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Just in time (JIT) and Economic order quantity (EOQ) are two basic inventory modes in supply chains. Many researchers have conducted a lot of studies on JIT and EOQ. However, environmental issues are worth to be considered in these two modes. This paper studied the JIT and EOQ models with carbon emissions in a two-echelon supply chain with one manufacturer and n retailers. The manufacturer and retailers can adopt either (1) a JIT mode in which the manufacturer and all retailers have long-term coordination and have a uniform delivery, or (2) an EOQ mode in which every retailer could decide its own optimal lot size and their deliveries are separated. For a retailer, the question is how to make the most appropriate decisions on the inventory model. Firstly, the basic models of JIT and EOQ without carbon emissions are presented separately. Then, the extended models with carbon emissions are considered. The comparisons between two models are conducted and cost-indifference points are obtained. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the models. Finally, some managerial insights are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial supply chain is a significant consumer of limited energy resources worldwide. Companies have been encouraged to reduce energy costs by restructuring their logistics network, improving their transportation asset fuel efficiency, and reducing travel distance. The recent evolution of synchromodal supply chains has focused on flexible transportation modes as a new option for supply chain managers to reduce the total energy cost. Illustrating the monetary advantages of such reconfigurations will guide decision makers to get the most from all available options. In this paper, the process of modeling and developing a user-friendly, customizable tool for supply chain decision makers called the Synchromodal Supply Chain Energy Analysis tool (SySCEA) is presented. SySCEA enables the analysis of the overall environmental and economic effects due to supply chain fuel consumption and changing network configuration as it relates to order quantity, demand quantity, product size, packaging, mode and transportation assets. Currently, SySCEA supports up to five arc/routes, plus the first and last mile, for a synchromodal supply chain. However, due to the modular nature of the tool it is simple to extend it to larger networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In developing countries, coal power plants still play a major role in the power sector and they are considered as a major emission source of air pollution. Strict regulations have compelled the coal power plants to improve environmental performance by reducing carbon emissions and the emission of pollutants. However, due to cost disadvantages, the coal power plants often lack motivation to internalize environmental externalities through investing in green technology. This situation raises a question: is there any alternative to reduce pollutants in operations economically? With a focus on service supply as well as a consideration of government policies, this paper develops a model to investigate the opportunity of outsourcing a pollutant-reduction service to meet the environmental constraint. The service supply chain consists of a coal power plant (end user) and a pollutant-reduction service provider, with the former outsourcing the service to the latter. We study the policy for improving the profit of this service supply chain whereas the benefit allotment is adjusted through outsourcing price negotiation between the two partners. The results show that the green service outsourcing price is interrelated with the government incentive policy which defines the shares of the two partners. Our key contribution lies in integrating the complex factors affecting the supply chain collaboration such as green service, financial feasibility, environmental constraint, government policies, outsourcing price negotiation, and profit sharing. Our research findings have the following implications: considering environmental externalities, the government should motivate the collaboration between supply chain partners; the economic scale of output and sales price subsidy of electricity generation are the primary factors affecting the price of outsourcing green service and, consequently, the allotment of supply chain profits. The study results indicate the collaboration is potentially effective in improving environmental performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects critically on the progress made towards implementing Fair Trade gold programs capable of empowering subsistence artisanal miners in developing countries. Drawing on interviews with ‘ethical’ jewellers and officials at certification bodies, the very parties which have conceived and are ultimately driving these initiatives, it is argued that despite being projected as ‘pro-poor’, schemes are not empowering, nor in many cases even targeting, impoverished mining groups. Further analysis reveals that officials at certification bodies are chiefly responsible for this. Many have used stories of poor miners to engage ‘ethical’ jewellers enamoured with the idea of potentially alleviating poverty in developing countries through purchasing gold that can also be traced to the source. The case study reinforces claims that what constitutes ‘fair’ differs markedly throughout the supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the increased interest in social sustainability there is still lack of information for the social assessment, as well as a lack of appropriate quantitative social sustainability indicators to perform such assessment. In this paper, there is proposed a set of 31 quantitative social sustainability indicators enabling the evaluation of the whole supply chain. In particular, the issues related to labor practices and decent work, as well as human rights are analyzed. The indicators are developed based on literature review and validated by a content analysis of 141 sustainability reports, which cover all echelons (upstream, midstream, downstream) of supply chains. By considering differences that exist within different echelons of the supply chain, one-way statistical analysis (ANOVA) is performed in order to decide whether echelons affect the relevance of the indicators. Finally, using data available in sustainability reports the applicability of indicators is tested. Results of the content analysis showed that issues covered by all 31 indicators are addressed implicitly by companies in their sustainability reports, while ANOVA analysis showed that the type of echelon does not impact the relevance of the indicators, being this set of indicators a generic approach to holistic assessment of the supply chain. Further, it was verified how these indicators can be used for the assessment of the whole supply chain. Thus, the proposed indicators can be used for both performance assessment, as well as for periodical monitoring of the supply chains; they can also be an important tool in policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are manifold social sustainability issues in global supply chains (GSC), the question is whether digital-training can address them. For a long time, auditing, compliance and monitoring have been seen as key in solving labour right violations. Yet, little improvement has happened. More participative methods of auditing and training have therefore been proposed in order to remedy this situation. The purpose of this paper is to explore how workers are trained on their labour rights with a digital-training method. We present an in-depth case study of a digitalising labour rights training through a new-to-the-world training method aimed at reaching factory workers in the GSC context. The digital-training method is custom-designed in an application. It aims at encouraging and stimulating learning-processes, as well as at retaining knowledge on relevant labour right topics, guided by the local needs of the worker. We find that this digital-training method has indeed potential to revolutionise common issues encountered by traditional corporate-self regulation tools in GSCs. However, potential barriers, such as the accessibility for the worker and willingness of the factory management remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating holistically environmental impacts of land planning policies implies to take into account several aspects, intimately related both to territorial features and to production-consumption patterns, which have a specific local character and a potential impact at different scales. To address these challenges, life cycle thinking and assessment methods are crucial. Indeed, beyond the traditional application of Life Cycle Assessment as a product-oriented methodology, a new LCA-based approach called “territorial LCA” has gradually emerged to assess geographically or administratively defined systems. This paper aims to analyze how this new LCA-based approach differs from conventional LCA, highlighting main differences and added values. Territorial LCAs can be divided into two main approaches, i.e., i) type A, which focuses on the assessment of a specific activity or supply chain anchored in a given territory, and ii) type B, which attempts to assess all production and consumption activities located in a territory, including all environmental pressures embodied in trade flows with other territories. These two approaches are described and compared according to the four LCA phases to highlight differences and similarities with conventional LCA. This comparison is based on a detailed case study analysis for each territorial LCA type and it shows that most of the differences are in the goal and scope definition, especially for the territorial LCA of type B where the functional unit definition is no more the starting point of the assessment. Concerning territorial LCA of type A, there are no main divergences with conventional LCA as territorial contextualization already exists in some LCA applications, even if not systematically applied. Improvements in the application may entail a comprehensive contextualization of the four LCA