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Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain Management

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Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Principles and Practices for Sustainable Operations and Management

Kogan Page,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Sustainable supply chains benefit “profits, people and planet.”

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Logistics experts David B. Grant, Alexander Trautrims and Chee Yew Wong examine the sustainability of supply chains. They provide practical grounding and empirical examples of good and bad practices in supply chain management (SCM). The authors put ethics at the heart of their utilitarian case for eco-responsible SCM. They advocate a triple bottom line that respects the profit motive but prioritizes people and the planet. In this “holistic” view, firms that overcome waste discharge and transportation emission problems reap the rewards of an improved brand image and customer loyalty. Supply chain management is no longer peripheral; it is a “strategic function,” particularly in addressing environmental impact. This overview is a timely, cohesive manual on sustainable SCM, despite a regrettable reliance on acronyms. getAbstract recommends this comprehensive, practical guidebook to CEOs, investors, supply chain managers, logistics managers and business leaders seeking profitable lessons in sustainability strategy.

Summary

“Holistic” Supply Chains

Product supply chains significantly affect the natural environment. Corporations’ supply chain management (SCM) systems – and the logistics they control – now operate globally. But many of the gains in efficiently outsourcing production and fulfillment come at an ecological price. Many firms delegate their logistics to third parties, making supply chains less transparent. When firms fail to keep track of supply chain strategies and ethics, workers feel the effects, and damage to the planet accumulates.

Corporations with a holistic view of supply chains try to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, ensure good labor conditions and protect related ecosystems – while still turning profits. These firms streamline their supply chains to be “lean and agile.” Most corporate leaders see taking full stewardship of their products as a 21st-century responsibility. As consumers become more aware, firms that resist regulation will see the benefits of “greening” their logistics. But companies must manage their globalized “Go” (transport) and “Stop” (storage, warehousing, processing) shipping operations efficiently. They must implement “reverse logistics.” Instead...

About the Authors

David B. Grant, of Hull University, writes widely on logistics and transport. Like Alexander Trautrims, of Nottingham University, and Chee Yew Wong, of Leeds University, he teaches logistics or supply chain management at his university’s business school.

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