Supply chain sustainability: towards a maturity model

Sustainability has become a very relevant issue due to several factors such as increased pollution, climate change, scarcity of resources, high waste, social problems related to human rights such as exploitation of child labour, lack of acceptance of diversity in the workplace and wage inequalities, workers' health and safety problems, among others. In this context, pressures also increase from different stakeholders, external and internal, for organizations to change their behaviour concerning sustainability. Given its role in production and consumption systems, it is considered that organizations can proactively contribute to sustainability. The integration of sustainability objectives /principles in all aspects of the organization, in different activities and functional areas, including those involving its supply chain partners and other stakeholders such as non-governmental organizations, are critical factors for improving sustainability. Sustainability requires thinking beyond the boundaries of an entity or organization. To manage and improve sustainability in supply chains is essential to consider several aspects such as: taking into account a Triple Bottom Line perspective, where the different dimensions of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) are considered; have a short-term and long-term perspective; consider the expectations and needs of supply chain organizations and their stakeholders; and, integrate sustainability objectives at intra and inter-organizational levels in the management of the different processes or flows of materials, information, and capital between companies along the supply chain. However, embedding sustainability in organizations and supply chain requires developing efforts and the implementation of sustainability practices and creates some challenges for organizations. The main objective of this thesis is to propose a Supply Chain Sustainability Maturity Model that can be used as: i) a self-assessment tool to provide a diagnosis and broader understanding of how and which organizational sustainability practices are implemented in individual organizations and their supply chain; ii) an instrument to help develop a roadmap for sustainability behaviour improvement, and iii) a benchmarking tool to evaluate and compare standards and best practices among organizations and supply chains. A methodology based on six steps, suggested in the literature on the development of maturity models, was used to develop the model. The construction of the maturity model was based on a literature review and had the participation of five Portuguese companies in the mould sector for its improvement, application and validation. The model aims to mitigate the shortcomings of previous models and offer a holistic perspective aligned with the supply chain sustainability components. Thus, the model presents a differentiating character when considering three integrative perspectives: Intra and inter-organizational sustainability practices involving different partners in the supply chain; the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability; and other critical areas for sustainability: sustainability governance, product and process level, customer and supplier management, and focus on stakeholders. The model considers five maturity levels, making it possible to determine the maturity level for each critical area globally considering the company and its supply chain. As it makes it possible to monitor the progress of efforts towards sustainability, the model includes also a temporal dimension inherent to the concept of sustainability. Future research may help consolidate the model.A sustentabilidade tornou-se numa questão muito relevante devido a vários fatores como aumento da poluição, alterações climáticas, escassez de recursos, elevados