scholarly journals Critical Issues at the Upstream Level in Sustainable Supply Chain Management of Agri-Food Industries: Evidence from Pakistan’s Citrus Industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naseer ◽  
Muhammad Ashfaq ◽  
Sarfraz Hassan ◽  
Azhar Abbas ◽  
Amar Razzaq ◽  
...  

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has recently received increasing attention from researchers and the business community. Due to globalization and changing consumption patterns, agri-food industries have undergone a transformation, and the sustainability of agri-food supply chains has also received greater attention. However, the issues of SSCM at the upstream level of the supply chain in agri-food industries have not been adequately empirically studied. This paper aims to list key issues or constraints in the production and marketing through farmers’ group discussions, supplemented by the literature, and empirically identifies key constraints to SSCM of the citrus industry in Pakistan. The paper used cross-sectional data from 300 farmers involved in the production and marketing of citrus in Punjab, Pakistan. Farmers were asked to answer on a Likert scale data about potential constraints identified from the literature and farmers’ group discussions. Kendell’s coefficient of concordance and the mean ranking technique was used to rank and to identify the critical constraints in the production and marketing of citrus. In addition, factor analysis (principal component analysis) was used for the grouping of these constraints. In production constraints, factors, such as fertilizer, pesticide, and seed quality, climate change, high production cost, and agricultural labor performance, are important. These constraints are aligned with some key marketing factors, such as packaging, grading, and storage facilities. The findings convey messages for policymakers to solve these issues and challenges at the upstream level of the SSCM chain in the citrus and related agri-food industries.

Author(s):  
Craig R. Carter ◽  
Marc R. Hatton ◽  
Chao Wu ◽  
Xiangjing Chen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to update the work of Carter and Easton (2011), by conducting a systematic review of the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) literature in the primary logistics and supply chain management journals, during the 2010–2018 timeframe. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a systematic literature review (SLR) methodology which follows the methodology employed by Carter and Easton (2011). An evaluation of this methodology, using the Modified AMSTAR criteria, demonstrates a high level of empirical validity. Findings The field of SSCM continues to evolve with changes in substantive focus, theoretical lenses, unit of analysis, methodology and type of analysis. However, there are still abundant future research opportunities, including investigating under-researched topics such as diversity and human rights/working conditions, employing the group as the unit of analysis and better addressing empirical validity and social desirability bias. Research limitations/implications The findings result in prescriptions and a broad agenda to guide future research in the SSCM arena. The final section of the paper provides additional avenues for future research surrounding theory development and decision making. Originality/value This SLR provides a rigorous, methodologically valid review of the continuing evolution of empirical SSCM research over a 28-year time period.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 445
Author(s):  
Wen-Kuo Chen ◽  
Venkateswarlu Nalluri ◽  
Suresh Ma ◽  
Mei-Min Lin ◽  
Ching-Torng Lin

Different sources of risk factors can occur in sustainable supply chain management due to its complex nature. The telecommunication service firm cannot implement multiple improvement practices altogether to overcome the risk factors with limited resources. The industries should evaluate the relationship between risk factors and explore the determinants of improvement measures. The purpose of the present study is to identify and analyze critical risk factors (CRFs) for enhancing sustainable supply chain management practices in the Indian telecommunication industry using interpretive structural modelling (ISM). Risk factors are identified through a literature survey, and then with the help of experts, nine CRFs are identified using a fuzzy Delphi method (FDM). The relationship among these CRFs has been analyzed using ISM, and the driving and the dependence power of those CRFs are analyzed. Results indicate that both “government policies (laws and regulations)” and “the impact of rapid change in technology” are independent or key factors that affect the sustainability of the telecommunications supply chain. In addition, results provide significant managerial implications, including enhanced sustainability, and the government should build justice, fairness, open laws, certainties, and regulations to prevent risk in the telecommunications industry supply chain; service providers should monitor the rapidly evolving technologies and focus on technical learning and organizational capacity development to overcome the impact of technological changes. The contribution of this study is using a novel approach to establish a hierarchical structural model for an effective understanding of CRFs relationships and to explore decisive risk factors that can help telecom service providers to better plan and design effective improvement strategies to enhance sustainability supply chain management.


2015 ◽  
Vol 115 (3) ◽  
pp. 436-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
MingLang Tseng ◽  
Ming Lim ◽  
Wai Peng Wong

Purpose – Assessing a measure of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) performance is currently a key challenge. The literature on SSCM is very limited and performance measures need to have a systematic framework. The recently developed balanced scorecard (BSC) is a measurement system that requires a balanced set of financial and non-financial measures. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the SSCM performance based on four aspects i.e. sustainability, internal operations, learning and growth, and stakeholder. Design/methodology/approach – This paper developed a BSC hierarchical network for SSCM in a close-loop hierarchical structure. A generalized quantitative evaluation model based on the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) and Analytical Network Process (ANP) were then used to consider both the interdependence among measures and the fuzziness of subjective measures in SSCM. Findings – The results of this study indicate that the top-ranking aspect to consider is that of stakeholders, and the top five criteria are green design, corporate sustainability, strategic planning for environmental management, supplier cost-saving initiatives and market share. Originality/value – The main contributions of this study are twofold. First, this paper provides valuable support for supply chain stakeholders regarding the nature of network hierarchical relations with qualitative and quantitative scales. Second, this paper improves practical performance and enhances management effectiveness for SSCM.


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