• Energy Research

Supply chain management environmental and social criteria are practical and research concerns due to regulatory, stakeholder, and economic pressures. Effective holistic sustainable supply management schemes require the evaluation and selection of suppliers. Supplier evaluation requires the balancing of multiple criteria. Multiple criteria tools, each with advantages and limitations, are necessary for the supplier evaluation and selection problem. This paper introduces a new methodological approach including complementary, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) techniques and Bayesian networks (BN). The combination of DEMATEL, AHP and Bayesian approaches, although they are supportive and complementary methods, has seen limited investigation. The Bayesian network approach can complement DEMATEL and AHP to help improve the accuracy of AHP input data. Alternatively, DEMATEL and AHP can provide expert and more objective inputs for intangible factors, used in the Bayesian network approach. The validity and efficacy of this approach is demonstrated through a real industrial case using decision-makers’ inputs and outputs. The study shows the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Finally, we present results with managerial and research implications and future research directions.

Abstract In recent years, companies have become increasingly concerned about environmental performance and the impact of their activity on the environment. Although the growing interest in sustainability, life-cycle assessment and carbon footprint analysis in literature is observed, there is still a lack of studies proposing evaluation methods to assess the performance efficiency of companies under these new constraints. Our article furthers our knowledge in the field by providing an in-depth investigation of the operational performance of wine estates in the presence of composite indicators of carbon footprint. The calculated carbon footprint is related to vineyard practices with a major focus on pesticides, fertilizers and fuel use. We suggest in this article for the first time how to track the active ingredients in fertilizers and pesticides that contribute to carbon footprint. The methodology is based on an application of a classic radial model for an input-oriented minimization problem using data envelopment analysis. The proposed approach is applied to 38 wine producing companies in the Bordeaux region of France to estimate technical efficiency in the presence of carbon footprint. Research results show the percentage of carbon footprint contribution in average terms, from pesticides, fertilizers and fuel. Our results confirm that the carbon footprint effect in vineyards caused by the use of fuel is more than double the impact of pesticides and fertilizers. This strong vulnerability on fuel could do matter to factors guiding farmers' choice of vineyard practices. Additionally, clear improvement targets for the firms, which are inefficient in terms of labor force, net-fixed assets, and carbon footprint, are provided for enhancing their performance. We discuss managerial implications to be put in practice, and outline the suggestions for future studies.

AbstractIndustry 4.0 technologies are transforming supply chain management from a linear model to what is known as supply chain 4.0, where operations are integrated, and flows stream in multiple directions. The study aims to explore the attributes of Industry 4.0 technologies and their impact to drive sustainability values. The findings were generated after a systematic literature review of 71 articles on various sustainability dimensions and multiple Industry 4.0 technologies. The study provides a review of the most studied technologies in the sustainable supply chain context and categorizes their attributes as well as their relevance to sustainability. The results show that advances in technologies such as Blockchain and Internet of Things have increased the potential for supply chains to reach sustainability values.The study expands the existing literature and encourages businesses and the scientific community to investigate the power of Industry 4.0 technologies for sustainability.It presents limitations and directions for future research.

The use of pick-up points by consumers is one of the most developed areas of research in the literature on last-mile logistics over the last decade. In this regard, several researchers have attempted to expose the factors that influence consumers’ online shopping behavior and their willingness to use pick-up points. However, no study has addressed this issue in African countries. The aim of this research is to examine the online shopping behavior of Moroccan consumers, focusing on their opinions about using pick-up points to receive/return goods purchased online. This research adopted a qualitative approach through focus group sessions with Moroccan consumers. The results indicate that temporal and spatial flexibility, competitive prices, and the quality of the retailer’s website are the main factors encouraging consumers to buy online. On the other hand, product risk, delivery risk, privacy, and security were identified as the factors that prevent consumers from buying online. In contrast, the location, density, security, and opening hours of pick-up points were considered to be the factors that influence the Moroccan consumer’s choice to use this delivery option when buying online. These findings are important both for parcel delivery companies that want to establish pick-up point networks in Casablanca and for public authorities and local communities that want to formulate policies and implement strategies leading to more sustainable urban environments.

This paper deals with the design of a sustainable supply chain in a high variety production environment. To respond to this challenge, a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming model is proposed. The economic criteria are the costs of transportation, and that of opening and operating manufacturing facilities; the environmental criterion is the level of CO2 emissions due to transportation and storage; and the social criterion is the number of created jobs and supplier assessment. A numer- ical experiment is derived from industrial data of the textile sector. The results show the existing trade-offs between sustainability goals in the supply chain design context. Moreover, the differences between network structures when the decision is guided by just one of the dimensions of sustainability are compared. Finally, future research opportunities are identified to include the dynamic evaluation in the sustainable supply chain network design context.

Zinn et al. (2018) and Esper et al. (2020) call for more research on gender diversity in Supply Chain Management, and our study responds to that call. We analyze the career path of 1081 international graduates from a higher degree program in Supply Chain Management from 2000 to 2017 to assess the impact of gender and expatriation choice on hierarchical progression. We explore two variables that may affect graduates’ career paths, namely, their gender and their expatriation choices, and compare their relative importance. Our analysis shows that there were, on average, 33.5% women recruited in the MSc and that this has not significantly changed over the years. It also shows that gender significantly influences the number of years spent at each level in the career hierarchy and the level reached. Regarding expatriation choice, this variable has some significant impacts on career progression. Finally, statistics indicate that gender has a far greater influence on career progression than expatriation choice. Overall, this study proves the difficulties for women in enjoying the same career progression as men in the field of Supply Chain Management.

Make supply chain greener and reduce their carbon emissions is a growing issue for businesses. Among the different activities of supply chains, transportation is one that emits the most greenhouse gases. Whereas transportation, and more specifically road freight, is one of the main contributors of European greenhouse gases emissions, it is one of the only sector whose emissions continue to growth. This paper proposes a study at a micro-economic scale of the estimation of the carbon footprint of a road freight company in 2009. The main objectives are twofold: identifying the main emissions sources and finding the best solutions for a greener supply chains.