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Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain Development and Management

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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 (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 26612

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mabel C. Chou

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Guest Editor

NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Interests: supply chain and logistics analysis; marketing and operations interface; sustainable operations management; operations/manufacturing flexibility design and analysis; operations research applications in healthcare; production scheduling

Dr. Shih-Che Lo

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Guest Editor

Department of Industrial Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 106335, Taiwan
Interests: supply chain management; logistics management; operation research; intelligent systems; big data predictive analytics and applications; quantum computing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Mr. Prateek Jain

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Guest Editor

Head of Nutrition (HFD) - International Markets, Unilever, Singapore
Interests: innovations; sustainability; supply chain; manufacturing; business development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Industrial growth has led to an exponential growth in energy usage and shortage in natural resources, leading to a negative impact on our environment. In recent years, higher awareness about human rights abuses in supply chain networks has also been raised. As Governments, consumers, and investors pay more attention to environmental and social issues, many companies have had to reconsider their business strategies and develop new methods to manage their logistics and supply chain activities. This makes them more sustainable both environmentally and socially and provides a triple bottom-line benefit for the organization. This not only ensures competitiveness of logistics and supply chain organizations but also addresses the concerns of green and clean product services from governments, consumers, and investors.

We welcome papers which highlight the latest developments, trends in sustainability, or innovative thoughts that will have a positive impact on how companies manage their logistics and supply chain systems. This Special Issue is thus to advance our theoretical and empirical understanding of models and methods to encourage their deployment in supply chain systems across various industries.

Dr. Mabel C. Chou
Dr. Shih-Che Lo
Mr. Prateek Jain
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 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 logistics and supply chain
climate change
carbon and water cycles
sustainable land use management
sustainable system
carbon reporting
climate finance
management control systems (target setting, incentive provision)
climate-relevant technology
innovation
big data analytics
waste management

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 4217 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Genetic Algorithm with Quantum Random Number Generator for Solving the Pollution-Routing Problem in Sustainable Logistics Management

by Shih-Che Lo and Yi-Cheng Shih

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8381; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158381 - 27 Jul 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2339

Abstract

The increase of greenhouse gases emission, global warming, and even climate change is an ongoing issue. Sustainable logistics and distribution management can help reduce greenhouse gases emission and lighten its influence against our living environment. Quantum computing has become more and more popular in recent years for advancing artificial intelligence into the next generation. Hence, we apply quantum random number generator to provide true random numbers for the genetic algorithm to solve the pollution-routing problems (PRPs) in sustainable logistics management in this paper. The objective of the PRPs is to minimize carbon dioxide emissions, following one of the seventeen sustainable development goals set by the United Nations. We developed a two-phase hybrid model combining a modified k-means algorithm as a clustering method and a genetic algorithm with quantum random number generator as an optimization engine to solve the PRPs aiming to minimize the pollution produced by trucks traveling along delivery routes. We also compared the computation performance with another hybrid model by using a different optimization engine, i.e., the tabu search algorithm. From the experimental results, we found that both hybrid models can provide good solution quality for CO₂ emission minimization for 29 PRPs out of a total of 30 instances (30 runs each for all problems). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain Development and Management)

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20 pages, 6906 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainability Orientation and Focus in Logistics and Supply Chains

by Sebastjan Lazar, Dorota Klimecka-Tatar and Matevz Obrecht

Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3280; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063280 - 16 Mar 2021

