An environmental balanced scorecard for supply chain performance measurement (Env_BSC_4_SCPM)

Collaborative approaches in sustainable and resilient manufacturing

In recent years, the manufacturing sector is going through a major transformation, as reflected in the concept of Industry 4.0 and digital transformation. The urge for such transformation is intensified when we consider the growing societal demands for sustainability. The notion of sustainable manufacturing has emerged as a result of this trend. Additionally, industries and the whole society face the challenges of an increasing number of disruptive events, either natural or human-caused, that can severely affect the normal operation of systems. Furthermore, the growing interconnectivity between organizations, people, and physical systems, supported by recent developments in information and communication technologies, highlights the important role that collaborative networks can play in the digital transformation processes. As such, this article analyses potential synergies between the areas of sustainable and resilient manufacturing and collaborative networks. The work also discusses how the responsibility for the various facets of sustainability can be distributed among the multiple entities involved in manufacturing. The study is based on a literature survey, complemented with the experience gained from various research projects and related initiatives in the area, and is organized according to various dimensions of Industry 4.0. A brief review of proposed approaches and indicators for measuring sustainability from the networked manufacturing perspective is also included. Finally, a set of key research challenges are identified to complement strategic research agendas in manufacturing.

Adoption of M-Learning in Business English Course and Its Relationship to Learning Style Preferences: An Empirical Investigation

Learning around the world has been changed with the rapid development in technology which promotes the students to be more flexible and interactive with each other which has been encouraged by the mobile learning environment. Therefore, the current study intends to analyze the impact of inquiry learning, reflective thinking on problem-solving skills, and critical thinking skills with the mediation of peer communication. To carry out the study, data was collected from 378 college students in China by using survey forms. The analysis of the data and validation of the proposed hypotheses were conducted using Smart-PLS and structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. The results revealed that inquiry learning and reflective thinking affect problem-solving skills. However, inquiry learning and reflective thinking did not affect critical thinking skills. Moreover, the study found that peer communication mediated the relationship between reflective thinking, problem-solving skills, and between reflective thinking and critical thinking skills. However, peer communication did not mediate the relationship among inquiry learning as independent variable and problem-solving skills and critical thinking skills as dependent. The study has theoretically contributed by examining the impact of online learning styles on higher-order thinking skill (HOTS) in the M-learning environment. Also, the study greatly advances the literature by investigating the mediating role of peer communication. Practically, the colleges can improve the students HOTS by devising policies and educational programs focusing on learning styles.

Factors affecting managers' intention to adopt green supply chain management practices: evidence from manufacturing firms in Jordan

Global sustainability movement encourages companies to adopt and implement green supply chain management (GSCM) practices across the organization. Moreover, the integration of green practices into traditional supply chain is still to be a difficult task in manufacturing sector. However, empirical studies regarding the identification of influential factors affecting GSCM adoption among supply chain managers in manufacturing sector are under researched. This study assesses the factors affecting GSCM adoption in Jordan manufacturing firms. A well-structured questionnaire was administered for data collection. A valid 376 responses were collected from different manufacturing firms in Jordan. The data were analyzed, and the proposed model was validated using the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. Results reveal that four factors, namely, supplier, environmental, customer, and cost factors significantly influence the intention to adopt GSCM among managers. The firm size had significantly moderated the relationship between market/financial and GSCM adoption, internal factor and GSCM adoption. The study will help the policymakers to understand the drivers of GSCM adoption among managers and assist them in implementing GSCM practices according to the size of the firm. This study is first of its kind to analyze the role of firm size as a moderator on the relationship between market/financial, supplier, governmental, environmental, internal, customers, cost factors, and GSCM in the context of Jordon.

Green supply chain management pressures, practices and performance: a critical literature review

Purpose

The concept of green supply chain management (GSCM) is evolving rapidly due to the environmental concerns and gaining popularity in the research community. This study critically analyze the literature of GSCM pressure, practice and performance for manufacturing enterprises based on the results of bibliometric, network and frequency analyses.

Design/methodology/approach

Scopus database is used for literature search. Bibliometric network and frequency analysis are used to critically review the evolution of identified constructs and measures of GSCM pressure, practice and performance.

Findings

This study has identified that the selected topic is in growing stage through the collaborative effort of the worldwide researchers. This study also shows the diffusion of influence in developing countries and there are enormous opportunities of research in these regions. The study finds evaluation of GSCM constructs and measures with time and shift in focus areas by the researchers. The study suggests more focus on the measurement of informative pressures, reverse logistics practices and negative impact on economic performance due to the adoption of GSCM practices. There is a need of simultaneous analysis of GSCM pressures, practices and performance to identify the cascading effect in different regions and industrial sectors and developed a conceptual framework to identify this effect. This study also observes the need of more quantitative measures-based case studies and suggests the use of life cycle assessment for the quantification of environmental performance.