phases, developing the synergies with the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) tools. Other specific challenges affecting both type A and B are related to i) territorial unique intrinsic multifunctionality determined by all human activities located within its boundaries, ii) specific territorial characteristics (i.e., spatial variability and organization), and iii) multiscale issues and the consideration of interactions between territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among scholars, politicians and practitioners, the term “circular economy” (CE) has become increasingly familiar, but the concept comes from different epistemological fields and there is still a lack of consensus and convergence in the literature. This paper investigates the trends and gaps on the pathways convergence of the circular economy literature. The research method is a combination of semantic analysis, bibliometrics, networks and content analysis in a systematic literature review. The sample is composed of 327 articles extracted from the Web of Science and Scopus database. The results point out the lack of consensus on terminologies and definitions, thus, based on semantic analysis, a definition is proposed. In addition, the literature shows two main clusters, with different backgrounds, of different leading research groups in distinctive geographic regions. One cluster focuses on ecoparks and industrial symbiosis, mostly in the context of China. The second cluster is concerned with supply chains, material closed loops and business models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Getting enterprises to reduce carbon emissions cooperatively is an effective way of sharing the burden of carbon taxation. It is easier for core enterprises to promote cooperation because of their dominant positions in the supply chain. The main goal of this paper is to provide a potential method for the core enterprise to organize this cooperation successfully. We explore how core enterprises should allocate their reduction investments and coordinate the selection of technology upgrade strategies so as to maximize their profits without disrupting the profits of cooperating enterprises for a supply chain where there are non-equivalent relationships between enterprises. The main hypotheses are that each enterprise only produces one product, and each production process in each enterprise can only select one production technology, and the intermediate products are mainly traded among cooperative enterprises. A model based on independent carbon emission reduction (Model I) is first constructed and used to analyze each enterprises' basic information when they reduce carbon emission without cooperation (considering total costs, profits, and so on). Then, based on this information, a model including cooperation is proposed (Model II). In Model II, the enterprises are divided into core and cooperative enterprises and both capital and technical cooperation are considered. A multi-agent system is presented to simulate the negotiations between the enterprises and is then used to solve Model II. Finally, a numerical example is considered to examine the feasibility of the proposed model. The results indicate that a cooperative carbon emission reduction strategy has more advantages than the independent carbon emission reduction approach. A notable advantage is that it can further rationalize the emission reduction structure of the supply chain through rational allocation of reduction investments and thus further restores profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decreasing the environmental effect and increasing the social effect as well as the profit of organizations has gained a considerable attention in supply chain network problems. Construction and demolition wastes (C&D wastes) management poses serious challenges to the government and private sector in terms of the environmental damages and potential gains due to recycling these types of wastes. On the other hand, considering the triple bottom line in reverse logistics network design problems simultaneously is an issue that has gained little attention in previous studies. Therefore in this research we propose a multi-period multi-objective mixed integer linear programming to design and plan a network of reverse logistics under uncertainty for recycling C&D wastes in which the objectives are represented as profit and social impact maximization and environmental effect minimization. In this paper the network design problem with stochastic demand of recycled products and rate on investment is regarded. In order to cope with the uncertainty in the model, we consider a risk averse two-stage stochastic programming, where we specify the conditional value at risk (CVaR) as the risk measure. We also apply off-site and on-site separation as two common method for segregating C&D wastes. Appropriate numerical is conducted to learn the effects of crucial parameters on the model and gain managerial insights as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impacts of government's consumption subsidy and replacement subsidy towards environmental-friendly products in a dual-channel supply chain. Considering the utilities of the different consumers, we introduce the replacement consumers' valuation of obsolete products and differentiate the replacement subsidy into two cases: low and high, and then the game models are established among a manufacturer and two retailers (a traditional retailer and an e-tailer). The results indicate that the consumption subsidy benefits both kinds of consumers, while the replacement subsidy benefits the replacement consumers but hurts the primary consumers. Both subsidies benefit the enterprises but intensify the channel competition. Which subsidy is better for the enterprises depends on the subsidy amount and three key factors related to the recovery market. Subsidy policies are more beneficial to the firm in the e-channel than that in the retail channel. However, our numerical study suggests that as the subsidy increases, the marginal diminishing effect of the social welfare is also more significant in the e-channel than the retail channel. The replacement subsidy is more efficient to protect the environment, but the consumption subsidy is more efficient to improve the social welfare. Besides, the social welfare under the high replacement subsidy is not always higher than that under the low subsidy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to identify and analyse the effectiveness of challenges inhibiting the reduction of waste in Indian agri-food supply chain (AFSC). The reduction of food waste impacts positively all three dimensions of sustainability (economic, social, and environmental). Thirty-three challenges inhibiting reduction of waste in AFSC are identified by a review of the literature and a consultation with experts in the Indian food industry and academia. These challenges are grouped using Exploratory Factor Analysis into a super-set of nine challenges. The inter-relationship and respective dominance among these nine challenges is then determined using Interpretive Structural Modelling and MICMAC analysis. The group of independent challenges (food characteristics, supply chain uncertainty, market infrastructure, and food policy and regulation) have higher driving power and low dependency, and require maximum attention. These four challenges constrain decisions at the three-decision-making echelon (strategic, tactical, and operational) and each of the supply-chain echelons. The group of dependent challenges (supply chain partnerships, operational capability, and supply chain networks) have high dependence and low driving power and are resultant effects. The challenge, information technology, with high driving and dependence power, is a linkage variable. It acts as an enabler of dependent variables, and it mitigates the complexities due to food characteristics and uncertainty. The challenge, consumer behaviour, with low driving and dependence power, is an autonomous variable. It has little influence on waste reduction in Indian AFSC. This study highlights the importance of conducting region-specific study of supply chains and promotes sustainable practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Circular Economy (CE) has received considerable attention as an approach that promises to reconcile ecological systems and economic growth. In spite of its increased popularity, little is known about the implementation struggles of incumbent firms across industrial sectors. Furthermore, although the notion of circular production systems is at the intersection of different research areas such as sustainable product design, sustainable supply chains, and reverse logistics, knowledge on how these concepts combine to ease or impede firms' transition towards circularity is scarce. To shed light on these gaps, I used multiple case studies from Cradle to Cradle certified companies in the textile industry in Europe. By employing qualitative research, I identified a set of factors along the textile value chain, from product design to take-back and reprocessing, that are crucial in expediting or delaying a firm's aspirations to develop a circular product. The main contribution of this paper is the dynamic understanding of how certain collaborative supplier-buyer innovation factors (i.e., supply chain position, power balance, and a shared vision) coupled with complex aspects in product design, namely in basic materials, architecture, and functionality, combine to determine the output speed and quantity of circular products to be sold, taken back, and ultimately regenerated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incorporating environmental sustainability into production systems and supply chain management perspectives is a growing issue; this requires thorough efforts in measuring the environmental performance of such systems and benchmarking these against industry standards, through the usage of appropriate indicators. The usage of environmental indicators in order to monitor and manage sustainability issues is an ongoing topic of debate and deliberation in the scientific community, which has generated