desperdícios, problemas sociais, falta de respeito pelos direitos humanos, exploração do trabalho infantil, falta de aceitação da diversidade no local de trabalho, desigualdades salariais, problemas de segurança e saúde dos trabalhadores, entre outros. Neste contexto, aumentam também as pressões dos diferentes stakeholders, externos e internos, para as organizações alterarem o seu comportamento em relação à sustentabilidade. Tendo em atenção o seu papel nos sistemas de produção e consumo, considera-se que as organizações podem contribuir proactivamente para a sustentabilidade. A integração dos objetivos/princípios da sustentabilidade em todos os aspetos da organização, nas diferentes atividades e áreas funcionais, incluindo as que envolvem os seus parceiros da cadeia de abastecimento, e outros stakeholders como as organizações não governamentais são fatores críticos para melhorar a sustentabilidade. A sustentabilidade requer pensar para além das fronteiras de uma entidade ou organização. Para gerir e melhorar a sustentabilidade nas cadeias de abastecimento é essencial considerar vários aspetos como: ter em conta uma perspetiva Triple Bottom Line, onde sejam contempladas as diversas dimensões da sustentabilidade (económica, ambiental e social); ter uma perspetiva de curto e longo prazo; considerar as expectativas e necessidades das organizações da cadeia de abastecimento e dos seus stakeholders; e, integrar os objetivos de sustentabilidade aos níveis intra e inter-organizacional na gestão dos diversos processos ou fluxos de materiais, de informação, e de capital entre as empresas ao longo da cadeia de abastecimento. Contudo, incorporar a sustentabilidade nas organizações e na cadeia de abastecimento exige o desenvolvimento de esforços e a implementação de práticas de sustentabilidade, e cria alguns desafios para as organizações. O principal objetivo desta tese é propor um Modelo de Maturidade para a Sustentabilidade da Cadeia de Abastecimento que possa ser usado como: i) uma ferramenta de autoavaliação para fornecer um diagnóstico e ter uma compreensão mais ampla de como e quais práticas de sustentabilidade são implementadas nas organizações em termos individuais e na sua cadeia de abastecimento; ii) um instrumento para ajudar a desenvolver um roadmap para a melhoria do comportamento de sustentabilidade; e, iii) uma ferramenta de benchmarking para avaliar e comparar standards e melhores práticas entre organizações e cadeias de abastecimento. Para o desenvolvimento do modelo foi usada uma metodologia assente em seis passos, sugerida na literatura sobre desenvolvimento de modelos de maturidade. A construção do modelo de maturidade baseou-se numa revisão da literatura e contou com a participação de cinco empresas portuguesas do setor dos moldes para o seu aperfeiçoamento, aplicação e validação. O modelo procura mitigar as insuficiências de modelos anteriores e oferecer uma perspetiva holística e alinhada com as componentes da sustentabilidade da cadeia de abastecimento. Assim, o modelo apresenta um carácter diferenciador ao considerar três perspetivas integradoras: Práticas de sustentabilidade intra e inter-organizacionais envolvendo diversos parceiros da cadeia de abastecimento; as dimensões económica, social e ambiental da sustentabilidade; e, diferentes áreas críticas para a sustentabilidade: governança da sustentabilidade, nível de produto e processo, gestão de clientes e fornecedores, e foco nos stakeholders. O modelo considera cinco níveis de maturidade, permitindo determinar o nível de maturidade para cada uma das áreas críticas, e considerando globalmente a empresa e a sua cadeia de abastecimento. Para acompanhar o progresso dos esforços em direção à sustentabilidade, o modelo inclui também uma dimensão temporal inerente ao conceito de sustentabilidade. Investigação futura pode ajudar a consolidar o modelo

