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Sustainable Supply Chain and Operations Management: 2nd Edition

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 January 2025) | Viewed by 13043

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Faculty of International Business, Normandy University, 76600 Le Havre, France
Interests: supply chain; operations management; logistics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, companies are increasingly integrating sustainability into their operations. Sustainable operations management can be defined as coordinating business operations in a way that considers social, economic and environmental objectives to be part of the five main objectives of supply chain and operations management, thus creating and delivering sustainable value for final costumers and the environment. In this context, all aspects of operations and supply chain management can be redesigned to reflect the principles of sustainability.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to outline innovative ways of integrating sustainability into the supply chain and operations management process.

Objective

This Special Issue proposes solutions to integrate the sustainability into the supply chain and operations management process. It will include papers written by academics and professionals who want to improve their understanding of supply chain coordination to help firms to remain competitive in the new era of socioeconomic globalization.

Target audience

The target audience of this Call for Papers comprises professionals and researchers who work in the fields of supply chain management, operations management, logistics, and operations research. Moreover, this Special Issue will provide insights related to and support executives concerned about the management of expertise, knowledge, information, and organizational development in different work and business environments.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following subjects:

  • Competitiveness, strategy, productivity, and sustainability;
  • Using demand forecasting to achieve sustainably;
  • Sustainable product and service design;
  • Strategic capacity planning for products and services;
  • Capacity planning and sustainability;
  • Sustainable facility location;
  • Sustainable work design;
  • Integrating sustainability into location planning and analysis;
  • Sustainable quality management;
  • Sustainable production planning models;
  • Sustainable inventory management;
  • The relationship between JIT, lean and sustainability;
  • Sustainability in manufacturing operations scheduling;
  • Sustainable project management;
  • Green supply chain management;
  • Sustainable mathematical optimization.

Prof. Dr. Atour Taghipour
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable operations management
  • sustainable supply chain management