the development of several methodological and conceptual approaches, often incorporated into Life Cycle Assessment frameworks, enabling the evaluation and monitoring of cumulative polluting impacts resulting across the whole product supply chain. In this field, the main challenge is to identify indicators to be employed in environmental assessments, in such a way that a precise account of sustainability issues is given without overloading end-users with overly complex and redundant information. By utilising well-established environmental indicators measuring the sustainability performance of supply chains, this paper aims at critically assessing the amount of redundancy embedded in current performance measurement systems, also identifying the subset of environmental indicators that, if employed, could cover a wide amount of environmental impact categories without redundancies and providing decision-makers with a clear perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we develop a decisional framework and a mathematical model for the sustainable design of biodiesel supply chain networks (BSCND). We consider a broad group of sustainable aims, i.e. standard economic goals (revenue and logistics costs of BSCND), environmental issues based on a biodiesel production life cycle assessment (LCA), and the social incidental aspects (e.g. crime control, political stability, and community attitude, among others). The framework begins with a simulation of the biodiesel production system, feeding later, with suitable input parameters and suitable solutions, and a macro-location model designed to establish the regional positioning of biofuel conversion plants. Optimal regions are used as initial feasible solution space for the proposed micro-location model. In this part of the framework, we introduce an adaptation of Extended Goal Programming to rank the best municipalities (definitive locations) emphasizing the social aspects under consideration. The framework application is set up in the following Colombian context: first generation biodiesel production from palm oil feedstock. Our computational results indicate that the Colombian city of Rionegro (in the Santader region) is the most sustainable location for a new biodiesel plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the influence of national culture on firms' environmental management and performance efficacy. Specifically, we contribute to the convergence-divergence discussion by assessing whether a long-term oriented national cultural impacts on the implementation level of a firm's environmental management and environmental performance. Furthermore, we assess whether or not potential negative cultural characteristics at the national level can be addressed through specific cultural characteristics at the organisational level. To test our hypotheses we use large-scale, cross-country survey data from 413 plants in eight countries. The results suggest that investments in environmental practices are approached more systematically in long-term oriented countries. The performance efficacy of these practices is found to be stronger in countries with a long-term oriented culture compared to plants situated in countries with a short-term oriented culture. Furthermore, firms can compensate for the negative impact of being situated in a short-term oriented country by practicing a long-term oriented facility culture. This study is one of the first to investigate the interplay between national culture and systematic environmental practices. Increasing its practical value, it considers organisational culture in terms of its effectiveness in overcoming locational disadvantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a novel approach to forecasting future commodity production in hundreds of nodes, which represents a key input for many applications of supply-chain models. A mathematical model was proposed to handle the problem of forecasting with spatially distributed and uncertain data. It is derived from the principle of regression analysis and extended by a data reconciliation technique. Additional areal constraints guarantee mass conservation in a tree-like structure, which reflects the organisational arrangement of an investigated region. The proposed model was tested through a case study, where future production of hazardous waste suitable for thermal treatment was forecasted in 206 base-nodes, 14 superior nodes and one apex. Based on an extensive investigation of historical data, it was revealed that extrapolations carried out at different levels of the hierarchical organisational structure lead to inconsistent forecasts. The differences between forecasts reached up to 50%. In addition to this, mass conservation was violated. Significant corrections were performed by computations utilizing the formulated model. The corrections ranged from between 0% and 12% for 90% of nodes. There were 17 nodes, where massive adjustments of up to 30% were inevitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fresh food cold supply chains (CSCs) feature high fresh food quality and safety, high energy consumption, and poor economic and environmental sustainability. Sustainable management of fresh food CSCs is critical. However, limited research has addressed the implementation of systematic good practices in sustainable fresh food CSCs in developing countries. Consequently, decision-makers lack empirical evidence to help them understand how companies successfully implement systematic good practices and how those good practices affect sustainability performance. This paper formulates a hybrid analytic hierarchy process-fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (AHP-Fuzzy TOPSIS) decision framework to systematically explore the impact of good practices on the sustainability performance of fresh food CSCs in the context of a developing country such as China. The results of the integrated methodology show that China's CSC industry pays more attention to economic sustainability and that employee training is the most impactful good practice for improving the sustainability performance of fresh food CSCs. • A systematic study of good practice and sustainability performance indicators. • A fresh food CSC sustainability performance assessment framework applied in China. • Order of importance of sustainability performance assessment indicators. • Ranking of good practices to improve fresh food CSC sustainability performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a systematic two-stage analysis to improve a three-echelon closed-loop supply chain cooperation and coordination under differentiated carbon tax regulation, which enriches non-cooperative and cooperative game theory applications in remanufacturing circular economies. Firstly, we utilize non-cooperative games to explore the optimal operations of new and remanufactured products across five coalitional models. Then, we adopt cooperative games to achieve profit coordination. Specifically, Shapley values are employed for allocating a grand coalition profit in a centralized setting. In order to alleviate carbon taxpayers' fairness concerns, we proposed a novel revised Shapley value algorithm incorporating differentiated carbon tax costs to improve their utility. The results show that regulators can reduce emissions by adjusting carbon tax rates on different products more effectively. The optimal environmental and economic performance can also be achieved by forming a grand coalition. Shapley value algorithms achieve the supply chain system Pareto improvement. Moreover, carbon taxpayers' (i.e., manufacturer and remanufacturer) utilities in our revised Shapley are improved by 20.15% and 77.71%, respectively, compared with the classical Shapley value under certain conditions. These results benefit regulators' carbon tax policy formulation and industrial managers' remanufacturing practices. [Display omitted] • Construct a two-stage analysis for remanufacturing cooperation and coordination. • Apply non-cooperative games to derive optimal results of five coalition models. • The impact of the differentiated carbon tax on supply chain operations is examined. • Cooperative games allocate supply chain channel profit in a centralized setting. • Revised Shapley value algorithm alleviates carbon taxpayers' fairness concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how financial incentives with emission reduction constraints affect the operational decisions and environmental performance of the capital-constrained supply chain. Two financial incentives are explored: green credit subsidies and price-based incentives. We conduct game-theoretic models to examine the characteristics and effects of two financial incentives on the supply chain under high emission restriction (HER) and low emission restriction (LER) conditions. Our results reveal that: (1) both the incentive policies fail under excessively stringent emission restrictions and generate lower optimal profit for supply chain members under HER condition; (2) both financial incentives can transform the heavy polluting manufacturer under HER eligible for LER condition; the optimal emission reduction level only touches the passing level of emission requirements under HER condition, while increasing with the government subsidies under the LER condition; (3) under the LER condition, green credit subsidies policy is efficient at increasing social welfare, while price incentives are better at increasing supply chain profits. Further, we demonstrate that it is less expensive for the government to provide subsidies to banks that require compliance with environmental regulations as a precondition of green loans in most cases. Our findings have significant implications for the government in developing more refined policies to reconcile incentives and constraints on emissions reductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In practice, long-term unfair distribution of profit may cause cooperation partnerships between firms to break down. For example, Xuzhou Wanji Trading Co., as a distributor, terminated the business cooperation with Procter & Gamble. Thus, to maintain supply chain cooperation, firms no matter reap high profits or low profits