COVID-19 Outbreak and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed our lifestyle when, on 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. Since then, many governments have introduced unprecedented containment measures, hoping to slow the spread of the virus. International research suggests that both the pandemic and the related protective measures, such as lockdown, curfews, and social distancing, are having a profound impact on the mental health of the population. Among the most commonly observed psychological effects, there are high levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic symptoms, along with boredom and frustration. At the same time, the behavioral response of the population is of paramount importance to successfully contain the outbreak, creating a vicious circle in which the psychological distress impacts the willingness to comply with the protective measures, which, in turn, if prolonged, could exacerbate the population’s distress. This book includes: i) original studies on the worldwide psychological and behavioral impact of COVID-19 on targeted individuals (e.g., parents, social workers, patients affected by physical and mental disorders); ii) studies exploring the effect of COVID-19 using advanced statistical and methodological techniques (e.g., machine learning technologies); iii) research on practical applications that could help identify persons at risk, mitigate the negative effects of this situation, and offer insights to policymakers to manage the pandemic are also highly welcomed

Energy: A continuing bibliography with indexes, issue 20

A bibliography is presented which lists 1250 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System from October 1, 1978 through December 31, 1978

Management, Technology and Learning for Individuals, Organisations and Society in Turbulent Environments

This book presents the collection of fifty papers which were presented in the Second International Conference on BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY 2011 - Management, Technology and Learning for Individuals, Organisations and Society in Turbulent Environments , held in Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal, from 22ndto 24thof June, 2011.The main motive of the meeting was growing awareness of the importance of the sustainability issue. This importance had emerged from the growing uncertainty of the market behaviour that leads to the characterization of the market, i.e. environment, as turbulent. Actually, the characterization of the environment as uncertain and turbulent reflects the fact that the traditional technocratic and/or socio-technical approaches cannot effectively and efficiently lead with the present situation. In other words, the rise of the sustainability issue means the quest for new instruments to deal with uncertainty and/or turbulence. The sustainability issue has a complex nature and solutions are sought in a wide range of domains and instruments to achieve and manage it. The domains range from environmental sustainability (referring to natural environment) through organisational and business sustainability towards social sustainability. Concerning the instruments for sustainability, they range from traditional engineering and management methodologies towards “soft” instruments such as knowledge, learning, and creativity. The papers in this book address virtually whole sustainability problems space in a greater or lesser extent. However, although the uncertainty and/or turbulence, or in other words the dynamic properties, come from coupling of management, technology, learning, individuals, organisations and society, meaning that everything is at the same time effect and cause, we wanted to put the emphasis on business with the intention to address primarily companies and their businesses. Due to this reason, the main title of the book is “Business Sustainability 2.0” but with the approach of coupling Management, Technology and Learning for individuals, organisations and society in Turbulent Environments. Also, the notation“2.0” is to promote the publication as a step further from our previous publication – “Business Sustainability I” – as would be for a new version of software. Concerning the Second International Conference on BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY, its particularity was that it had served primarily as a learning environment in which the papers published in this book were the ground for further individual and collective growth in understanding and perception of sustainability and capacity for building new instruments for business sustainability. In that respect, the methodology of the conference work was basically dialogical, meaning promoting dialog on the papers, but also including formal paper presentations. In this way, the conference presented a rich space for satisfying different authors’ and participants’ needs. Additionally, promoting the widest and global learning environment and participation, in accordance with the Conference's assumed mission to promote Proactive Generative Collaborative Learning, the Conference Organisation shares/puts open to the community the papers presented in this book, as well as the papers presented on the previous Conference(s). These papers can be accessed from the conference webpage (http://labve.dps.uminho.pt/bs11). In these terms, this book could also be understood as a complementary instrument to the Conference authors’ and participants’, but also to the wider readerships’ interested in the sustainability issues. The book brought together 107 authors from 11 countries, namely from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Serbia, Switzerland, and United States of America. The authors “ranged” from senior and renowned scientists to young researchers providing a rich and learning environment. At the end, the editors hope, and would like, that this book to be useful, meeting the expectation of the authors and wider readership and serving for enhancing the individual and collective learning, and to incentive further scientific development and creation of new papers. Also, the editors would use this opportunity to announce the intention to continue with new editions of the conference and subsequent editions of accompanying books on the subject of BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY, the third of which is planned for year 2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Review of Particle Physics

The Review summarizes much of particle physics and cosmology. Using data from previous editions, plus 2,143 new measurements from 709 papers, we list, evaluate, and average measured properties of gauge bosons and the recently discovered Higgs boson, leptons, quarks, mesons, and baryons. We summarize searches for hypothetical particles such as supersymmetric particles, heavy bosons, axions, dark photons, etc. Particle properties and search limits are listed in Summary Tables. We give numerous tables, figures, formulae, and reviews of topics such as Higgs Boson Physics, Supersymmetry, Grand Unified Theories, Neutrino Mixing, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Cosmology, Particle Detectors, Colliders, Probability and Statistics. Among the 120 reviews are many that are new or heavily revised, including a new review on Machine Learning, and one on Spectroscopy of Light Meson Resonances. The Review is divided into two volumes. Volume 1 includes the Summary Tables and 97 review articles. Volume 2 consists of the Particle Listings and contains also 23 reviews that address specific aspects of the data presented in the Listings. The complete Review (both volumes) is published online on the website of the Particle Data Group (pdg.lbl.gov) and in a journal. Volume 1 is available in print as the PDG Book. A Particle Physics Booklet with the Summary Tables and essential tables, figures, and equations from selected review articles is available in print, as a web version optimized for use on phones, and as an Android app

