This work makes a case for the integration of the increasingly popular and largely separate topics of Industry 4.0 and the circular economy (CE). The paper extends the state-of-the-art literature by ...proposing a pioneering roadmap to enhance the application of CE principles in organisations by means of Industry 4.0 approaches. Advanced and digital manufacturing technologies are able to unlock the circularity of resources within supply chains; however, the connection between CE and Industry 4.0 has not so far been explored. This article therefore contributes to the literature by unveiling how different Industry 4.0 technologies could underpin CE strategies, and to organisations by addressing those technologies as a basis for sustainable operations management decision-making. The main results of this work are: (a) a discussion on the mutually beneficial relationship between Industry 4.0 and the CE; (b) an in-depth understanding of the potential contributions of smart production technologies to the ReSOLVE model of CE business models; (c) a research agenda for future studies on the integration between Industry 4.0 and CE principles based on the most relevant management theories.
•A five phase methodology is proposed to select the suppliers based on green practices.•Proposed a modified TOPSIS to deal with uncertainties in the decision making.•Proposed TOPSIS methods ...outperforms the other methods.
Due to an increased awareness and significant environmental pressures from various stakeholders, companies have begun to realize the significance of incorporating green practices into their daily activities. This paper proposes a framework using Fuzzy TOPSIS to select green suppliers for a Brazilian electronics company; our framework is built on the criteria of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices. An empirical analysis is made, and the data are collected from a set of 12 available suppliers. We use a fuzzy TOPSIS approach to rank the suppliers, and the results of the proposed framework are compared with the ranks obtained by both the geometric mean and the graded mean methods of fuzzy TOPSIS methodology. Then a Spearman rank correlation coefficient is used to find the statistical difference between the ranks obtained by the three methods. Finally, a sensitivity analysis has been performed to examine the influence of the preferences given by the decision makers for the chosen GSCM practices on the selection of green suppliers. Results indicate that the four dominant criteria are Commitment of senior management to GSCM; Product designs that reduce, reuse, recycle, or reclaim materials, components, or energy; Compliance with legal environmental requirements and auditing programs; and Product designs that avoid or reduce toxic or hazardous material use.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected global supply chains at an unprecedented speed and scale. This paper investigates the supply chain challenges that manufacturing organizations have faced due to the ...COVID-19 outbreak, particularly in emerging economies. We present a conceptual framework under the dynamic capability theory to analyze challenges and their pertinent mitigation strategies. Ten major challenges are identified based on a literature review, evaluation of several news articles, and discussions with experts. Further, the Grey-Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (Grey-DEMATEL) method is applied to analyze the relationships between various supply chain challenges. Scarcity of Labor (PSL) emerges as the most significant challenge, closely followed by Scarcity of Material (SSM). The results also suggest that Inconsistency of Supply (PIS) is the challenge that correlates the most with other factors. Finally, in this paper we also provide guidelines and strategies for practitioners and scholars to better address supply chain challenges post-COVID-19 outbreak.
While the circular economy (CE) attracts attention from scholars and practitioners, the concept has been challenged by claims that the CE may be seen as a vague concept, or a new label for old green ...management practices. We propose a new approach to study the effects of the CE on company performance: circular product design (CPD). Consequently, this work investigates how Industry 4.0 technologies and stakeholder pressure influence CPD and, in turn, impact on company performance. Data were obtained from firms which develop products in the electric–electronic and equipment (EEE) sectors in Brazil. Our research results indicate that (i) the application of Industry 4.0 technologies favors CPD, in particular artificial intelligence and big data analytics; (ii) pressure from stakeholders can encourage the adoption of circular strategies, specially from suppliers because they are responsible for developing and delivering smart components; and (iii) although the literature may be seen as controversial, there is a positive relationship with regard to the impacts of CE adoption on market performance. Among its main implications, the article also suggests a set of design strategies oriented towards the development of products for the CE.
The main objective of this study is to verify the influence of Environmental Management (EM) on Operational Performance (OP) in Brazilian automotive companies, analyzing whether Lean Manufacturing ...(LM) and Human Resources (HR) interfere in the greening of these companies. Therefore, a conceptual framework listing these concepts was proposed, and three research hypotheses were presented. A questionnaire was elaborated based on this theoretical background and sent to respondents occupying the highest positions in the production/operations areas of Brazilian automotive companies. The data, collected from 75 companies, were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The main results are as follows: (a) the model tested revealed an adequate goodness of fit, showing that overall, the relations proposed between EM and OP and between HR, LM and EM tend to be statistically valid; (b) EM tends to influence OP in a positive and statistically weak manner; (c) LM has a greater influence on EM when compared to the influence HR has over EM; (d) HR has a positive relationship over EM, but the statistical significance of this relationship is less than that of the other evaluated relationships. The originality of this paper lies in its gathering the concepts of EM, LM, HR and OP in a single study, as they generally tend not to be treated jointly. This paper also provided valid empirical evidence for a little-studied context: the Brazilian automotive sector.
► The statistic test of the research framework obtained an adequate goodness of fit. ► Human resource management tends to support environmental management. ► Lean manufacturing practices tend to support environmental management. ► Environmental management practices favor operational performance.