begin to be concerned about fairness. Based on this, we explore how fairness attitudes affect operation and emission reduction decisions in a supply chain with one manufacturer and one retailer, especially under cap-and-trade (C&T) regulation. This paper develops three Stackelberg game models: no fairness concern, with retailer's fairness concern, and with manufacturer's altruistic preference, respectively, and then derive equilibrium outcomes to analyze the joint effect of fairness attitudes and C&T regulation. First, the results demonstrate that the retailer's fairness concern increases his own profit while decreases the manufacturer's optimal emission reduction and profit. Second, the manufacturer's altruistic preference not only facilitates a more equitable distribution of overall profits but also results in lower emissions of unit product, achieving a win–win situation. Consequently, the manufacturer's altruistic preference performs better than the retailer's fairness concern in balancing fairness and emission reduction. Interestingly, if the manufacturer decides to reduce emissions, the total emissions are lower under a loose C&T regulation; otherwise, the total emissions are lower under a strict C&T regulation. • We explores the impact of fairness attitudes under C&T regulation. • We develop six Stackelberg game models with different cases. • The retailer's fairness concern decreases the manufacturer's optimal emission reduction. • The manufacturer's altruistic preference improves the optimal emission reduction. • The altruistic preference performs better in balancing fairness and emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The apparel supply chain is an example of a complex global supply chain where sustainability issues are a concern and where no satisfactory answers have been achieved yet, especially in social aspects. The growth in importance of social sustainability represents a strategic change in the sector with the necessary involvement of different tiers and external stakeholders to mitigate the negative social impacts. In this paper, a qualitative analysis through the application of content analysis using NVivo software is carried out, first to identify the structure and the main entities in this supply chain, and then to understand the main drivers towards social sustainability management. Six global companies were analysed, considering their sustainability reports from 2014 to 2018. The findings showed that social sustainability is a part of strategic goals as policies and commitments, and several actions have been developed along the supply chain to promote human rights, labour conditions, social development, and product responsibility, with external stakeholders collaboration. Finally, this article contributes to understanding how social sustainability should be managed in the apparel sector in a global supply chain context. Furthermore, in order to enrich the knowledge on this field, this paper provides some insight throughout the definition of a roadmap for future research in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing carbon emissions is crucial in the development of a green supply chain. Greenhouse firms regulate carbon emission constraints to achieve sustainable supply chains. Deterioration can be controlled by utilizing a preservation technology investment in most of greenhouse firms as they have a specific (summer) time. Despite the importance of these concerns, few researches have been done on the effect of carbon emissions on the lot sizing sustainable inventory management. To fill this gap, this study develops a carbon cap and tax-regulated sustainable inventory management for a buyer utilizing a linear and non-linear price-dependent demand. This is the first study to explore sustainable inventory management under controllable carbon emissions from a greenhouse farm. An investment in preservation and green technology efforts under different backorder situations is needed. This model furnishes both theoretical and numerical solutions to determine optimal strategies relating to preservation technology (PRT) and green technology (GRT) investment, selling price, cycle time, and the fraction period length for sustainable inventory management. Several numerical examples are presented to validate all sustainable economic order quantity models. This problem is solved by theoretical and analytical methods. The results of this paper, in a controllable sustainable inventory management partial backordering case, exhibit a justifiable amount of profit compared with other backordering cases. The results of this paper are sustainable inventory management in the carbon tax and cap partial backlogging case has a better justifiable profit with the highest cycle time and the lowest value of the fraction length period as well as the lower green technology investment cost compared with other models. Finally, sensitivity analysis is discussed in relation to the managerial implications of the optimal feasible solution with respect to key parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of competition has set greater demands for supply chain sustainability. As the existing models mostly consider the issue only by employing the triple bottom line (TBL), this paper aims to establish a novel supply chain sustainability assessment model. Firstly, this paper establishes the indicator system from dimensions of TBL and supply chain capability, and integrates innovation and value co-creation. Innovation can help enterprises improve sustainability and benefit from it. Value co-creation has also become a new source of sustainable competitive edge. Compared with the previous qualitative research, the combination of quantitative and qualitative indicators used in this paper can more objectively reflect the subject. Secondly, this paper employs the Analytic Network Process (ANP) method to determine the weight of indicator. This method breaks the hypothesis of independence and considers the interactions among indicators. Thirdly, the Evidential Reasoning (ER) method is used to process expert evaluation information of qualitative indicators by membership function. This method incorporates the idea of fuzziness, allows experts to make no evaluation on unfamiliar indicators. Finally, this paper validates the practicability through a case study of marine ranching. The contribution lies in that this paper provides a novel theoretical model for supply chain sustainability assessment. • We establish a novel supply chain sustainability assessment indicator system based on TBL and supply chain capability, including innovation and value co-creation dimensions. • Adopting the ANP and ER methods, we build a new SSCM assessment model including innovation and value co-creation dimensions. • Marine ranching is adopted as a case study to demonstrate the feasibility of the novel model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As many unethical practices and violations of social norms originate from higher tier suppliers and their sub-suppliers, it is of paramount importance to ensure social sustainability in the entire supply chain, especially for higher tier suppliers. This has led to a considerable increase in interest among the researchers and academicians working in the domain of social sustainability. This article reviews 129 research papers published in different journals and attempted to identify drivers, issues, barriers, tensions, practices, and performances related to social sustainability in multi-tier supply chains. The prevalent theories and governance mechanisms of social sustainability in multi-tier supply chains have also been presented. The commonly used theories are stakeholder theory, institutional theory, resource based view theory, transaction cost economics theory, grounded theory, and resource dependence theory. It is observed that most of the papers have presented drivers, barriers, issues, and practices in generic ways by conducting exploratory case studies using single case or multiple cases; there is a distinct lack of multi-tier perspectives devoted to the context of emerging economies. The tension, an important aspect of implementation of social sustainability practices, has not been addressed adequately in the extant literature for multi-tier supply chains. This review also proposes a conceptual framework of social sustainability linking drivers, issues, barriers, tensions, practices, and performances. Finally, future avenues of research on social sustainability have been outlined. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remanufacturing is a common production mode for firms taking part in sustainable operations and the circular economy because it can improve environmental performance, especially via third-party remanufacturing. This paper studies third-party remanufacturing by developing game models for a closed-loop supply chain with one manufacturer and one third-party remanufacturer. Here the manufacturer has two strategies for third-party remanufacturing: outsourcing and authorization. The third-party remanufacturer collects end-of-life products to produce remanufactured products. Unlike the extant literature, this paper takes environmentally responsible behaviors of consumers and firms into consideration and focuses on how green consumption behavior and environmentally responsible behavior affect the manufacturer's strategy. It finds that when a large gap exists between green consumer preferences for new and remanufactured products, both the manufacturer and the third-party remanufacturer prefer authorization; otherwise, they prefer outsourcing. In addition, it is difficult for them to select the same strategy for third-party remanufacturing when the environmental cost (the cost of not collecting end-of-life products) is high. However, they can reach an agreement in outsourcing scenario in the case of sequentially identical game. • We develop game models to study manufacturer's third-party remanufacturing strategy. • We study how green consumption and responsible behavior affect equilibrium outcome. • If green consumer preferences for products have a large gap, authorization is optimal. • Although bearing responsibility can raise