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 3689 KiB  
Article
Channel Selection and Sustainable Low Carbon Strategies with Cap-and-Trade Regulations
by Qiaoyan Huang and Feng Wei
Sustainability 2025, 17(4), 1463; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17041463 - 11 Feb 2025
Viewed by 755
Abstract
Environmental protection and low-carbon life are the focus of global attention. This paper adopts Stackelberg’s game method to discuss channel selection. Two decision models are involved: (1) model P represents dual-channel structure of the manufacturer, and (2) model O represents dual-channel structure of [...] Read more.
Environmental protection and low-carbon life are the focus of global attention. This paper adopts Stackelberg’s game method to discuss channel selection. Two decision models are involved: (1) model P represents dual-channel structure of the manufacturer, and (2) model O represents dual-channel structure of the retailer. We examined the optimal pricing strategy, and profit distribution among stakeholders. This research showed that, compared to model O, model D always sells more products, and model D has a higher (manufacturer)/lower (retailer) profits than model O. The retailer’s offline price exhibits a linear decline. At the point of intersection (0.28, 45.5), the price in both models converge to an identical value. From an environmental perspective, model D is more environmentally friendly than model O when unit carbon price is small. Furthermore, the emission reduction rate is higher if consumers’ online preference coefficient is not high in model D. Through the lens of social welfare, the sales strategies employed in model O yield higher social welfare benefits compared to those in model D. For the entire supply chain, model O is the optimal choice if they focus on environmental performance and social welfare. The research provides application guidance for the sustainable development of enterprises. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Supply Chain and Operations Management: 2nd Edition)
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24 pages, 5587 KiB  
Article
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: An Open Image Dataset for Automated Sorting of Good, Bad, and Imperfect Produce Using AI and Robotics
by Anjali Sharma, Vikas Kumar and Laxmi P. Musunur
Sustainability 2024, 16(15), 6411; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156411 - 26 Jul 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3273
Abstract
In the face of the impending challenge of feeding a growing global population, one-third of all food produced ends up as waste. A notable contributor to this problem is the wastage of a third of perfectly edible and nutritious fresh produce because they [...] Read more.
In the face of the impending challenge of feeding a growing global population, one-third of all food produced ends up as waste. A notable contributor to this problem is the wastage of a third of perfectly edible and nutritious fresh produce because they need to meet the high cosmetic standards expected by consumers. Eliminating this wastage of imperfect produce is, therefore, a crucial and sustainable means to increase the food supply for a growing global population. This can be achieved through automated sorting of good, bad and imperfect produce using automation, robotics and machine vision. A prerequisite for such automated sorting is fast and accurate machine vision algorithms for successful differentiation between good, bad and imperfect produce. Training such algorithms requires large image datasets. While much work has gone into collecting images of good and bad produce, to the best of our knowledge, no such dataset exists for imperfect produce items. In this paper, we attempt to fill this gap by developing the first publicly available dataset of good, bad and imperfect produce items. The dataset has been made publicly available on the Harvard Dataverse for use in training machine vision algorithms for sorting good, bad and imperfect produce. It is our hope that this open dataset will contribute to improving research and practice for sorting and saving imperfect produce in the food supply chain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Supply Chain and Operations Management: 2nd Edition)
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25 pages, 1023 KiB  
Article
How to Obtain a Sustainably Preferential Supplier Resource Allocation? A Model Based on the S-O-R Framework from a Supplier’s Perspective
by Xiaoyun Li, Suicheng Li, Weisong Zhang and Jianqi Qiao
Sustainability 2024, 16(14), 6095; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16146095 - 17 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1342
Abstract
As pivotal members of upstream channels, suppliers wield significant influence on supply chains’ competitive advantage through their abundant resources. Buyers often engage in supplier development to access scarce resources, yet the motivations guiding suppliers’ responses remain unclear. This study elucidates suppliers’ cognitive processes [...] Read more.
As pivotal members of upstream channels, suppliers wield significant influence on supply chains’ competitive advantage through their abundant resources. Buyers often engage in supplier development to access scarce resources, yet the motivations guiding suppliers’ responses remain unclear. This study elucidates suppliers’ cognitive processes and the factors influencing their decisions to allocate resources. Utilizing the S-O-R framework, we construct a moderated mediation model to verify motivational drivers and explore interactions among mediators. A survey involving 246 Chinese manufacturing suppliers was conducted, employing path analysis with bootstrap validation. It aimed to confirm how supplier-perceived relationship value, trust, and switching costs mediate between supplier development and resource allocation decisions. Our study delves into how supplier development impacts resource allocation, emphasizing psychological motivation within the S-O-R framework. We analyze three dimensions of supplier value perception: relationship value, trust, and switching costs. These factors influence physical and innovation resource allocation differently. While all prompt the prioritization of physical resources, only relationship value encourages innovative resource sharing, with switching costs hindering this. Supplier-perceived trust acts as both a mediator and moderator, enhancing positive effects on physical allocation and mitigating negative impacts on innovation resource sharing. This study advances the S-O-R framework’s applicability, providing novel insights into supplier resource allocation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Supply Chain and Operations Management: 2nd Edition)
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30 pages, 3222 KiB  
Article