Originality/value

This study for the first time has analyzed a specific topic of GSCM pressure, practice and performance through bibliometric and network analyses. This study critically reviews the constructs and measures of GSCM pressure, practice and performance and identified the future research directions.

Integrated approach for finding the causal effect of waste management over sustainability in the organization

Purpose

In developed and developing countries, organizations need to do sustainability reporting. The purpose of this paper is to identify the vital linkages of sustainability, which helps to capture the existing waste management practice in sustainable organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reports a mixed-method approach for sustainable organization. Initially, the waste management and sustainability factors have been linked together for finding the relation between them through the situation, actor, process, learning, action, performance (SAP-LAP) linkages framework; it has been used as qualitative design details to achieve sustainability in the organization. The waste management and sustainability factors linkages have been used as a reference to guide the cause and effect relationship through decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) to upgrade knowledge for a sustainable organization.

Findings

The proposed method has been used to meet the functional requirements of sustainability in the organization. Waste management has been analyzed as the most significant benchmarks to achieve sustainability in the organization. The causal relationship reveals that the social image of an organization as a sustainable organization is the effect of its governmental directives, followed by the organization. The governmental directives is the most influencing dimension, and waste management efficiency and energy consumption are the most related, whereas wastivity is the most flexible dimension of sustainability in the organization. To increase its customer satisfaction, profit share and market value, these factors must be considered as vital factors of organization's sustainable performance.

Research limitations/implications

The scope of the present research has been limited to benchmark sustainability by analyzing eight waste management factors and ten critical sustainability factors that have been grouped into four dimensions in the service sector, which could be generalized. The expert's view has been captured for DEMATEL based on “ratings provided by experts,” which may be biased.

Practical implications

Benchmarked sustainability factors have been proposed to increase the value and performance of the organization. The cause and effect relationship is useful to present the capability of waste management to act as a strong foundation for establishing a sustainable organization, where governmental directives, wastivity, waste management efficiency, and energy consumption act as the benchmarking factors to compare sustainable organization performance in developing the county's viewpoint. The present study considered the fourth dimension of sustainability “government and customer” as the dynamic dimension of sustainability, which can absorb and diffuse the changes in sustainable organization with time and can improvise social acceptance.

Originality/value

The research improves the existing method of measuring the performance of the sustainable organization by using well-established methods.

The impact of Logistics 4.0 on corporate sustainability: a performance assessment of automated warehouse operations

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the impacts of Logistics 4.0 initiatives (focusing on automated warehousing systems) on the economic, environmental and social dimensions of firms' sustainability performance. To achieve this objective, a new framework for the assessment of sustainable warehousing in the 4.0 era is developed.

Design/methodology/approach

The framework, developed via the item-objective congruence index, Q-sort method and interviews with experts, is employed to assess performance changes through management interviews in two warehousing companies after the implementation of automation technologies.

Findings

Most aspects of both companies' sustainability performance are considerably improved (e.g. productivity, accuracy, air emission, worker safety and supply chain visibility); however, the outcome for some criteria might be worsened or improved depending on each company's solutions and strategies (e.g. increasing electricity bills, maintenance costs and job losses).

Practical implications

The findings provide insight into the effective implementation of warehousing technologies. The proposed framework is also a valid and reliable instrument for sustainability assessment for warehousing operators, which companies can utilise for self-assessment.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to establishing a body of literature that explores the previously unclarified effects of Logistics 4.0 on firms' sustainability performance. The proposed framework, which captures critical concerns of corporate sustainability and technological adaptation, is also the first of its kind for warehouse performance assessment.

Towards A Conceptual Framework of Sustainable Practices of Post-consumer Textile Waste at Garment End of Lifecycle: A Systematic Literature Review Approach

Fashion is characterised by rapidly changing trends and consumption patterns which have led to complexities and dynamism of the fashion supply chain (SC). Excessive generation of wastes highlights the need for innovative ways to address unsustainable practices by feeding the waste back into the supply chain system. This paper reviews the extant literature on sustainability within the fashion industry’s supply chain to establish available sustainability practices to manage post-consumer textile waste (PCTW) at garment end of lifecycle. Four sustainable practices emerged from the review—education and engagement, recovery and redistribution, reuse, and recycling—and are central to a framework that shows the interaction of garment end of lifecycle practices and could the achievement of strategic competitive advantage. Our findings emphasise the importance for interaction and collaboration between consumers and retailers and further involvement of the entire supply chain. In addition, sustainability paradoxes were evident across the sustainable practices. To avoid this, for retailers are urged to shift towards cradle to cradle (closed loop) lifecycle supply chains. Furthermore, retailers should evaluate the practices they adopt by questioning their aim in the achievement of sustainability. We suggest that firms should consider the entire supply chain when adopting a sustainable practice and each agent’s role in achieving the overall outcome of sustained competitive advantage.