prices and collection rate, profits lower. • Two firms can reach an outsourcing agreement in the case of identical game sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no doubt that since the last decade, as the focus towards sustainability has grown significantly in the supply chain field, many empirical and conceptual papers have been published in journals. This study aims to investigate the present and emerging trends in the field of SSCM (sustainable supply chain management), meanwhile exploring future research directions. This article conducts the meta-analysis and systematic review of 362 research papers published in the well known peer-reviewed journals in the last sixteen years (2004–2019). The present study structured the reviewed literature with the following categories: drivers and barriers of the sustainable supply chain, adopted multi-criteria-decision-making techniques, year-wise number of research papers, names of journals and publishers, and classification of articles based on research design and method. This study draws an up-to-date picture of the recent developments, emerging trends, and gaps for future studies in the field of SSCM. The finding shows that the area has dominated by MCDM (Multiple-criteria decision making) based research methods and firms-level studies. Furthermore, researchers need to employ efficient algorithms and advanced economic modelling and conduct studies on the macro-level (country, and region-levels) to explore new linkages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's competitive business environment, corporations attempt to achieve sustainability through innovation. Innovation is considered by researchers and scholars to be a key driver for achieving sustainability. One of the key parts in any sustainable supply chains is sustainable supplier evaluation and selection. However, few sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) studies have focused on sustainable supplier evaluation and selection, particularly in the context of sustainable innovation management. Thus, supplier evaluation and selection studies that consider overall sustainability (social, environmental, and economic) innovation criteria are nearly non-existent. To deal with this issue, this paper proposes a decision framework to assess sustainable innovative suppliers. A combination of best worst method (BWM) and modified Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment of Evaluations (PROMETHEE) is employed as an integrated model in the analysis. The BWM is initially applied to identify the sustainable innovation criteria weights, and then the modified PROMETHEE is used to analyze the suppliers' performance. A manufacturing case example is employed to verify the utility and applicability of the proposed methodology. This paper can assist industrial managers, researchers, and decision-makers in understanding and focusing on sustainable innovation, particularly when selecting suppliers, and enhancing their supply chains' sustainability to make progress toward sustainable development. • Develops a framework for evaluating suppliers based on sustainability innovation. • The BWM and modified PROMETHEE is employed in the assessment and selection process. • A manufacturing case example is used to verify the usefulness and applicability. • Findings assist industry experts to better understand sustainability innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shortage of landfill space and the environmental pollution from urbanization and industrialization have led to an increase in the recycling and reuse of construction and demolition waste (CDW). Based on the technological paradigm, this paper proposes a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) that integrates forward and reverse logistics and has multiple centers that regulate end-of-life CDW recycling and promote new product remanufacturing. Carbon price (CP) and carbon trading (CT) policies are then innovatively applied to manage the proposed supply chain, incentivize technological CDW disposal improvements, encourage policy adherence, and ensure that the economic and environmental benefits are built into the proposed CLSC. A mixed integer nonlinear programming model (MINLP) is developed to optimize the proposed CLSC by minimizing the total costs under the two carbon policies, and a real case study from China is given. Scenario analyses under the two carbon polices and practical policy suggestions are given, and comprehensive conclusions are provided in the conclusions. It was found that with the adjustment of recycling ratio, the proposed CDW CLSC was able to minimize total costs and overall carbon emissions. Moreover, the CP policy could improve the CDW recycling ratio from 19.4% to 85.3% and reduced carbon emissions by 6393 tonnes, and the CT policy should be an incentive policy to further encourage a higher recycling ratio and lower carbon emissions. • This paper helps overcome the barriers in waste paradigm shift phase. • This paper proposes a well-built waste disposal closed-loop supply chain. • This paper creatively applies carbon policies in waste management supply chain. • Carbon price policy improves waste recycling ratio and reduces carbon emissions. • Carbon trading is the incentive to regulate waste recycling and carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncertainty in real-world situations disrupts operations, including the collection process in closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs). A collection disruption is more critical in the pharmaceutical sector since pharmaceutical leftovers contain chemicals that threaten the environment and human health. This paper revolves around the challenges of a real pharmaceutical case that implements circular economy principles through a closed-loop system design, takes sustainability issues into account, and seeks for effective management of collection disruption. The case includes a manufacturer, who invests in green research and development (R&D), and two retailers competing on corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts to boost the collection amount and market demand. This competitive environment raises conflict of interests and complicates the interactions between members, which need to be neutralized by an appropriate coordination plan. This paper proposes an analytical scenario-based coordination model that resolves channel conflicts and pays dividends to the involving members through augmenting their social, economic, and environmental performance. We show that the coordination plan could be a practical policy to increase the system's adaptability to disruption. Under the coordinated model, by increasing a retailer's collection disruption, the other one invests more in CSR efforts to compensate for its competitor's lower collection, preventing loss for the whole channel. We also demonstrate that the proposed model maintains the chain's balance and prevents loss in case of a highly competitive CSR-based collection and boosts the collection amount, market demand, and the whole chain's profitability simultaneously. • The paper coordinates a two-echelon pharmaceutical closed-loop supply chain. • The collection process of the retailers may be subject to disruptions. • Two retailers compete on exerting corporate social responsibility. • Scenario-based decentralized and centralized decision-making models are proposed. • Profit-sharing coordination contract and Nash-bargaining model are applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature gas plays a fundamental role in promoting cleaner production worldwide. Given this, evaluation of the natural gas supply chain from the perspective of both economic and environmental-friendly should be considered simultaneously while proposing a comprehensive estimation model remain a challenge in the performance improving study. What's more, the inherent uncertainty and strong variation associated with natural gas demand attach difficulty in precise analysis and make an impact on the stable gas supply. This paper proposes an integrated mathematical model to estimate the economic and environmental (2-E) performance, where multiple natural gas products and transportation modes are considered in economic section, and the major carbon emission from upstream production to downstream users are given in the environmental part. An index is formulated to indicate the supply risk caused by the uncertain gas demand. Considering the risk attitude of supply chain designers may have a significant impact on the final 2-E performance, three scenarios namely Risk Neutral Scenario, Risk Aversion Scenario, and Risk-taking Scenario are applied to quantify the impact. The case study result demonstrates that 1) In comparison to the neutral scenario model which is commonly used in the literature, the annual economic profits and total carbon dioxide emission in this paper have a 6.78 million CNY and 2.06 kiloton variation, respectively. 2) The pipeline layout and location of functional stations are coincident within three scenarios, while the detailed transportation scheme in the operation period changed a lot. 3) The reliability varies from 99.88% to 89.37% within three scenarios, and the supply chain designers can make a tradeoff between the 2-E performance and supply risk according to the proposed relationship between theme. • The integrated economic evaluation of the natural gas supply chain is proposed. • The environmental performance based on the economic supply scheme is analyzed. • The relationship between economic and environmental performance and supply risk is considered. • The feasibility and effectiveness of the model are verified by a real supply chain in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a mathematical model to analyse the impact of a negative corporate social responsibility (CSR) parameter that for 'forced labour', on supply chain profitability based on coordination contracts. Four types of supply chain coordination contract are developed and benchmarked against set performance indices employing sensitivity analysis and non-linear optimization techniques. Nash 'static' and Stackelberg 'dynamic' models are employed to represent the 'gameplay' between the 'manufacturer' and 'retailer' in a supply chain. The key inputs are average demand and 'forced labour' ratios, whereas key performance indicators are advertising, inventory and pricing costs. Our results indicate that by reducing the proportion of 'forced labour' for both members of the supply chain, the overall profitability increases in a Nash static gaming context. However, the contractual relationships in a Stackelberg dynamic situation provide a different picture. Here, if the 'retailer' assumes the leadership role, cost-sharing contracts increase the profitability for both partners. However, if the 'manufacturer' assumes the leader, the profit-sharing contract leads to the highest overall profit. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis confirms that an ideal situation is one in which the 'forced labour' ratio approaches 'zero', where the profitability of the retailer is usually higher than that of the manufacturer. Previous researchers have used 'survey-based' methods to develop proportional or 'mediating' relationships to measure the impact of CSR on supply chain profitability. This paper addresses the associated gap by providing a game theoretic-based non-linear mathematical model to assess the direct impact of negative CSR on supply chain profitability and benchmarks the performance of different supply chain contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cleaner production is a lively concept in which new procedures and technologies constantly emerge introducing methods and practices to prevent damages to the environment. A broad range of cleaner production initiatives contribute to sustainable development not only through the efficient management of resources and energy, but also through the development of new and smart technologies, new ways of assisting policies development, and organizing supply chains, sectors and individual companies. The authors of this Virtual Special Issue sought to introduce first-hand knowledge and discussions identifying and highlighting the ways cleaner production can contribute to reach the United Nations sustainable development targets. The intent of the Virtual Special Issue is to provide an overview of the recent trends that cleaner production practitioners/researchers are following in the chase of the sustainable development goals, and in this context, this editorial was designed to summarize and underscore the link between cleaner production concepts and practices and the sustainable development goals. An adequate response to this challenge required scientific knowledge and reassessment of the papers ensuring that the science is responsive to the evolving needs of sustainable development. This Virtual Special Issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production is mainly dedicated to the 7th International Workshop on Advances in Cleaner Production, held at Universidad de La Costa, Barranquilla, Colombia on 21–22 June 2018. Based upon the examination of the papers of this Virtual Special Issue, the authors were able to establish that there is an pressing need for research on the assessment on which/when cleaner production interventions are more effective; inter and multidisciplinary cooperation among social and technical scientists to distinguish and address the cleaner production/sustainable development goals interactions and connect cleaner production solutions and large-scale sustainability approaches. Image 1 • There is a need for evaluations on which CP practices should be applied for each case to reach the SDGs. • To distinguish the pertinent CP/SDGs interactions, inter-multidisciplinary partnerships are required. • To address CP/SDGs interactions a partnership among technical and social researchers is urgent. • There is a need to integrate CP solutions with large-scale sustainability research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions tax has been recognized as an effective market-based mechanism to curb carbon emissions, which makes every participant in the supply chain rethink their optimal operational decisions. Motivated by an iron and steel supply chain under the carbon emissions tax regulation, this paper investigates the optimal operational decisions for both supplier and retailer in the supply chain with a call option contract. Specifically, this paper considers a supply chain consisting of one risk-neutral supplier and one risk-averse retailer. To effectively match supply with the uncertain demand while reducing the carbon emissions, the retailer can choose to purchase call options from the supplier, and thus is allowed to adjust the final order quantities after the demand realization. The optimal order and production policies with and without the call option contract are derived. Further, it is demonstrated that the call option contract can benefit both the retailer and supplier, improve the performance of the whole supply chain and decrease invalid carbon emissions. In addition, the introduction of call option contracts can mitigate the effect of carbon emissions tax and risk aversion on the order quantity of the retailer. Finally, numerical experiments based on a real-world iron and steel supply chain are conducted to validate the theoretical findings and provide useful managerial insights. • Optimal decisions in supply chains under the carbon emission tax (CET) are studied. • The impact of the call option contact and CET on the optimal decisions is derived. • Optimal inventory policies with the call option contract are presented. • Several useful managerial insights for practitioners are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable supply chain management has been a topic of high interest to scholars and practitioners over the last 30 years. Accordingly, many review papers have been published on this topic with various areas of focus. Nevertheless, the overall body of literature still lacks a systematic review that thoroughly explores sustainability-driven decisions in the agriculture sector. To fill this research gap, the present paper presents an extensive review of 247 quantitative studies on sustainable agricultural supply chains. Our review scope includes both crop-based and livestock sectors that are monitored by eco-social corporate initiatives or government sustainability-driven legislation. To do so, we employ a content analysis-based review method, which is well known as an effective means of conducting literature reviews in a transparent, systematic, and rule-governed way, to rigorously collect, filter, and classify the existing research context. We classify the collected materials based on different structural dimensions and related analytic categories, which are obtained from both deductive and inductive categorization techniques. More specifically, we thoroughly evaluate the review results from four research perspectives – agricultural planning, supply chain management, sustainability development, and modeling methodology – aiming at presenting an overview of quantitative research projects. We conclude this study with a detailed discussion on evolving and promising research streams along with future research directions, which could be used as a roadmap by future researchers. • Presenting a review of 247 studies on sustainable agricultural supply chain. • Performing a content analysis-based review method to classify materials. • Reviewing four agricultural, supply chain, sustainability, and modeling dimensions. • Classifying sustainability-driven governmental regulations and indicators. • Discussing promising research streams and future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fostering business activities has been advocated as a more appropriate strategy, replacing aid-based initiatives for achieving sustainable economic development of underprivileged societies. However, the little familiarity with the working of supply chains serving the respective markets is obstructing our efforts to devise suitable strategies to promote corporate activity in underdeveloped areas. The paper aims to critically evaluate applicability of established supply chain management related constructs in base of the pyramid market setting. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data in 60 face-to-face interviews, with buyer–supplier dyads, focusing micro-entrepreneurs in Pakistan. We used partial least squares algorithm (SmartPLS 3) to fit a structural equation model to the data. Communication emerged as prime driver construct linked to tactical purchasing, technological integration with customers, technological integration with suppliers and supply chain partner development. The paper, while extending largely formal market–focused supply chain literature to informal settings, enriches our understanding of related phenomena in base of the pyramid markets. Findings of the paper will not only assist practitioners in grasping dynamics of business-to-business markets at the base of the pyramid but will also aid in understanding causality of certain supply chain management practices. The paper is among first contributions to evaluate business-to-business interactions among micro-entrepreneurs in the base of the pyramid markets employing a survey methodology. