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Sustainability
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Balancing Efficiency, Sustainability, and Economic Development in Operations Management
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Balancing Efficiency, Sustainability, and Economic Development in Operations Management

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 (5 March 2026) | Viewed by 7802

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jose M. Cruz

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Operations and Information Management, School of Business, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT 06269-2041, USA
Interests: network economics; sustainability; corporate social responsibility; supply chain management; risk management
Dr. Dong Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Mathematics, Analytics, Science, and Technology, Babson College, 231 Forest St, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA
Interests: network optimization; sustainable systems; closed-loop supply chains; outsourcing; corporate social responsibilities; humanitarian supply chains

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Operations management is critical for balancing efficiency, sustainability, and economic development in the rapidly evolving global business landscape. This Special Issue, titled "Balancing Efficiency, Sustainability and Economic Development in Operations Management", explores organizations' multifaceted challenges and opportunities in achieving this balance. Efficiency has traditionally focused on cost reduction and productivity, but modern business requires the integration of sustainable practices that minimize environmental impact and support long-term viability (Sarkis & Zhu, 2018). Sustainability has shifted from a secondary concern to a primary driver of strategic planning in operations management. Today, companies increasingly recognize the importance of sustainable practices for regulatory compliance, corporate social responsibility, and their potential to drive innovation, reduce waste, and create new market opportunities (Kleindorfer, Singhal, & Van Wassenhove, 2005). Economic development remains a cornerstone of operations management, requiring the strategic alignment of resources and capabilities. However, growth must be balanced with sustainability and efficiency to avoid environmental degradation and social inequality (Seuring & Müller, 2008). We hope that these contributions inspire researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to foster a more balanced, sustainable, and economically robust future. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Strategies for integrating sustainability into supply chain operations;
  • Life cycle analysis and its role in sustainable operations;
  • Role of digital transformation (IoT, AI, blockchain) in enhancing sustainability;
  • Economic modeling of sustainable operations;
  • Policy frameworks supporting sustainable economic development;
  • Ethical implications of sustainability in operations management;
  • Benchmarking sustainable practices across industries;
  • Innovations in sustainable product development;
  • Role of organizational culture in promoting sustainable practices;
  • Challenges and opportunities in emerging markets;
  • Global supply chain sustainability and international collaboration.

References

Sarkis, J., & Zhu, Q. (2018). Environmental sustainability and production: taking the road less traveled. International Journal of Production Research, 56(1-2), 743-759.

Kleindorfer, P. R., Singhal, K., & Van Wassenhove, L. N. (2005). Sustainable operations management. Production and Operations Management, 14(4), 482-492.

Seuring, S., & Müller, M. (2008). From a literature review to a conceptual framework for sustainable supply chain management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16(15), 1699-1710.

Dr. Jose M. Cruz
Dr. Dong Li
Guest Editors

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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
  • digital transformation
  • life cycle analysis
  • ethical operations
  • policy framework
  • sustainable innovation
  • operations efficiency
  • market competitiveness
  • sustainable product development

