic sustainability aspects, is fundamentally the same as traditional NPD however, green NPD increases the complexity [ ]. "Forrester study indicated that % of companies surveyed had green or socially responsible products in NPD or on the market [ ]. However, as recently as , there was little knowledge on why and how companies integrate environmental sustainability into NPD [ ].Therefore, there is a need in today s society to address how to integrate sustainability -all three dimensions of ecological, environmental and social -into NPD and SCM. We continue by reviewing key managerial recommendations to address this. Then, since managers use metrics and frameworks to evaluate the system, we review some sustainability metrics and frameworks. We conclude with a summarization of our recommendations. . Managerial recommendationsCurrent literature reviews provide limited overviews of difficulties and challenges -such as cost implications, inadequate knowledge and skills, ambiguous laws and regulations, and communication and coordination complexity-in managing sustainability in NPD [ , ]. While current efforts appear to focus on industry and policy levels, the managerial level lacks direction and attention to integrate sustainability into NPD practices. Previous r...

Using TQM to Implement Sustainability in Supply Chain Management

“…For the practitioner, this highlights that the framework and techniques to implement sustainability are ones that most already know -that is, quality management approaches and techniques can be applied and assist in sustainability implementation. Managers -particular top management, should develop the strategy, vision, mission, and goals to drive sustainability, provide appropriate resources, and monitor the sustainability efforts through appropriate performance measures (Fish, 2015;Gupta & Palsule-Desai, 2011). Some of the best practices discussed here to support these efforts include an organizational change with a top level manager charged with sustainability efforts, providing sustainability training to employees of the organization -and possibly suppliers' employees, cross-functional teams, enhanced communication, encouraging supply chain partnerships through supplier certification programs that include sustainability, using environmental management systems, and developing visible, transparent and accurate practices and reports on sustainability efforts and disseminating this information to the supply chain and end customers (Fish, 2015;Ozcelik & AvciOzturk, 2014).…”

“…Deming, Juran and Crosby's philosophies require top management commitment to quality, holding top management responsible for the system (Evans & Lindsay, 2002). Similarly, a best practices in implementing sustainability in SCM is top management support and commitment (Delai & Takahashi, 2013;Fish, 2015;Ozcelik & AvciOzturk, 2014). Top management needs to define a sustainability mission, strategy, scope, targets, and processes (Allen, Walker & Brady, 2012;Delai & Takahashi, 2013), so that a culture to foster sustainability develops and supports the strategy, which is linked to relevant performance metrics and reports (Delai & Takahashi, 2013;Fish, 2015;Sroufe & Melnyk, 2013).…”

“…TQM is founded on a cultural shift within the organization the treats workers as value-added resources through training and an organizational structures that encourage and promote participation in continuous improvement. Similarly, developing a workforce that treats employees as value-added assets is a best practice that can assist in sustainability efforts (Fish, 2015;Ozcelik & AvciOzturk, 2014). A workforce, committed to continuous improvements and innovation, and sustainability can mitigate trade-offs between short term profitability and long term sustainability goals (Wu & Pagell, 2011).…”

Strategic Framework for Achieving Sustainability in Telecom Supply Chain, a Case Study of Pakistan

“…Supply chain sustainability has three dimensions: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and social sustainability. Considering all these dimensions, Fish (2015) asserts that SSCM is the "tactical, apparent integration and success of a company's social, environmental, and economic objectives in the complete harmonization of essential inter-organizational corporate procedures for refining the long term financial performance of a company and its supply chains" (Fish, 2015). Most definitions of SSCM have focused on adding Triple Bottom Line approach criteria into the definition of Supply Chain Management (Elkington, 1998;Vega-Mejía, Montoya-Torres& Islam, 2019).The supply chain sustainability is a result of combining sustainability and SCM.…”

“…Most definitions of SSCM have focused on adding Triple Bottom Line approach criteria into the definition of Supply Chain Management (Elkington, 1998;Vega-Mejía, Montoya-Torres& Islam, 2019).The supply chain sustainability is a result of combining sustainability and SCM. Sustainability is a conceptual framework for aligning social, environmental, and economic dimensions (Fish, 2015). These three dimensions in light of Fish (2015) and other authors are:…”