Cited by 31 | Viewed by 8872

Abstract

Sustainable development, logistics, and supply chain are being combined into three increasingly connected and topical global research areas. Therefore, this paper’s novelty identifies and defines the priorities of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and sustainable development dimensions in supply-chain- and logistics-management-related studies in the last decade. Knowing logistics and supply chain sustainability focus and orientation is valuable information for researchers and managers to adapt and mitigate their business logistics according to the forecasted trends. The paper provides a systematic and comprehensive review of the literature and is based on 116 scientific papers published between 2010 and 2020 in 73 international journals in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The study defines focus with integrating environmental, social, and economic sustainability for logistics- and supply-chain-related studies. It emphasizes primary and secondary links of investigated studies with 17 United Nations sustainable development goals. The bibliometric analysis also examined keyword relations. One of the main contributions is that economic sustainability was identified as the most represented one-dimensional sustainability focus. It was revealed that supply chain studies integrated all three sustainability dimensions more frequently (50.60%) than logistics studies, which were equally related to studying two- or three-dimensions of sustainability (39.39%). The most significant findings are also that studies were identified to be oriented primarily towards “responsible consumption and production”, “industry, innovation, and infrastructure” and “affordable and clean energy” and secondary especially on “sustainable cities and communities”. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain Development and Management)

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24 pages, 3757 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Environmental Policy Making in Supply Chains under Ambiguity and Competition: A Fuzzy Stackelberg Game Approach

by Mina Rahimi, Ashkan Hafezalkotob, Sobhan Asian and Luis Martínez

Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 2367; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042367 - 22 Feb 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2317

Abstract

Despite the substantial efforts of governments in promoting sustainable development, there exists considerable debate regarding the environmental policy making approach under information ambiguity and competition. This study investigates market competition between a green and a non-green supply chain (SC) under two government regulation policies, namely, selling price and production quantities. To tackle the policy making challenges, a fuzzy game theoretical model was employed in a centralized and decentralized SC setting. The results revealed that SCs always achieve a higher expected profit under a decentralized structure, regardless of the type of the governments intervention policy. Also, the government’s policy making success was found to be highly dependent on the channel leadership, market competition, and the SC structure. Our findings suggest that the policy makers’ objectives in reducing environmental pollution and increasing revenue are highly achievable, without risk of losing channel coordination and maximum level of efficiency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain Development and Management)

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20 pages, 9953 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimization and Decision of Supply Chain Considering Negative Spillover Effect and Service Competition

by Yucai Wu, Jiguang Wang and Lu Chen

Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 2320; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042320 - 20 Feb 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2217

Abstract

Excellent service plays a vital role in the sustainability of enterprise and supply chains development in today’s increasingly fierce market competition. However, due to the inevitable spillover effect in the competitive network, enterprises’ initiative to improve the service level is reduced. From the perspective of negative spillover effect, optimization and decision-making in the competitive network of retailer-dominated supply chain are examined in this study. Considering four competitive situations in practical operation management, the corresponding double-layer compound nested Stackelberg game models are constructed, and the optimal equilibrium solutions are derived. Employing comprehensive comparison and analysis of the results, it is found that when the negative spillover effect of service increases, the optimal profit and service level of the leading supply chain or its retailers decrease, and the optimal retail price and overall optimal profit also gradually decline. For the leading supply chain, the centralized decision-making can achieve higher profits, and also more willing to improve the level of service. However, for the following supply chain, when the negative spillover effect of service is weak, the optimal service level under decentralized decision is higher, while when the spillover effect of service is strong, the optimal service level under integrated decision is higher. In addition, the supply chain-to-chain competition can bring negative incentives to the retailer that provides services, while for the rival that does not provide services, it can generate a certain free-riding effect that benefits them, and the effect is enhanced with the increase of competition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain Development and Management)

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Other

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25 pages, 1065 KiB

Open AccessCase Report

Embedding Sustainability in the Consumer Goods Innovation Cycle and Enabling Tools to Measure Progress and Capabilities

by Prateek Jain, Mabel C. Chou, Faith Fan and Michelle Permata Santoso

Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6662; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126662 - 11 Jun 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 9564

Abstract

This paper highlights the mutual relationship and crucial need for sustainability in innovation and vice versa, with a focus on various companies that are leading in this aspect. Together with certain conditions in place, growing awareness of this need has led to these companies achieving groundbreaking progress in embedding sustainability into the new product innovation space via the development of an overarching roadmap supported by strategic partnerships and robust quantitative tools, to proactively expand the sustainability mindset and way of life into the company culture and ways of working. Case studies of these companies are examined, and based on the findings, the paper concludes with recommendations and next steps for businesses to take to succeed in sustainability-centric innovation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain Development and Management)

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