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Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Optimization Volume II

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 December 2023) | Viewed by 8408

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Shaojian Qu

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School Management Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Interests: supply chain management; group decision-making; portfolio management; robust optimization; game theory and decision theory; methods
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Prof. Dr. Qingguo Bai

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School of Management, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao 276826, China
Interests: sustainable supply chain operations management; operational research theory and application
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Prof. Dr. Ying Ji

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School of Management, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
Interests: data analysis and data mining, big data technology and application, supply chain management, robust optimization, decision and game
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Prof. Dr. Congjun Rao

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Guest Editor

School of Science, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Interests: group decision-making; decision and game; big data technology and application; supply chain management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, with the awareness of environmental protection gradually taking root, the WCED put forward the concept of sustainable development in 1987. Its main idea is development; starting with protecting the environment and ensuring the sustainability of resources, and then carrying out economic and social development. Since this concept was introduced, sustainable development has spread in many industries. In the 1990s, scholars began to study sustainable supply chain management in order to pay attention to environmental protection and contribute to social development in the process of supply chain management.

Due to the complex and changing global trade environment and the intensification of economic and trade conflicts, enterprises have become more cautious about economic development. Therefore, more and more enterprises are paying increasing attention to the construction and investment of the supply chain for sustainable development and obtaining important benefits to ensure supply, reduce costs, improve efficiency, and control risks by improving the competitiveness of the supply chain. Enterprises are also integrating sustainability into enterprise strategy and operation management; combining it with ensuring safety, quality, and internal control; exploring the innovation and reform of enterprise operation and management and the reform of industry development with supply chain innovation and reform; and building an ecosystem composed of customers, enterprises, and suppliers. At present, a safe, stable, and sustainable supply chain not only has become positioned as the core competitiveness of enterprise development but has also gradually evolved into the key to the sustainable development of the industrial chain.

The topics to be discussed will include identifying management factors for sustainable supply chain development in order to promote innovative development of sustainable supply chain systems, such as carbon footprint and emissions, waste, air pollution, big data, cost management, agricultural supply chain, and supply-chain finance.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

Supply chain management based on big data;
Research on supply chain decisions under disturbance;
Research on the supply chain from the perspective of game theory;
Supply chain management in uncertain environments;
Research on supply chain development under the influence of policy;
Research on green supply chain under low carbon economy;
Logistics and environmental protection in the supply chain.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

References:

World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), (1987). Our Common Future, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dhahri, S.,& Omri, A. (2018). Entrepreneurship contribution to the three pillars of sustainable development: What does the evidence really say?, World Development, 106, 64-77.
Soundararajan, V., & Brown, J. A. (2016). Voluntary governance mechanisms in global supply chains: Beyond CSR to a stakeholder utility perspective, Journal of Business Ethics, 134 (1), 83-102.
Hart, S. L., & Milstein, M. B. (2003). Creating sustainable value, Academy of Management Perspectives, 17 (2), 56-67.
Yin, J., Qian, L., & Singhapakdi, A. (2018). Sharing sustainability: How values and ethics matter in consumers’ adoption of the public bicycle-sharing scheme, Journal of Business Ethics, 149 (2), 313-32.

Prof. Dr. Shaojian Qu
Prof. Dr. Qingguo Bai
Prof. Dr. Ying Ji
Prof. Dr. Congjun Rao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

environmental protection
game
supply chain
green development
ecological compensation
uncertainty
sustainable growth

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 4677 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Distributionally Robust Programming of Berth-Allocation-with-Crane-Allocation Problem with Uncertain Quay-Crane-Handling Efficiency

by Xufeng Tang, Chang Liu, Xinqi Li and Ying Ji

Sustainability 2023, 15(18), 13448; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813448 - 07 Sep 2023

Viewed by 824

Abstract

In order to promote the efficient and intelligent construction of container ports, we focus on the optimization of berth-and-quay-crane (QC) allocation in tidal terminal operations. This paper investigates the quay-crane-profile-(QC-profile)-based assignment problem, and considers the uncertainty in QC profiles regarding QC efficiency for the first time. A mixed-integer programming (MIP) model is established for a discrete berth allocation with a crane-assignment problem (BACAP), considering the tide time window. We aim to minimize the total time loss caused by anchorage and the delay of vessels. Leveraging the theory of uncertainty optimization, the proposed deterministic model is extended into a stochastic programming (SP) model and a distributionally robust optimization (DRO) model, via the consideration of the random QC efficiency. To solve the proposed models, a column generation (CG) algorithm is employed, utilizing the mathematical method and subproblem-solving approach. The numerical experiments with different instances demonstrate that the DRO model yields a smaller variation in the objective function values, and the effectiveness of the CG method. The experimental results verify the robustness of the constructed models, and the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Optimization Volume II)

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23 pages, 1553 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Influence of Rule of Law on Government’s Sustainable Economic Management: Evidence from China

by Wensheng Xiao, Yu Tang, Bright Obuobi, Shaojian Qu, Minglan Yuan and Decai Tang

Sustainability 2023, 15(15), 11690; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511690 - 28 Jul 2023