Decisions and Coordination of E-Commerce Supply Chain Considering Product Quality and Marketing Efforts under Different Power Structures
by Haiping Ren and Zhen Luo
Sustainability 2024, 16(13), 5536; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135536 - 28 Jun 2024
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1999
Abstract
With the rapid development of internet technology, consumers have increasingly higher requirements for product quality. High-quality products can win consumers’ trust. Enhancing both product quality and sales in e-commerce platform transactions has long been a focal point of research. To address this issue, [...] Read more.
With the rapid development of internet technology, consumers have increasingly higher requirements for product quality. High-quality products can win consumers’ trust. Enhancing both product quality and sales in e-commerce platform transactions has long been a focal point of research. To address this issue, this paper constructs Stackelberg game models under different power structures and compares their impacts on pricing decisions and profits within e-commerce supply chains. Numerical simulations are used to explore the optimal combination strategy for the interaction of product quality and marketing efforts in the e-commerce supply chain. The results show that: (1) Under a centralized decision-making model, product quality and marketing efforts reach their optimal values, maximizing benefits for the supply chain system. (2) Under different power structures, the relationship between the profits of the supplier and the e-commerce platform self-operator is closely linked to the cost coefficients of product quality and marketing efforts. (3) Through the mechanism of “cost-sharing + compensation contract”, the supplier can reduce wholesale price, and the e-commerce platform self-operator can subsidize a portion of the sales to the supplier, thereby maximizing the profits of both parties and achieving a win–win situation. The research in this paper aids suppliers in improving product quality and e-commerce platform self-operators in enhancing their marketing efforts, providing theoretical support for optimizing supply-chain decision making on e-commerce platforms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Supply Chain and Operations Management: 2nd Edition)
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21 pages, 1119 KiB  
Article
An Integrated Q-Rung Orthopair Fuzzy (Q-ROF) for the Selection of Supply-Chain Management
by Babek Erdebilli and Çiğdem Sıcakyüz
Sustainability 2024, 16(12), 4901; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16124901 - 7 Jun 2024
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1930
Abstract
The integration of sustainable indicators into supply-chain management (SCM), including cost, innovation capability, quality, service capability, long-term cooperation, environmental management system, pollution reduction, green image, social responsibility, and employment practices, has become essential for conducting strategic analyses of the entire supply-chain process competitive [...] Read more.
The integration of sustainable indicators into supply-chain management (SCM), including cost, innovation capability, quality, service capability, long-term cooperation, environmental management system, pollution reduction, green image, social responsibility, and employment practices, has become essential for conducting strategic analyses of the entire supply-chain process competitive advantage. This study proposes a fuzzy integration multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method to solve SCM issues. To navigate this complexity, a multi-criterion decision-making (MCDM) framework is employed, integrating MCDM methods with fuzzy logic to effectively address subjective environmental criteria. This innovative approach not only enhances supply-chain management (SCM) but also emphasizes the necessity for ongoing innovation in tackling contemporary supply-chain challenges. It serves as a cornerstone for sustainable supplier selection practices and optimizing SCM processes. In this study, a hybrid fuzzy MCDM method is proposed for supplier selection. The method addresses supplier selection by utilizing evaluations from expert decision-makers based on predetermined criteria. This comprehensive approach ensures that all relevant factors are considered, promoting sustainable and efficient supply-chain management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Supply Chain and Operations Management: 2nd Edition)
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23 pages, 2625 KiB  
Article
Sustainable and Circular Hotels and the Water–Food–Energy Nexus: Integration of Agrivoltaics, Hydropower, Solar Cells, Water Reservoirs, and Green Roofs
by Atour Taghipour, Amin Padash, Vahid Etemadi, Moein Khazaei and Samira Ebrahimi
Sustainability 2024, 16(5), 1985; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16051985 - 28 Feb 2024
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2600
Abstract
The hotel industry in Iran faces critical challenges that underscore the urgent need for sustainable practices, specifically in the realms of energy, water, and food. Despite industry growth, a mere three percent of hotels fall into the five- and four-star categories, emphasizing the [...] Read more.
The hotel industry in Iran faces critical challenges that underscore the urgent need for sustainable practices, specifically in the realms of energy, water, and food. Despite industry growth, a mere three percent of hotels fall into the five- and four-star categories, emphasizing the need for widespread adoption of sustainable practices. Focused on Ramsar in Mazandaran, the study underscores the importance of eco-friendly strategies to tackle challenges related to the food–water–energy nexus. Employing the SCOC, Fuzzy BWM, and Z-MARCOS methods, the research proposes a robust framework for evaluating hotel development strategies. The case study reveals a concentration of hotels in Khorasan Razavi, Mazandaran, and Tehran, urging prioritization of sustainable practices in these regions. Analyzing Ramsar’s climate, the study suggests leveraging solar energy and implementing green roofs, emphasizing an integrated approach to achieve eco-friendly hotel construction. Furthermore, the research provides a prioritized set of strategies based on SCOC, aligning with criteria regarding the water–energy–food nexus. It emphasizes internal strengths, opportunities, and strategic technology partnerships while acknowledging external challenges such as political stability and climate change risks. The discussion introduces an Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA) to guide managerial decisions, presenting an insightful perspective for effective strategy implementation in Iran’s evolving hotel industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Supply Chain and Operations Management: 2nd Edition)
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