The hidden side of sustainable operations and supply chain management: unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs and tensions

Abstract

PurposeThe research is based on a critically analyzed literature review focused on the unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs and tensions of sustainable operations and supply chain management (OSCM), including the articles selected for this special issue.Design/methodology/approachThe authors introduce the key concepts, issues and theoretical foundations of this special issue on “The hidden side of sustainable operations and supply chain management (OSCM): Unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs and tensions”. The authors explore these issues within this context, and how they may hinder the authors' transition to more sustainable practices.FindingsThe authors present an overview of unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs, tensions and influencing factors from the literature, and identify how such problems may emerge. The model addresses these problems by highlighting the crucial effect of the underlying state of knowledge on sustainable OSCM decision-making.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors limited the literature review to journals that ranked 2 and above as defined by the Chartered Association of Business Schools Academic Journal Guide. The main implication for research is a call to focus attention on unanticipated outcomes as a starting point rather than only an afterthought. For practitioners, good intentions such as sustainability initiatives need careful consideration for potential unanticipated outcomes.Originality/valueThe study provides the first critical review of unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs and tensions in the sustainable OSCM discourse. While the literature review (including papers in this special issue) significantly contributes toward describing these issues, it is still unclear how such problems emerge. The model developed in this paper addresses this gap by highlighting the crucial effect of the underlying state of knowledge concerned with sustainable OSCM decision-making.

Improving emergency response operations in maritime accidents using social media with big data analytics: a case study of the MV Wakashio disaster

“…Our case study has established how the original accident itself could have been directly or indirectly avoided by the ship's organisation, notably by co-ordinating with or responding to the relevant authorities (port authorities and coast guard). Our case study showed that consistent with the literature, much of the formal institutional stakeholder decision-making focused on economic interests, which led to (un)anticipated consequences related to negative social and environmental factors (Matos et al, 2020). It also shows the catastrophic domino effect deriving from poor decision-making subsequent to the initial accident (SE2-4), all of which might have been avoided had there been a shared understanding of the situation, based on multimedia information collated from the different institutional and noninstitutional stakeholders.…”

“…We show how current communication is largely bilateral within the ship's organisation, consisting of the insurers, ship owners and the ship's captain. As such, many of the critical decisions related to the accident were taken in a vacuum, lacked transparency and were driven by tensions and trade-offs, including competing economic interests (Matos et al, 2020). Our analysis shows that these delays and decisions led to irreversible economic, social and ecological consequences, which could have been avoided.…”

How frugal innovation shape global sustainable supply chains during the pandemic crisis: lessons from the COVID-19

“…Social sustainability practices help the organization to achieve a greater social reputation (Hong et al, 2012;Marshall et al 2015;Kauppi and Hannibal, 2017), whilst from an economic perspective of sustainability, Woolworths Company saved 9.3 million US Dollars after focusing on ecological, social, and economic indices, based on the triple bottom line initiative (Santos et al 2014). Matos et al (2020Matos et al ( , p. 1750) argue that the entire globe is facing unprecedented challenges in the form of "climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, inequality, famine, labor exploitation, modern slavery, and more recently global pandemics". On the other hand, consumers and key stakeholders are expecting organizations to be more responsible towards their contribution to minimizing environmental degradation (Wilhelm et al 2016;Matos et al 2020).…”

“…Matos et al (2020Matos et al ( , p. 1750) argue that the entire globe is facing unprecedented challenges in the form of "climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, inequality, famine, labor exploitation, modern slavery, and more recently global pandemics". On the other hand, consumers and key stakeholders are expecting organizations to be more responsible towards their contribution to minimizing environmental degradation (Wilhelm et al 2016;Matos et al 2020). The pandemic crisis resulting from COVID-19 has further increase awareness of environmental and social sustainability amongst consumers (He and Harris, 2020;Sarkis, 2021;Severo et al 2021).…”

Short of drugs? Call upon operations and supply chain management

“…We have seen many calls for OSCM scholars to increase the relevance of their research (Van Wassenhove, 2019) and undertake studies that are practice-based and responsible (Lee and Tang, 2018), contributing toward more sustainable and resilient supply chains (Sarkis, 2021), but accounting for difficult trade-offs (Matos et al, 2020). The continuing problem of drug shortages demands that the OSCM community gets more involved and provides us with a great opportunity: (1) the problem has substantial patient and economic impacts; (2) it poses complex questions for stakeholders to which there is no obvious answer; (3) OSCM scholars are well positioned to address these questions; and (4) the problem introduces fundamentally new research directions for OSCM and pushes the frontiers of our discipline.…”