Sustainability balanced scorecard architecture and environmental performance outcomes: a systematic review

Purpose

This study aims to assess the current state of research on the use of sustainability balanced scorecards (SBSCs), as they relate to environmental performance-related outcomes. It also seeks to present a conceptual framework proposing relationships between SBSC and environmental performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper conducts a systematic literature review of articles published in double-blind peer-reviewed journals that are listed on Scopus and/or Web of Science databases.

Findings

The first part of the paper reveals that two architectures of SBSC appear to be dominant in the literature (SBSC-4 where sustainability parameters are integrated with the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard and SBSC-5 where sustainability is shown as an additional standalone fifth perspective). The next part of the paper presents a conceptual model relating SBSC as decision-making tools to environmental performance outcomes. The paper also indicates that SBSC knowledge mediates the above relationships. Furthermore, based on the theory of expert competence, the presence of experts possibly moderates the relationship between SBSC architecture and environmental performance outcomes.

Research limitations/implications

The literature indicates a lack of consensus on establishing a clear linkage on the relationship between SBSC architecture and environmental performance outcomes. As a result, a holistic conceptual framework where SBSC knowledge acts as a mediator and presence of experts as a moderator may be able to provide a more consistent relationship between SBSC architecture and environmental performance outcomes.

Practical implications

The conceptual framework proposed provides factors to be considered by decision makers, for effective outcomes when aiming to achieve environmental stewardship objectives.

Social implications

Environmental performance by business organisations have come under close scrutiny of stakeholders. As a result, the holistic model proposed in the current study may pave the path for decision-makers to achieve superior environmental outcomes, leading to greater satisfaction of stakeholders such as the communities that are impacted by the business operations of an organisation.

Originality/value

This is the first paper to propose a model for future research regarding the link between SBSC and environmental performance outcomes – with expert managers acting as moderators and SBSC knowledge acting as a mediator.

An ANP-Balanced Scorecard Methodology to Quantify the Impact of TQM Elements on Organisational Strategic Sustainable Development: Application to an Oil Firm

This paper presents a methodology for quantifying the impact of Total Quality Management TQM elements on organisational strategic sustainable development, integrating within it the well-known strategic management tool of Balanced Scorecard to represent the strategic part of the organisations, and the multi-criteria technique Analytic Network Process (ANP) to identify and quantify the mentioned impact. Additionally, the application of TQM generates directly some organisational improvements—or outputs—which help model a decisional ANP network constituted by all three building blocks—TQM elements, strategic objectives and outputs—and their interrelationships. The application of the methodology to an oil firm carried out by an expert group offered, from a decision-making point of view, meaningful results that were developed following three different analyses: Global analysis, which identified the global weight of each variable; Analysis of Influences, which established sound cause–effect relationships between the variables to identify the elements—TQM and outputs—that are more important to achieve the strategic objectives; and the Integrated analysis, which pointed out which TQM elements should be fostered in order to achieve the most important sustainable strategic objectives. Finally, it is suggested to apply the methodology to other types of size and sector activity organisations, as well as to use other techniques that introduce fuzzy elements.

The Role of Sustainability Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in Implementing Sustainable Strategies

The role of sustainability dimensions in the value creation process has attracted considerable interest in the scientific academic world in the last two decades. The 2030 Agenda, which fixed the sustainable goals (SDGs) to safeguard our planet, highlighted the fundamental role of sustainability issues. In this context, companies around the world need to integrate their strategies with environmental, social, and economic dimensions. However, sustainability aspects are often not linked to company strategies, and there has been growing difficulty in measuring sustainable development by adopting an appropriate set of key performance indicators (KPIs). Accordingly, the aim of this study is as follows: (1) to identify the suitable KPIs that affect company performance, based on the literature and management practices, and (2) to propose a new perspective on a way to integrate sustainability issues in company strategies. Based on a systematic procedure, we obtained 82 papers that focus on KPIs related to sustainability issues. Following a review of papers and a survey conducted with Italian managers, we developed a sustainability perspective by selecting the most appropriate KPI system for each of the dimensions discussed. The proposed model suggests that incorporating sustainability dimensions within corporate strategy would allow strategic alignment in order to gain competitive advantage and therefore create sustainability value.

An integral GSCM index for assessment of environmental performance in manufacturing companies

Purpose

From the green supply chain management (GSCM) approach, the purpose of this paper is to propose a green index as a benchmarking tool to assess environmental performance in manufacturing companies. The index involves 10 green practices and 46 performance dimensions, which were identified by way of an exhaustive literature review.

