sscm practice in canada - summary

7/21/2019 SSCM Practice in Canada - Summary

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Case Summary on,

A Review of Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Practices in Canada.

Course: Distribution Management M!" #$%&

Submitted by: Group-2

''''()'(*(+ularbine !amal

''('$)%*(Md. "ari-ul Alam

''(%%%(*(Mohammad Maharul /slam

'$($%((#(Md. Shahdwin Mali0 Chowdhury

'$'($1(#(Soumitra Saha

Submitted to:

A2M Shahidul /slam PhD,

Professor, Dept of Mar0eting, 3niversity of Dha0a



Summary

SSCM can be de4ned as5 6"he strategic, transparent integration and

achievement of an organiation7s social, environmental, and economic goals in the

systemic coordination of 0ey inter8organiational business processes7.

"he purpose of this article is to e9plore the e9tent to which corporate

sustainability principles are integrated into supply chain management SCM& in

corporations. Corporate sustainability can be de4ned as5 6meeting the needs of a

4rm7s direct and indirect sta0eholders such as shareholders, employees, clients,

pressure groups, communities, etc.&, without compromising its ability to meet the

needs of future sta0eholders as well7.

"he study designed to address the 0ey research ob:ective5 6;9plore the e9tent

to which corporate sustainability principles are integrated into SCM in corporations7

and two interrelated research <uestions5

R<8' =hat are the organiational structures, standards, and processes that

corporations adopt to implement sustainability initiatives within SCM>

R<8$ ?ow do corporations utilie the collaborative paradigm to address

sustainability issues within SCM, particularly as they relate to supplier

encouragement>

A prevalent and far8reaching de4nition of sustainable development is5

6development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability

of future generations to meet their needs7. At the core of sustainability is the

interrelated relationship among the economic, environmental, and social

dimensions, i.e. the three pillars of sustainability. @rom the micro8economic

perspective, SSCM has emerged as a result of marrying the three pillars of

sustainability with core business practices, such as procurement, logistics,

0nowledge management, mar0eting, and operations.

SSCM literature relates to nine dierent organiational theories, which are5

comple9ity theory, ecological moderniation theory, information theory, institutional

theory, resource based view R2B&, resource dependence theory RD"&, social

networ0 theory, sta0eholder theory, and transaction cost economics. "he practice

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and understanding of SSCM is still heavily oriented to the environmental dimension

of sustainability.

During the '**(s and early $(((s, increased concerns over the

environmental impacts of 4rms7 activities prompted the e9tension of supply chains

to include by8products and to consider the entire lifecycle of a product. =ithin this

conte9t, organiations have adopted and integrated various environmental

principles and management practices, such as the Cleaner Production Programme,

Balde Principles, and the ;MAS environmental management systems with SCM.

"here are many challenges to integration and implementation of SSCM, such

as, a& ac0 of understanding the intricate interplay between the three pillars of

sustainability and how that aects the economic bottom line, b& capital investment

commitments, c& ris0 management and supplier monitoring, d& measurement, e&

transparency of information and 0nowledge, f& alignment of corporate strategy

with SSCM initiatives, and g& corporate culture.

"he review of the literature has resulted in identifying si9 themes applied to

SSCM8related research. "hey are, '. Reporting, $. overnance, . /ntegration of CSR

practices, E. Performance measurement, %. Standards and monitoring, #.

Collaboration

"he 6governance7 theme centred on the dierent elements of SCMgovernance such as the determinants of governance structure. "he 6integration of

CSR practices7 into SCM includes a wide8range of studies. @or e9ample, some

research focused only on the strategic integration of environmental issues into SCM.

"he research on 6performance measurement7 focused predominantly on measuring

the environmental pillar of sustainability in the supply chain. "he research on supply

chain 6standards and monitoring7 e9amined the diusion of voluntary environmental

and social standards such as codes of conduct, /SF 'E((', and /SF $#(((, and

other global standards in the supply chain. "he 6collaboration7 theme loo0ed at thedierent characteristics of the collaborative paradigm within SCM such as the level

of collaboration and best practices.

"he theories have been applied to research -uestions, are,'. Contingency

theory, $. /nstitutional theory, . Resource8based view R2B&, E. Resource

dependence theory RD"&, %. Sta0eholder theory.

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Sta0eholder theory and institutional theory suggest that normative pressures

prompt organiations to interact with its 6communities7Gsuppliers, employees, and

customersG to divide the costs and bene4ts of e9ternalities. Such interaction is

best characteried as cooperation or collaboration. @irms are dependent upon other

parties to harness critical resourcesH conse-uently, managing this dependency is

critical for 4rms7 survival and growth. @rom this perspective, upstream and

downstream collaboration in supply chains and the -uality of relationships amongst

supply chain partners is important strategic mechanisms for SSCM to reduce the

e9ternal uncertainty of 4rms and thereby increase the bottom8line results.

"he 4rst phase of the research focused on a content analysis of '(( Canadian

corporate sustainable development reports CSDRs&. Second phase5 in8depth

interviews with '1 Canadian e9perts on SSCM. ;ighteen senior level employees

from '# corporations agreed to parta0e in the interviews. "hese corporations

represented eight industry sectors including energy, 4nancial, food, forestry,

manufacturing, metals8mining, telecom, and transportation. "he eight open8ended

-uestions criteria e9amined are, Report demographics, Supply chain SC&

governance, SC strategyIpolicy, Performance indicators, Standards, Monitoring,

Collaboration, @orward8loo0ing statement

"he result from the content analysis is described in, Report Demographics,

Supply Chain overnance, Supply Chain Strategy, Performance /ndicators, Supplier

Standards, Monitoring Supplier Performance, Collaboration within the Supply Chain

"he result from the interviews are described in, Primary Motivation for

Sustainability /nitiatives, Measuring Company Success on Sustainability /nitiatives in

the Supply Chain, Measuring Supplier Performance in Sustainability, Standards for

SSCM, Supplier ;ncouragement, Accountability in the Supply Chain.

"he research found some barriers to /ncorporating Sustainability into Supply

Chain Management, they are, '& Resources re-uired, $& ac0 of understanding theconcept of sustainability and & Ris0 management and monitoring.

Corporations are increasingly integrating the principles of sustainability into

their supply chain management practices to address the economic, environmental,

and social implications of their activities. "he limitations and further research areas

are,

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@irst, corporations are li0ely to not report on activities that may damage their

reputation. "herefore, portraying super4cial appearances on the criteria e9amined

for the study. /nclusion of other written communicationGe.g. business magaines

and papers, JF reports, and other web databasesGcan alleviate this issue and

present opportunities for future research.

Second, insight gained from the e9pert interviews representing '# large Canadian

corporations, the inclusion of other, small and medium8sied enterprises SM;s& in

the interviews would enhance the data construction and yield additional insights.

"hird, analysis of this Canadian case study to other countries is limited.

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sscm practice in canada - summary

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