• Energy Research
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Abstract This study aims to analyze the innovation strategies for the green supply chain management with QFD (quality function deployment) multidimensionally. The novelty of the study is to define the criteria of green supply chain for each stage of QFD and propose a hybrid model by IVIF (interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy) DEMATEL (decision making trial and evaluation laboratory) and IVIF MOORA (Multi-Objective Optimization by Ratio Analysis) respectively. The results demonstrate that understanding the customer expectations with customer relation management is the most important innovation strategy for the green supply chain management in energy industry with the consecutive stages of QFD whereas benchmarking the competitive market environment has relatively the last seat in the ranking. Hence, it is recommended that energy companies should have an effective customer relationship management. In this context, these companies should make a detailed analysis to learn what their customers directly expect from them. With the help of this issue, these companies should generate their product and services based on these expectations. Additionally, it is also stated that new service and product development is also essential for energy companies to improve their innovativeness. For this purpose, a research and development department should be created, and the qualified people should be employed. Additionally, different opinions should be collected from various parties, such as customers, employees, and suppliers. Since customers who are satisfied will prefer these companies, the energy companies can catch the opportunity to increase their market share.

Abstract Urban transformation is vital to global sustainable development as humans increasingly come to dwell in cities. Within cities, the mobility sector promises the highest potential of carbon emission reduction. The disruptive business innovation brought about by the advent of app-based smart-sharing systems is emancipating collaborative consumption of mobility at larger and deeper scales, ranging from car-pooling, expanded electric vehicle (EV) use to bike-sharing. Synchronizing the existing yet under-realized low-carbon transport modes in cities, such as public transport, with emerging and diversifying app-based sharing mobility business models, offers huge potential to transform urban mobility toward sustainability. Yet, the rapid business expansion and innovation of the sharing mobility companies have profoundly challenged existing socio-economic relationships, knowledge systems and physical infrastructures in cities. This study explores the synergy between the social-ecological innovation in the sharing economy and the sustainable development of urban systems, using empirical data from three business cases in the emerging sharing mobility sector – in modes of ride-sharing, EV-sharing and bike-sharing - of Shanghai, China. It indicates that there is a strong co-evolution mechanism between the transformation towards more sustainable city at the macro-level and the business ecosystem innovation towards greener and smarter transport at the meso-level. We argue that the two level transformations, triggered by the disruptive innovation of the sharing economy and led by urban transformation towards sustainability, mutually influence each other and re-enforce sustainable values and practices in the fast changing urban context and business innovations in Shanghai.

To ensure business continuity in the post-COVID-19 era, decision-makers should reconfigure their traditional supply chain (SC) networks, assisted by the development and implementation of cutting-edge technologies. Recently, Industry 5.0 (I5.0) has gained increasing attention as a paradigm offering salient features for the creation of resilient and inclusive operations by ensuring long-standing SC sustainability. However, there has been insufficient analysis of the challenges of implementing I5.0 in SCs. Therefore, this study aims to understand the challenges of implementing I5.0 when managing the impact of SC disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in an emerging economy. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used for this research. First, the challenges to I5.0 implementation were identified through a literature review and experts’ feedback. Those challenges were examined and prioritised using the Best-Worst Method (BWM). Second, the contextual relationships amongst these challenges were analysed using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) with cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis. Findings showed that to adopt I5.0 initiatives successfully in order to manage the post-COVID-19 impact on SC sustainability, the active involvement of senior managers is required in the execution process. Findings also showed that financial support and funding (e.g., tax reduction, short loans, etc.) from investors and the government play a pivotal role in enabling sustainability in SCs. Finally, the challenges were classified using MICMAC analysis to provide valuable insights for managing future disruptions. This study is expected to help managers and decision-makers successfully overcome the challenges of implementing I5.0 in SCs and thus improve SC sustainability.

Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) are challenging the traditional food system by leveraging concepts such as self-organisation and self-management aiming to shorten the food supply chain and give cu...