دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی توسعه حصول مدیریت زنجیره تامین پایدار چند مرحله ای - زنجیره تامین مواد معدنی - الزویر 2018

Abstract

Triadic or tetradic multi-tier sustainable supply chain management (MT-SSCM) research emerged recently to reach out towards raw material suppliers and to address their often severe sustainability impacts. This is especially relevant in mineral supply chains (SCs) which consist of a commodity chain upstream and an end-product chain downstream. To comprehensively investigate the reach of MT-SSCM in mineral SCs, the extant Delphi study brought together 44 global authors on sustainability in mineral SCs. They contributed their professional knowledge in three questionnaire rounds, which systematically identify, evaluate and contrast the sustainability challenges in mineral SCs. As a result, a generic mineral SC structure is derived and 17 major sustainability issues are identified. Moreover, the findings reveal that all but two sustainability issues need to be addressed in the upstream SC. As mineral SCs might comprise up to nine tiers, the most impactful tiers lie outside the reach of current MT-SSCM concepts, which are limited to triads or tetrads by the visible horizon or lacking power of the focal firm. We thus propose a cascaded MT-SSCM approach which links the up- and downstream SC parts. Moreover, individual focal firms for each SC part are defined, which build a direct strategic link. This link enables that tailored managerial responses can be cascaded into the respective SC parts, where the individual sustainability issues can best be addressed. This cascaded design represents a novel approach in MT-SSCM which multiplies existing concepts. Moreover, the challenges and opportunities, which the cascaded approach raises for MT-SSCM research are discussed and outlined.

 Conclusion

This Delphi study sheds light on the complexity of sustainability issues in mineral SCs and how MT-SSCM can address them. By building on the expertise of 44 global authors on sustainability in mineral SCs, we suggest a generic structure to research and discuss mineral SCs. It covers all actors from mine to end-customer and reverse SC. Providing such a generalized structure opens up the path for a more comprehensive investigation and understanding of the SC, its actors and challenges (Carter et al., 2015). Moreover, the experts systematically identified, evaluated and re-evaluated a generic set of 17 issues aiming for an enhanced sustainability performance of mineral SCs. This set of issues represents a generic orientation concerning a) sustainability challenges and opportunities in mineral SCs, b) establishing the benefits of resolving the challenges for the individual segments of the SC and c) in which SC segment they need to be addressed. However, this localization revealed that the current triadic or tetradic MT-SSCM research lacks reach to comprehensively address the issues. The study’s major contribution thus is the proposition of a cascaded approach which helps to drive MT-SSCM further and enlarge its impact for practice and research. On the minerals’ side, the study helps reducing the “lack of awareness of what happens in the stages from mining to the smelters [… of] most businesses and managers” in the mineral SC (Respondent 1.12). The study results can be useful for researchers and practitioners alike as they link the relevant issues across all dimensions of sustainability to the core objectives of SSCM. This reveals the potential economic benefits of enhanced sustainability performance in the mineral SC, which is especially relevant for industrial applications. The explicit identification of leverage potentials that can only be realized by SC wide cooperation, contrasts the currently widely applied price driven commodity logic in mineral SCs and provides support for a decommoditization of resources as put forward by Pagell & Wu (2009).