Design/methodology/approach

The GSCM index was designed as follows: survey design; experts group selection; relationship identification and green practice weighting (DEMATEL method); and GSCM index construction. The proposed GSCM index was validated at a set of ten Colombian manufacturing companies, which belong to different industrial subsectors.

Findings

The structural relationships between both green practices and performance dimensions (cause group vs effect group) were determined. Consequently, a set of green practices and performance dimensions on which managers must focus their environmental efforts (cause group), in order to positively affect the system as a whole, was identified. The environmental performance of a set of manufacturing companies was established.

Practical implications

As a decision support tool, the GSCM index provides a baseline for the deployment of environmental improvement plans. It also permits the comparison of environmental performance between companies from different industrial sectors. Further, it can be used to monitor internal operations and collaboration programs in each echelon of the supply chain.

Originality/value

This publication contributes to the field of environmental performance measurement by introducing a new index, from the GSCM perspective. In contrast with the existing green indicators, the proposed index is the first to consider causal relationships between green practices and between their performance dimensions.

Adoption of green practices throughout the supply chain: an empirical investigation

Purpose

There is a dichotomy in the actual and expected environmental performances of the Indian enterprises even though the Indian enterprises have aligned their businesses with intended nationally determined contributions (INDC) targets. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the supply chain of Indian enterprises to understand influences to adopt green practices throughout the supply chains, and how these green practices influence economic, operational and environmental performances to reveal the underlying currents explaining difference in actual and expected performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Five research propositions are developed based on the existing literature. Data are collected from 233 ceramic enterprises in India. Exploratory factor analysis has been done to test construct validity and correlation. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to check unidimensionality of constructs. Structural equation modeling is used to test the strength and direction of the relations between the constructs and to develop the model.

Findings

The findings of the study suggest that the Indian companies have aligned their businesses with INDC targets but they have not adopted the green practices in inbound and outbound supply chains; therefore, the actual environmental performance is not as expected. Other major finding is that the enterprise and government are not focusing on the informative pressure and instead the focus is on coercive techniques which are not yielding positive results. The statistical results show that the adoption of green practices led to the improvements in environmental and operational performances but reduction in economic performance.

Originality/value

This paper has analyzed green supply chain management pressure, practice and performance measure for Indian ceramic enterprises and proposed a structural model with their interrelation.

Developing the framework of sustainable service supply chain balanced scorecard (SSSC BSC)

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework to assess the sustainability of service supply chains (SC) based on the concept of the balanced scorecard and three dimensions of sustainability, namely economic, social, and environmental performance.

Design/methodology/approach

After reviewing the literature and interviewing the experts, the preliminary list of identified general criteria is categorized in the four perspectives. Then, to select the most important factors in hospital SC, 15 experts evaluated the identified criteria by questionnaires of Fuzzy Delphi Method. Then, interpretative structural modeling was applied to identify the interrelations between the perspectives and between the criteria.

Findings

The framework includes four perspectives, financial; service SC operations; stakeholders’ satisfaction in the direction of sustainability; and learning, growth, and innovation, to improve the SC for sustainability in the service industry. According to the results, the identified criteria are interrelated.

Practical implications

The paper provides an important reference to assess the sustainability of service SCs. It will be beneficial in strategic and operational decision-making in service industries.

Originality/value

Reviewing the literature shows that the concept of sustainability of service SCs is still immature. The paper is a preliminary effort to identify the general criteria of sustainability and their interrelations in the service sector. The presented general framework links the financial measures with the environmental and social measures. It helps to maintain the balance between the sustainability goals for the service SC managers. It can be modified and applied in different service sectors.

Exploring the status and effects of balanced scorecard adoption in the non-western context

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the status of corporate performance management (PM) in the Middle Eastern context, represented by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). In addition, the current study investigates the effects of the adoption of the balanced scorecard (BSC) and aims to explore the impact of the BSC on workplace attitudes and behaviors, as shown by accountability, inspiration, and motivation.

Design/methodology/approach

Due to the limited knowledge about the subject matter and the limited number of companies adopting the BSC in the Middle East, this study has adopted a descriptive approach to verify the significance of the BSC and to explore the causal relationship amongst the performance perspectives and the different dimensions of the BSC. The sample was drawn from five major business sectors in the UAE and KSA.

Findings

The results indicate that the BSC indicators are effective tools to evaluate and reflect on corporate performance. The concept of the BSC is considered good practice in the UAE and the KSA. Because of the concept’s compatibility with the local culture and business practices, it can be used to balance shareholder and stakeholder demands.

Research limitations/implications

One of the main limitations of this study is that the sample is drawn from only two countries from the Middle East and, hence, cannot be generalized.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first attempts to explore the status of the corporate PM systems in a non-western context using a BSC technique created and typically applied in the western world. In addition, this study is considered a valuable attempt at exploring the effects of the adoption of this technique on an organization’s performance.