Circular economy is increasingly recognized as a better alternative to the dominant linear (take, make, and dispose) economic model. Circular Supply Chain Management (CSCM), which integrates the ...philosophy of the circular economy into supply chain management, offers a new and compelling perspective to the supply chain sustainability domain. Consequently, there is increasing research interest. However, a review of the extant literature shows that a comprehensive integrated view of CSCM is still absent in the extant literature. This prohibits a clear distinction compared to other supply chain sustainability concepts and hinders further progress of the field. In response, this research first classifies various terminologies related to supply chain sustainability and conceptualizes a unifying definition of CSCM. Using this definition as a base, it then conducts a structured literature review of 261 research articles on the current state of CSCM research. Based on the review results, the researchers call for further studies in the following directions that are important but received little or no attention: design for circularity, procurement and CSCM, biodegradable packaging, circular supply chain collaboration and coordination, drivers and barriers of CSCM, circular consumption, product liabilities and producer's responsibility, and technologies and CSCM.
Agribusiness supply chains involve more sources of uncertainty than typical manufacturing supply chains due to attributes such as long supply lead-times, seasonality, and perishability. Therefore, it ...is critical but challenging to mitigate risks in agribusiness supply chains. However, the extant literature includes limited quantitative research on robust and resilient strategies for agribusiness supply chain risk management, particularly when perishability is explicitly modeled. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of a mixed set of robust and resilient strategies for managing rare high-impact harvest time and yield disruptions. We develop a two-stage stochastic programming model, which integrates an exponential perishability function, to conduct our analysis. The model maximizes the expected profit by selecting optimal risk management strategies and making tactical supply chain planing decisions. The model is applied to a numerical case study of a real-world kiwifruit supply chain. The results suggest that a mixed combination of robust and resilient strategies are most effective for mitigating supply-side disruption risks. Furthermore, as perishability increases, risk management strategies provide a greater relative improvement in the expected profit.
•Robust and resilient strategies for a perishable agribusiness supply chain (ASC).•A perishable multi-period multi-commodity ASC with seasonal supply under disruption.•Maximizing the expected profit given strategic risk management and tactical decisions.•Adapting strategies for different risks over varying strategy- costs and benefits.•Modeling an exponential perishability function with quality barriers under disruption.
Source separation is regarded as a best practice for sustainable waste management, which is essential for a transition to a circular economy to recover value from waste. However, its implementation ...in China has faced many difficulties which are primarily inherent in the public’s behaviour towards source separation of household waste. Based on multiple cases of innovative use of the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in China in recent years, this study establishes the concept of IoT-enabled accountability in household waste source separation by utilising the lens of accountability theory. Moreover, this research advances several propositions on the multiple dimensions of accountability mechanism to influence user behaviours. The study’s findings provide guidance to governments, technology providers and waste management organisations on the use of IoT-based technological solutions for sustainable waste management. It stimulates future research on the use of IoT technologies in managing people’s behaviour in a range of contexts beyond waste management alone. The study contributes to the growing literature on smart waste management.
•IoT-enabled accountability concept is proposed in household waste source separation.•Multiple cases in China prove the effectiveness of IoT-enabled accountability.•Propositions are advanced on various dimensions of accountability mechanism.
Purpose
This paper aims to identify and systematically analyze the causal-effect relationships among barriers to circular food supply chains in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Grounded in multiple ...organizational theories, this paper develops a theoretical framework for identifying relevant barriers to integrating circular economy philosophy in food supply chain management. The study uses 105 responses from Chinese food supply chain stakeholders including food processors, sales and distribution channels, consumers and government officials. It applies a fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method to examine the causal-effect relationships among the identified barriers.
Findings
Overall, the results suggest two key cause barriers: first, weak environmental regulations and enforcement, and second, lack of market preference/pressure. Meanwhile, lack of collaboration/support from supply chain actors is the most prominent barrier. The key cause and prominent barriers are also identified for each of the supply chain stakeholder involved.
Research implications
The study offers practical insights for overcoming barriers to integrating circular economy philosophy in the management of supply chains in the Chinese food sector, as well as in other contexts where similar challenges are faced. It also sheds light on which organizational theories are most suitable for guiding similar studies.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first barrier study on circular food supply chains. The use of multiple organizational theories for the development of the theoretical framework is unique in barrier studies. The study offers insights from multiple stakeholders in the Chinese food supply chains.
•Three main sustainability issues in fast fashion are identified.•Introducing blockchain to fast fashion industry for a circular economy.•A blockchain-based system architecture to meet the reuse ...challenges in fast fashion.•The proposed system helps improve supply chain circularity.