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier studies in the sustainable supply chain (SSC) have been introduced since its submission, yet, research of sustainable supply chain finance (SSCF) is still insufficient. Also, these studies did not consider uncertainty in corresponding with the uncertain environment of the supply chain deficiencies, the integration of sustainable development and supply chain finance is essential. Hence, this paper evaluating a set of measurements to provide sustainable supply chain finance in the gas industry under uncertainty. In this paper, TODIM (acronym in Portuguese for Interactive and Multi-criteria Decision-Making) and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methods based on the Best-Worst Method (BWM) will be applied according to neutrosophic set to increase the accuracy of evaluation under uncertainty. According to expert evaluations, the results show that financial attributes and product/service management are the most substantial metrics for enhancing a firm's performance and obtain sustainable supply chain finance. Moreover, obtain price and cost information, consider product/service level, technology management, and demand management are important to build sustainable supply chain management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers a multi-echelon, non-cooperative and competitive decentralized supply chain (SC) network consisting of multiple entities. The independent and disjointed entities of a decentralized SC face a major challenge in coordination and maintaining sustainability across its chain. This problem environment is not suitable with traditional monolithic modeling approaches. In this paper, a new bilevel approach is proposed, where each entity prepares a plan for multiple periods, on a rolling horizon basis, by optimizing its own objectives at the lower-level. However, due to limited information sharing between the entities from the lower-level, the dominance and Nash game strategies are applied at the upper-level, for coordinating the supply and demand in a single period. It is expected that the upper-level coordination and planning will be conducted by an independent body. The approach applies a strategy to ensure carbon reduction in transportation, by reducing the required number of vehicles to distribute the products throughout the SC. To demonstrate the usefulness of the approach, numerical analysis is provided with examples. The results of the proposed model are compared with two different approaches. A sensitivity analysis is also conducted with some of the major parameters of the model. The main contribution of this study is to ensure coordination in product distribution quantities throughout a decentralized SC network, to minimize carbon emissions through transportation, and to improve SC sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve superior energy-saving performance of products, both the upstream and downstream firms in a green supply chain intend to form R&D (Research and Development) collaborations. This paper analyzes via a game-theoretical approach two typical cooperative behaviors, Cartelization and Cost-sharing contract, of the two chain members. Comparisons are carried out between cases of Cartelization, Cost-sharing contract and a benchmark of non-cooperation. Results rely on both the comparative efficiency which captures the technology difference between the members and the effectiveness factor which measures the consumer green awareness and government subsidy. Specifically, for moderate comparative efficiency and effectiveness factors, the upstream firm mostly favors a Cartelization, the downstream firm generally prefers a non-cooperative scheme while the chain-wide profit mostly peaks under a Cost-sharing contract. However, low comparative efficiency and large effectiveness factor lead to different preferences such that Cartelization becomes least beneficial for the upstream firm but most favored by the downstream firm and the chain. A Cost-sharing contract brings more profit to both members and the chain than a non-cooperative mode does, and a Cartelization is Pareto-improving among the three under certain conditions. Chain-wide collaboration always benefits the consumers and the environment rather than a non-cooperative case does. In addition, the implication from the modelling results can be verified by an empirical example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction of carbon emissions is a world-wide concern. Many countries have implemented various policies to reduce carbon emissions, which has affected the operational decisions of enterprises in the supply chain since most carbon is emitted during the production process. In this paper, the mutual relationship between supply chain enterprise operations and government policy are considered. Governmental carbon emission tax policies are examined using the three-stage Stackelberg game model with a decentralized supply chain and the two-stage Stackelberg game model with a centralized supply chain. The optimal strategies of enterprises and governments are theorized for both types of supply chains. In the decentralized supply chain, a product's retail price and the government's carbon tax are higher than those in centralized decision-making mode. In the centralized supply chain, the stocking factor of the retailer, the profit of the supply chain and the expected social welfare of the government are higher than those in decentralized supply chain. With the increase of carbon emissions tax, the wholesale price of manufacturer and retailing price of retailer under the decentralized supply chain, as well as retailing price of retailer under centralized supply chain increase. The results indicate that the centralized supply chain is more beneficial to enterprises and government than the decentralized supply chain. By performing the comparisons of the manufacturer-dominated supply chain with retailer-dominated and no agent dominated supply chains, it is shown that both the environment performance and financial performance of supply chain are better off when the supply chain members have distributed pricing powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, companies have shown growing concerns in relation to the environmental impact of their manufacturing activities. Green supply chain management (GSCM) has been considered by the manufacturers as a feasible option to reduce the environmental impact of operations while simultaneously improving their operational performance. The literature suggests that further research on institutional pressures, performance, and environmental practices are needed, especially in the case of developing countries. The present paper explores the GSCM pressures, practices, and performance observed in suppliers of a Brazilian automotive supply chain. The data were treated using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) provided by SmartPLS software. The results show that the economic and environmental performance of the studied supply chain is positively related to the adoption of GSCM practices. In addition, the present research also identified the institutional pressures that influence this supply chain to pursue green supply chain management practices. The results of this study provide managerial and theoretical approaches for different industries in Brazil to focus on environmental awareness by adopting GSCM practices. In addition, this study helps increase confidence among managers and policy makers of Brazilian companies in the adoption of GSCM practices to improve firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a Stochastic Multi-Objective Mixed Integer Non-Linear Problem (SMOMINLP) to redesign the sustainable supply chain to recycle certain products. The model integrates economic, environmental and social objectives to support strategic decisions such as facility location, material flow design and transport selection. The environmental impact objective is calculated through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology using the Eco-indicator 99 method. A multi-criteria programming approach algorithm to manage several objectives linked with stochastic programming to address uncertainty is developed in this investigation. In addition, to assess the solutions obtained and to reduce the uncertainty effect on decision-making, a performance indicator is proposed. Model feasibility has been tested in Cuba. In this case study, the redesign of a supply chain for plastic recycling is examined. The experimental results show supply chain configurations that improve sustainability performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reverse logistics (RL) involves a sequence of operations that initiate at the consumer level and terminate at the manufacturer, opposite to the traditional forward approach of the supply chain. Recycling, reuse, and re-processing of products are activities of RL networks, all of which are becoming increasingly prevalent due to growing environmental and socio-economic concerns. Research has begun to study such networks in an effort to maximize efficiency and to improve operations. Previous work focused on developing a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) with an aim of determining the optimal location and capacity of important nodes of the RL network, such as inspection centers and remanufacturing facilities. Transportation decisions, such as whether to use in-house or outsourced vehicles, are often based on cost effectiveness. The problem is formulated for the case of a household appliance in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Sixty-eight cities are considered, leading to a very large number of variables and constraints; thus, a heuristic approach, namely a Genetic Algorithm (GA), is chosen to solve the problem. The main contribution of this paper is to develop a very efficient GA capable of solving a large scale problem in short time. The developed GA was capable of solving a very large problem (with 656,885 continuous variables, 2040 binary variables, 10 integer variables, and 100,340 constraints) with a gap of 0.3% and about 38.5 times faster than GAMS using a personal computer. The same GA succeeded to solve both large and small problems to optimality or with a gap that didn't exceed 1.5% and faster than GAMS. The technique that we used to code the GA reduced the number of variables and constraints to 92% and 86%, respectively. Furthermore, the reported results provide important insights on practical aspects of the problem, as well as useful points for the evaluation of the heuristic's performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of biofuels using second-generation feedstocks has been recognized as an important alternative source of sustainable energy and its demand is expected to increase due to regulations such as the Renewable Fuel Standard. However, the pathway to biofuel industry maturity faces unique, unaddressed challenges. To address this challenges, this paper presents an optimization model which quantifies and controls the impact of biomass quality variability on supply chain related decisions and technology selection. We propose a two-stage