The literature on the diffusion of the circular economy (CE) rarely provides empirical evidence from emerging economies that face institutional voids and sustainability paradoxes. In contrast, ...drawing on stakeholder theory, in this paper we test a research framework capable of capturing the imbricated and complex relations among stakeholder pressure, barriers to and motivators of the CE, circular business models, and firms’ sustainable performance. Survey-based primary data was gathered from Brazilian industrial companies which lack regulatory clarity regarding the implementation of a CE. Our research results comprise both expected and unexpected outcomes: (i) differing from other countries, the relevance of regulatory stakeholders in Brazil could not be fully confirmed, adding complexity to the topic; (ii) unexpectedly, in this research, company owners/shareholders were the most salient stakeholders; (iii) stakeholders do indeed exert influence on how firms deal with barriers to and motivators of a CE; (iv) we found that internal barriers and internal motivators were perceived as more intense than external ones, which may create organizational tensions; (v) the adoption of a CE by firms tends to improve their sustainable performance; (vi) the previous possession of ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 certifications may control the way companies perceive the benefits of a CE.
•The circular economy (CE) is rarely studied in emerging markets such as Brazil.•CE in Brazil faces institutional voids and sustainability paradoxes.•The relation of stakeholders, circular business models for the CE, and firms' is explored.•Research results comprise both expected and unexpected outcomes.•This research has implications for innovative business models for the CE.
This study aims to examine the effect of the combination of corporate environmental strategy, top management commitment, and environmental uncertainty, with a focus on the role of environmental ...management accounting (EMA), on corporate environmental performance. Using an online survey, we collect the sample data of 107 responses in ISO 14001 certified companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The empirical evidence shows that there is a positive and significant influence between those organizational resources (corporate environmental strategy, top management commitment, and environmental uncertainty) on the use of EMA, which in turn can improve the environmental performance of companies. These findings indicate that EMA is a useful and important tool for providing information to achieve superior corporate environmental performance in Indonesian firms and the findings also suit for companies operating in other countries in terms of developing capabilities with regards to perceived environmental uncertainty to be able to manage EMA tools and, as a consequence, to improve organizational environmental performance.
The adoption of the circular economy (CE) at the firm level has rarely intersected with human resource management (HRM) – here called ‘the human side of organizations’ – and these two fields remain ...largely separate areas of knowledge. While the literature on the CE is expanding, discussion of its implementation in organizations is, so far, rare, along with exploration of the necessary alignment of the CE with green human resource management (GHRM). In this article, we extend the state-of-the-art literature on CE business models through the inclusion of the ‘human side’ of such issues. This goal is met by offering an original integrative GHRM framework for organizations developing CE. The theoretical lenses of stakeholders' theory and the resource based view (RBV) form the foundation of this framework, which represents a ‘middle range theory’. We underline the practices and dimensions of the links between GHRM and the ‘ReSOLVE’ CE model. Through an exploration of this integrative framework, we propose a future research agenda along with original research propositions. Furthermore, the middle-range integrated theoretical framework we propose can serve both academics and practitioners in developing understanding of the human resource management (HRM) and change management aspects of the CE.
•Circular economy requires support from green human resources.•We use stakeholders' theory and resource based view to discuss this topic.•We add a discussion on the “human side” circular economy.•A framework for green human resource management and circular economy is proposed.•The framework suggests a number of original research propositions for future investigation.
This study aims to examine the ethical decisionmaking (EDM) model proposed by Schwartz (J Bus Ethics, doi: 10.1007/sl0551-015-2886-8, 2016), where we consider the factors of non-rationality and ...aspects that affect ethical judgments of auditors to make the decision to blow the whistle. In this paper, we argue that the intention of whistleblowing depends on ethical awareness (EAW) and ethical judgment (EJW) as well as there is a mediationmoderation due to emotion (EMT) and perceived moral intensity (PMI) of auditors. Data were collected using an online survey with 162 external auditors who worked on audit firms in Indonesia as well as 173 internal auditors working in the manufacturing and financial services. The result of multigroup analysis shows that emotion (EMT) can mediate the relationship between EAW and EJW. The nature of this relationship is more complex and then tested by adding moderating variables using consistent partial least squares approach. We found that EMT and PMI can improve the relationship between ethical judgments and whistleblowing intentions. These findings indicate that internal auditors are more likely to blow the whistle than external auditors; and reporting wrongdoing internally and anonymously are the preferred way of professional accountants to blow the whistle in Indonesia.
Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) and Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) are popular subjects in the areas of human resource management (HRM) and operations management (OM), respectively. ...Although scholars in each of these areas are advancing the roles of GSCM and GHRM in building more sustainable organizations, there has been a significant delay in the integration of these two contemporary subjects, based on a greater gap in the integration of HRM and supply chain management (SCM). Thus, the aims of this study are to propose a synergistic and integrative framework for the GHRM-GSCM relationship and to propose a research agenda for this integration. After reaching these goals, this article emphasizes the implications of GHRM-GSCM integration for scholars, managers, and practitioners in the areas of organizational sustainability and truly sustainable supply chains.
•Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) and Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) are hot subjects.•There is a significant gap in the integration of GSCM and GHRM.•We propose a synergistic and integrative framework for the GHRM-GSCM relationship.•We propose a research agenda in order to relate GHMR-GSCM.
PDF