Circular supply chain management is required for firms to transition from a linear make-use-dispose economic model to a more sustainable circular economy. However, it faces the critical challenge of tracing the reuse of materials over multiple life cycles involving a variety of stakeholders. Blockchain technology can help manage the complexities of circular supply chain management. This paper takes the first step in developing a system architecture of blockchain-enabled circular supply chain management in the fast-fashion industry. The system architecture was validated by two experts in blockchain technology and supply chain management. Managerial implications are discussed for implementing blockchain technology to advance the circular economy agenda.
•Prioritizing important barriers in Blockchain adoption by Fuzzy DEMATEL Analysis.•Key barrier are technology immaturity, and challenges in collecting real-time data.•Prominent barriers include lack ...of policies/ support on using Blockchain technology.
The emerging Blockchain technology can drastically improve the effectiveness and efficiency of life cycle assessment, which is widely used for assessing the environmental impact of products and processes. However, Blockchain adoption is impeded by various barriers including systems-related, external, intra-organizational and inter-organizational barriers. So far, no research has analyzed how these barriers interact with each other for better decision-making in life cycle assessment. This research narrows the knowledge gap by prioritizing the important barriers using a fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation of Laboratory (DEMATEL) method. Pairwise comparison data were collected from three representative organizations in China, which all have Blockchain implementation experiences. The results show that the key cause barriers are immaturity of technology, and technical challenges for collecting supply chain data in real time. The prominent barriers include lack of new organizational policies for using technology, and lack of government policy/regulation guidance and support, among others. Managerial implications are discussed based on the results and findings.
Improving schedule reliability and sailing frequency as triggered by the launch of Daily Maersk by Maersk Line has profoundly influenced the liner shipping industry since late 2011. In contrast to a ...standard weekly service, Daily Maersk offers daily departures. It also guarantees transportation times in an industry that has long had a notorious reputation of schedule unreliability. This article first quantifies that Daily Maersk substantially reduces a shipper's supply chain inventories, including cycle stock, pipeline stock, and safety stock. It then systematically analyzes the Daily Maersk effect on the liner shipping industry and its long-term implications for the supporting port industry. Recommendations are given to shipping lines and ports for their strategic planning in an increasingly competitive business environment.
Overcoming barriers to circular product design Wang, Jason X.; Burke, Haydn; Zhang, Abraham
International journal of production economics,
January 2022, 2022-01-00, Volume:
243
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The circular economy concept provides sustainability research with a new vision in place of the present linear economic model. This study focuses on product design, the starting point of applying ...circular thinking in supply chain functions. We investigate barriers to circular product design from a stakeholder perspective. Using thematic analysis and data collected from 15 semi-structured interviews in New Zealand, we identify four prominent barriers: financial constraints, inadequate infrastructure, government inaction, and global market barriers. The most influential stakeholder classes for overcoming the barriers are consumers, industry leaders, and governments. Circumventing measures lie in sustainable end-of-life product and waste management, resource circularity, modularity and standardization in design, and supply chain collaboration. Based on these new insights, we develop a roadmap for circular product design, providing practical guidance for businesses and policymakers. We also add to research on stakeholder theory by exploring its descriptive aspect in the context of a transition to circular economy at the supply chain level.
•Providing the first literature review of risk management models specifically for agribusiness supply chains.•Focusing on specific sources of uncertainty in agribusiness industries.•Providing new ...implications and further directions for developing the research in the context of agribusiness supply chain risk management.•Providing the first literature review of risk management models specifically for agribusiness supply chains.
Supply chain risk management is a large and growing field of research. However, within this field, mathematical models for agricultural products have received relatively little attention. This is somewhat surprising as risk management is even more important for agricultural supply chains due to challenges associated with seasonality, supply spikes, long supply lead-times, and perishability. This paper carries out a thorough review of the relatively limited literature on quantitative risk management models for agricultural supply chains. Specifically, we identify robustness and resilience as two key techniques for managing risk. Since these terms are not used consistently in the literature, we propose clear definitions and metrics for these terms; we then use these definitions to classify the agricultural supply chain risk management literature. Implications are given for both practice and future research on agricultural supply chain risk management.
Circular economy (CE) provides an alternative development model to the dominant take-make-dispose linear approach, and thus a new vision for solving sustainability challenges. Firms need to ...operationalise CE in their supply chain operations, starting from circular product design as the foundational step. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how to integrate product design and supply chain management (SCM) decisions for a CE transition. A thematic analysis was conducted on data collected from 15 semi-structured interviews in New Zealand. Four propositions were established based on the identified themes, namely, end-of-life thinking in product design, circular SCM, business model innovation, and sustainable organisational values. The study results provide a novel insight into the integration of product design and SCM for a CE transition. The operational framework developed provides guidance to product designers, managers, and researchers to advance the CE cause at the supply chain level.
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