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 851 KB  
Article
Exploring the Path of Industrial Transformation for Resource-Based Regions in China: A Three-Dimensional Analytical Framework from Cross-Regional Perspectives
by Donghui Li, Luyin Qiao and Zhenfang Zhang
Sustainability 2026, 18(11), 5232; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18115232 - 22 May 2026
Viewed by 72
Abstract
Industrial transformation in resource-based regions (RBRs) is a global challenge. Shanxi is a typical resource-based province in China. The long-term exploitation of coal resources has posed huge challenges to its ecological protection and high-quality development. Breaking away from the single-city perspective, this study [...] Read more.
Industrial transformation in resource-based regions (RBRs) is a global challenge. Shanxi is a typical resource-based province in China. The long-term exploitation of coal resources has posed huge challenges to its ecological protection and high-quality development. Breaking away from the single-city perspective, this study focuses on the regional scale and comparative analysis and attempts to construct a novel three-dimensional analytical framework, namely, “industrial characteristics, industrial layout, and industrial policies”, to explore the industrial transformation path of typical RBRs. The results indicate the following: (1) Shanxi does not have obvious advantages in terms of resource endowment, with a severely heavy industrial structure and strategic emerging industries still in the initial stage of development. At the national strategic level, it is still necessary to strengthen the application of the “pioneer and pilot” policies and mechanisms for innovation. (2) In the context of high-quality development, Shanxi needs to clarify the industrial transformation orientation. For agriculture, the focus should be placed on characteristic and efficient development. For industrial development, priority should be given to upgrading advantageous industries and cultivating emerging industries. For the tertiary industry, it is necessary to form a development pattern of “new producer services + characteristic tourism”. In terms of regional development layout, Shanxi should establish a macro-pattern to promote inter-regional coordinated development. (3) In the new period, Shanxi should accelerate the construction of transportation systems to improve the convenience of inter-regional cooperation. It is essential to increase investment in education and scientific research so as to enhance the overall social innovation capacity. Meanwhile, differentiated regional development policies should be adequately supplied to drive the high-quality evolution of local industries. Focusing on the regional scale, the new logical analysis paradigm can provide theoretical references for RBRs to clarify the direction of industrial transformation and formulate transformation policies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Balancing Efficiency, Sustainability, and Economic Development in Operations Management)
22 pages, 1737 KB  
Article
Data-Driven Simulation–Optimization for Sustainable (s, S) Inventory Policy Design Under Demand and Lead-Time Uncertainty
by Deng-Guei You, Chun-Ho Wang and Yen-Te Li
Sustainability 2026, 18(9), 4305; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18094305 - 27 Apr 2026
Viewed by 455
Abstract
Inventory policy design in modern supply chains must balance cost efficiency, service reliability, and responsible resource utilization under significant demand and supply uncertainty. In many real-world supply chains, both customer demand and replenishment lead time exhibit substantial variability, making the design of continuous-review [...] Read more.
Inventory policy design in modern supply chains must balance cost efficiency, service reliability, and responsible resource utilization under significant demand and supply uncertainty. In many real-world supply chains, both customer demand and replenishment lead time exhibit substantial variability, making the design of continuous-review (s, S) inventory policies challenging. Although stochastic inventory models have been widely studied, many existing approaches rely on simplified assumptions or single-objective formulations, which may limit their applicability under simultaneous demand and lead-time uncertainty. This study proposes a data-driven multi-objective simulation–optimization framework for designing sustainable (s, S) inventory policies under dual uncertainty. The framework integrates empirical stochastic modeling, Monte Carlo simulation, and evolutionary multi-objective optimization to evaluate trade-offs between expected inventory cost and service performance. To enhance methodological rigor, statistical reliability control is incorporated into the simulation-based evaluation process to ensure that Pareto dominance relationships are not distorted by simulation noise. Historical operational data are used to estimate probability distributions for demand and lead time, which are incorporated into a stochastic simulation model representing inventory system dynamics. A multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (NSGA-II) is employed to identify Pareto-efficient policy parameters. An empirical case study from a health supplement supply chain demonstrates how the framework identifies efficient replenishment policies under realistic uncertainty conditions. The results reveal structural trade-offs between inventory cost and service level and show that data-driven policy design can improve decision transparency compared with heuristic replenishment rules. The proposed approach provides a structured decision-support tool for selecting replenishment policies that balance service continuity and inventory sustainability in shelf-life-constrained supply chains. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Balancing Efficiency, Sustainability, and Economic Development in Operations Management)
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23 pages, 1076 KB  
Article
Strategic Product Line Design for Manufacturers in Competitive Sharing Markets
by Yu Zhang, Jing Li and Siyu Liu
Sustainability 2025, 17(24), 11143; https://doi.org/10.3390/su172411143 - 12 Dec 2025
Viewed by 730
Abstract
In the fiercely competitive sharing market, manufacturers have launched product sharing/leasing services through business-to-customer (B2C) and peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms. To reduce the channel conflicts caused by product sharing, manufacturers expand product lines by renting products of different quality on their B2C platform. In [...] Read more.
In the fiercely competitive sharing market, manufacturers have launched product sharing/leasing services through business-to-customer (B2C) and peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms. To reduce the channel conflicts caused by product sharing, manufacturers expand product lines by renting products of different quality on their B2C platform. In this paper, we investigate the product lines in a vertically differentiated duopoly. We examine competing manufacturers’ three product line strategies: the no-product line strategy, the high-end product line strategy, and the low-end product line strategy. We characterize the equilibrium outcomes under these strategies and investigate the manufacturers’ preferences regarding these strategies. Our findings reveal a unique equilibrium: the high-quality manufacturer prefers offering a high-end product line, while the low-quality manufacturer opts for a low-end product line. This configuration leverages each firm’s comparative advantage, mitigates channel conflict, reduces cannibalization, and supports effective market segmentation. The equilibrium leads to a Pareto improvement and enhances operational efficiency for both firms. These results suggest that aligning product line design with intrinsic product quality can balance profitability and market efficiency in shared markets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Balancing Efficiency, Sustainability, and Economic Development in Operations Management)
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20 pages, 325 KB  
Article
Did ESG Affect the Financial Performance of North American Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Firms in the Second Period of the Kyoto Protocol?
by Asiyenur Helhel, Eray Akgun and Yesim Helhel
Sustainability 2024, 16(22), 10009; https://doi.org/10.3390/su162210009 - 16 Nov 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5589
Abstract
Many agreements and protocols in the global framework call on industries and businesses to respond to threats related to climate change. New terminologies such as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores address this issue and responsibility. This study investigates the impact of sustainability [...] Read more.
Many agreements and protocols in the global framework call on industries and businesses to respond to threats related to climate change. New terminologies such as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores address this issue and responsibility. This study investigates the impact of sustainability (environment (ENV), social (SOC), governance (GOV), and ESG) on the financial performance of firms in the fast-moving consumer goods industry from 2013 to 2020, the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (SCKP). The study sample covers 113 firms in the North American region (the USA and Canada did not participate in SCKP). The results showed that ESG is not an influencer of financial performance, while ENV and SOC components negatively affect financial performance. On the other hand, GOV is the most significant influencer that positively impacts financial performance. Based on these findings, ESG and its components are not conducive to promoting financial performance during the SCKP period. However, fast-moving consumer goods are ahead of other sectors in terms of sustainability disclosure. Moreover, the highest positive impact of GOV is attributed to the advanced system with rules, standards, and regulations that foster the better and more efficient governance of firms from developed countries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Balancing Efficiency, Sustainability, and Economic Development in Operations Management)
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