stochastic programming model and associated efficient solution procedures for solving large-scale problems to (1) better represent the random nature of the biomass quality (defined by moisture and ash contents) in supply chain modeling, and (2) assess the impact of these uncertainties on the supply chain design and planning. The proposed model is then applied to a case study in the state of Tennessee. Results show that high moisture and ash contents negatively impact the unit delivery cost since poor biomass quality requires the addition of quality control activities. Experimental results indicate that supply chain cost could increase as much as 27%–31% when biomass quality is poor. We assess the impact of the biomass quality on the topological supply chain. Our case study indicates that biomass quality impacts supply chain costs; thus, it is important to consider the impact of biomass quality in supply chain design and management decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supply chain network design considering CO 2 emission is addressed in this paper. The CO 2 emission is investigated through two aspects in our proposed model. From the first aspect, strategic decisions are made in the design phase of the supply chain to invest in equipment with low emissions in factories. In fact, carbon emission costs are taken into account along with fixed and variable costs of location and production. Furthermore, in terms of operational planning, CO 2 gas emissions related to transportation modes and production are embedded in the model. The proposed model also takes into consideration the uncertain demand and production costs to more compatibility with the real world industries. A robust approach is used to formulation the model to overcome the uncertain parameters. Moreover, the risk of facilities’ disruption is predicted under different scenarios and a reliable model is presented. A solution approach is advised based on Benders’ decomposition algorithm and computational studies show its efficiency. The computational results demonstrate the effectiveness, reliability and robustness of the model. The different sensitivity analyses are carried out to provide useful managerial insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to conduct a sustainability impact assessment of the supply chain of a Solar Thermal Electricity (STE) project in Mexico using the “Framework for Integrated Sustainability Assessment” (FISA). The estimation of the economic, environmental and social impacts along the supply chain makes it possible to identify the sustainability hotspots both from direct effects as well as indirect effects while considering the international trade within the different project phases. Results show that the largest socioeconomic effects but also social risks would occur in Mexico mainly as a result of direct effects during the investment phase. On the contrary, most environmental impacts would take place outside Mexican borders, mainly caused by indirect activities related to the investment phase. The results from this assessment could help decisions makers take into account not only direct impacts of the Solar Thermal Electricity project but also the indirect ones occurred throughout the supply chain. Additionally, by equally accounting for the economic, environmental and social dimensions, the assessment could help them identify the sustainability hotspots and guide them towards implementing the required actions and measures to improve the sustainability performance of the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk management in Supply Chains has gained increasing attention over the last years. At the same time the pressure to consider social issues in global and interconnected supply chains has risen as well. These issues pose risk to supply chains since their occurrence may cause adverse stakeholder reaction through e.g. reputational losses. Despite the growing importance of supplier management as a key process within supply chains and the frequently articulated demand for a quantitative assessment of associated risks, such approaches are missing so far. Thus, the aim of this paper is to develop a model to efficiently estimate and assess social risks along global supply chains. For this purpose, Leontief’s Input Output model is combined with country risks and sector specific labour intensities. In addition, a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process is used to weigh the various considered social risks. Thereby the focus is on the upstream supply chain of actors in a supply chain. The approach is developed generally, opening the possibility of adaption to different types of input-output data bases and using different social risks discussed in social life cycle assessment. The fuzzy analytical hierarchy process facilitates the operational application in companies, where different people with differing preferences are involved, e.g. in procurement decisions. The model is applied to a case study of a German premium car manufacturer to demonstrate and validate the approach. It is shown, how – based on the developed model – the assessment of supply chains risks can be carried out. The approach allows an assessment of the supply chain as a whole, i.e. considering all upstream tiers, and of specific tiers. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis with regard to the obtained weights is conducted to verify the final aggregative risk values. The results show that there are huge differences in the social risks associated with different suppliers as well as different risk structures along the n-tier chain. This helps prioritizing any projects with the aim to improve the living and working conditions. In summary the model has a great benefit for practitioners in purchasing functions of focal companies and can be a helpful tool to support the efficient handling of social issues along supply chains. At the same time, its academic contributions lie in extending the life cycle sustainability analysis through a (multi-regional) socially extended input output model (SEIO) for social risk assessment in sustainable supply chain management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past years there has been enormous concern about labour conditions in developing countries particularly around work for the export market. This study addresses human rights issues related to Occupational Safety and Health for people suffering injuries from work demanded as a result of international trade arrangements. Here we present Occupational Safety and Health Footprints, which include the number of work-related accidents that occur throughout the world and that are directly and indirectly linked to the consumption of products, calculated for every nation's consumption bundle. OSHF include fatal footprints, non-fatal footprints, days lost footprints and wages lost footprints per given year. In order to calculate the OSHF, we used a comprehensive Multi-Regional Input Output MRIO table (Eora) in addition to data from the International Labour Organization, ASEAN Occupational Safety and Health Network (ASEAN-OSHNET) and others. This study finds that in 2010 there were 12 fatal and 4.8 thousand non-fatal incidents, 27 thousand days lost and two million US$ lost in wages per 100 thousand workers in supply chains worldwide. The results presented in this paper show hidden accidents throughout global supply chains and hence can be used to apply pressure on international organisations, governments and focal companies to improve the conditions of workers, particularly in terms of OSH in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the green channel coordination issue within a two-stage supply chain (SC). The investigated SC sells a non-green traditional product and also plans for releasing a new substitutable green product beside the current traditional product. Demand for both products is a function of the retail price as well as products’ green quality and retailer’s sales efforts. Both retail price and sales effort level for the green product are decided by the retailer while the product green quality is the manufacturer’s decision variable. Three decision scenarios are modelled and compared: (1) decentralized scenario where each member decides independently based on own profit, (2) integrated scenario where there is a one decision maker in the system, and (3) collaborative scenario that aims to enhance the overall channel profit subject to Pareto improvement for each member. Closed-form expressions of optimal retail price, sales effort and green quality are derived for the first two scenarios, and a mathematical programming model is developed for the collaborative scenario. Our numerical investigations revealed that the proposed collaboration model is capable of enhancing the SC profit fairly close to the centralized model and also ensures higher profits for both channel members than the decentralized decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being motivated by the issue of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) collection, we consider a contract design problem for a manufacturer with entrusting the collection of WEEE to a retailer. However, the manufacturer has asymmetric information on the collection effort level of the retailer. This paper designs an information screening contract for the manufacturer to obtain the information of collection effort level, and the optimal decision-making with several properties of contract parameters are derived. The results indicate that the manufacturer would offer lower wholesale price and higher buy-back price for the H-type retailer while charge more franchise fee to the H-type retailer. Considering the government intervention, reward-penalty mechanism (RPM) is developed to stimulate the asymmetric information closed-loop supply chain (CLSC). We also analyze the impacts of RPM by comparing the cases whether or not RPM is implemented. The comparison results show that the RPM can lower the wholesale price and retail price meanwhile raise buy-back price and collection quantity. Finally, several numerical studies are conducted for more managerial insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]