Viewed by 933

Abstract

The Chinese government has continuously stressed the Chinese model and its characteristics for national economic governance. As a result, it is worth studying the effect of China’s rule of law on the government’s sustainable economic management, and the rule of law regarding this model can also provide a reference for governing other countries. This paper adopts the multiple linear regression analysis method using time-series data from 2007 to 2017 and from 2002 to 2019. This reflects the rule of law in the government’s sustainable economic management via the impact on government institutions, people’s courts, people’s procuratorates, and social organizations on the economy. The results show that the economic effect of the rule of law on government sustainable economic management is not significant. The rule of law in fiscal revenue and social organizations, rather than being arbitrarily dictated by powerful people, positively affects the economy. This effect was seen only in the 2002–2019 time series, but not in the 2007–2017 time series. Based on these results, it is suggested that China should strengthen the rule of law in managing its courts and procuratorates to enhance their roles in ensuring and accelerating sustainable economic development and regulating government activities. That is, the economic management effect of the public sectors, which indirectly participate in economic governance, is insufficient. This and other insightful policy recommendations are suggested to assist the government and policymakers in more effective and efficient sustainable economic management. Therefore, the system and regulations regarding their governance should not only focus on economic effects but also pay attention to the sustainable effects of economic development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Optimization Volume II)

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15 pages, 312 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Hybrid Algorithm for Vehicle Routing Optimization

by Zhiqiang Liu, Weidong Wang, Junyi He, Jianjun Zhang, Jing Wang, Shasha Li, Yining Sun and Xianyang Ren

Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 10982; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151410982 - 13 Jul 2023

Viewed by 943

Abstract

To solve the vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickup–delivery and time windows (VRPSDPTW), a sine cosine and firefly perturbed sparrow search algorithm (SFSSA) is presented. Based on the standard sparrow search algorithm, the initial population uses tent chaotic mapping to change the population diversity; then, the discoverer location is updated using the sine cosine fluctuation range of the random weight factor, and finally the global population location is updated using the firefly perturbation strategy. In this study, SFSSA was compared with a genetic algorithm (GA), parallel simulated annealing algorithm (p-SA), discrete cuckoo search algorithm (DCS), and novel mimetic algorithm with efficient local search and extended neighborhood (MATE) adopting improved Solomon’s benchmark test cases. The computational results showed that the proposed SFSSA was able to achieve the current optimal solutions for 100% of the nine small-to-medium instances. For large-scale instances, SFSSA obtained the current optimal solutions for 25 out of 56 instances. The experimental findings demonstrated that SFSSA was an effective method for solving the VRPSPDTW problem. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Optimization Volume II)

30 pages, 2699 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Two-Stage Robust Programming Modeling for Continuous Berth Allocation with Uncertain Vessel Arrival Time

by Shaojian Qu, Xinqi Li, Chang Liu, Xufeng Tang, Zhisheng Peng and Ying Ji

Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 10560; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310560 - 04 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1079

Abstract

In order to mitigate the environmental pollution caused by sea freight, we focused on optimizing carbon emissions in container terminal operations. This paper establishes a mixed integer programming (MIP) model for a continuous berth allocation problem (CBAP) considering the tide time window. We aimed to minimize the total carbon emissions caused by the waiting time, consumption time and deviation to berth preference. In order to overcome the influence of an uncertain arrival time, the proposed MIP model was extended to mixed integer robust programming (MIRP) models, which applied a two-stage robust optimization (TSRO) approach to the optimal solution. We introduced an uncertainty set and scenarios to describe the uncertain arrival time. Due to the complexity of the resulting models, we proposed three particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms and made two novelties. The numerical experiment revealed that the robust models yielded a smaller variation in the objective function values, and the improved algorithms demonstrated a shorter solution time in solving the optimization problem. The results show the robustness of the constructed models and the efficiency of the proposed algorithms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Optimization Volume II)

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20 pages, 1669 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Tripartite Collaboration among Government, Digital Technology Platform, and Manufacturing Enterprises: Evolutionary Game Model

by Decai Tang, Jiannan Li, Shaojian Qu and Valentina Boamah

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 7946; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107946 - 12 May 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1403

Abstract

To solve the problems of economic growth and environmental pollution in China, it is crucial for local governments, as the responsible body for environmental protection, to rely on digital technology platforms to promote the green transformation of manufacturing industries, which is conducive to achieving sustainable social development. This study constructs a tripartite evolutionary game model and simulates and analyzes the influencing factors of manufacturing enterprises, the government and digital technology platforms. The study found that the critical value of the government subsidies for manufacturing enterprises using digital technology platforms is between 0.2 and 0.5. Manufacturing enterprises as “economic agents” should ensure their own profits and the good operation of their business when using digital technology platforms for green upgrading. The government penalties can improve enterprises’ green productivity as tested. This study enriches the research in the field of combining game theory and digital economy. It provides a theoretical reference for behavioral decisions of manufacturing enterprises, the government and digital technology platforms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Optimization Volume II)

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28 pages, 5226 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Three-Level Supply Chain Finance Collaboration under Blockchain: Income Sharing with Shapley Value Cooperative Game

by Shuai Li and Shaojian Qu

Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 5367; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065367 - 17 Mar 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2525

Abstract

With the gradual and widespread application of blockchain technology in the supply chain, its characteristics can help solve the financing problem of MSMEs. To this end, this paper constructs a cooperative game model for suppliers, manufacturers and retailers in the case of a cross-level guarantee of order-to-factoring, studies the pricing strategy of supply chain finance members based on blockchain technology by adopting the Stackelberg primary-secondary game method, and makes a reasonable allocation of total supply chain revenue with the help of the Shapley value of the cooperative game. The study found that the adoption of blockchain can be effective in increasing the benefits to supply chain members and systems. The adoption of blockchain increases the blockchain costs but decreases the financing costs for the supplier. The Shapley value of the cooperative game is used to distribute the benefits, allowing for Pareto improvements in the benefits to supply chain members. In the next step, we will focus on examining the impact of risk assessment and the degree of information disclosure on supply chain finance with blockchain technology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Optimization Volume II)

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