Review of Particle Physics

The Review summarizes much of particle physics and cosmology. Using data from previous editions, plus 2,143 new measurements from 709 papers, we list, evaluate, and average measured properties of gauge bosons and the recently discovered Higgs boson, leptons, quarks, mesons, and baryons. We summarize searches for hypothetical particles such as supersymmetric particles, heavy bosons, axions, dark photons, etc. Particle properties and search limits are listed in Summary Tables. We give numerous tables, figures, formulae, and reviews of topics such as Higgs Boson Physics, Supersymmetry, Grand Unified Theories, Neutrino Mixing, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Cosmology, Particle Detectors, Colliders, Probability and Statistics. Among the 120 reviews are many that are new or heavily revised, including a new review on Machine Learning, and one on Spectroscopy of Light Meson Resonances. The Review is divided into two volumes. Volume 1 includes the Summary Tables and 97 review articles. Volume 2 consists of the Particle Listings and contains also 23 reviews that address specific aspects of the data presented in the Listings

Review of Particle Physics

The Review summarizes much of particle physics and cosmology. Using data from previous editions, plus 2,143 new measurements from 709 papers, we list, evaluate, and average measured properties of gauge bosons and the recently discovered Higgs boson, leptons, quarks, mesons, and baryons. We summarize searches for hypothetical particles such as supersymmetric particles, heavy bosons, axions, dark photons, etc. Particle properties and search limits are listed in Summary Tables. We give numerous tables, figures, formulae, and reviews of topics such as Higgs Boson Physics, Supersymmetry, Grand Unified Theories, Neutrino Mixing, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Cosmology, Particle Detectors, Colliders, Probability and Statistics. Among the 120 reviews are many that are new or heavily revised, including a new review on Machine Learning, and one on Spectroscopy of Light Meson Resonances. The Review is divided into two volumes. Volume 1 includes the Summary Tables and 97 review articles. Volume 2 consists of the Particle Listings and contains also 23 reviews that address specific aspects of the data presented in the Listings. The complete Review (both volumes) is published online on the website of the Particle Data Group (pdg.lbl.gov) and in a journal. Volume 1 is available in print as the PDG Book. A Particle Physics Booklet with the Summary Tables and essential tables, figures, and equations from selected review articles is available in print, as a web version optimized for use on phones, and as an Android app.United States Department of Energy (DOE) DE-AC02-05CH11231government of Japan (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)Physical Society of Japan (JPS)European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN)United States Department of Energy (DOE

REVIEW OF PARTICLE PHYSICS

The Review summarizes much of particle physics and cosmology. Using data from previous editions, plus 3,324 new measurements from 878 papers, we list, evaluate, and average measured properties of gauge bosons and the recently discovered Higgs boson, leptons, quarks, mesons, and baryons. We summarize searches for hypothetical particles such as supersymmetric particles, heavy bosons, axions, dark photons, etc. Particle properties and search limits are listed in Summary Tables. We give numerous tables, figures, formulae, and reviews of topics such as Higgs Boson Physics, Supersymmetry, Grand Unified Theories, Neutrino Mixing, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Cosmology, Particle Detectors, Colliders, Probability and Statistics. Among the 120 reviews are many that are new or heavily revised, including a new review on High Energy Soft QCD and Diffraction and one on the Determination of CKM Angles from B Hadrons. The Review is divided into two volumes. Volume 1 includes the Summary Tables and 98 review articles. Volume 2 consists of the Particle Listings and contains also 22 reviews that address specific aspects of the data presented in the Listings. The complete Review (both volumes) is published online on the website of the Particle Data Group (pdg.lbl.gov) and in a journal. Volume 1 is available in print as the PDG Book. A Particle Physics Booklet with the Summary Tables and essential tables, figures, and equations from selected review articles is available in print and as a web version optimized for use on phones as well as an Android app.Peer reviewe

Review of particle physics

The Review summarizes much of particle physics and cosmology. Using data from previous editions, plus 3,324 new measurements from 878 papers, we list, evaluate, and average measured properties of gauge bosons and the recently discovered Higgs boson, leptons, quarks, mesons, and baryons. We summarize searches for hypothetical particles such as supersymmetric particles, heavy bosons, axions, dark photons, etc. Particle properties and search limits are listed in Summary Tables. We give numerous tables, figures, formulae, and reviews of topics such as Higgs Boson Physics, Supersymmetry, Grand Unified Theories, Neutrino Mixing, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Cosmology, Particle Detectors, Colliders, Probability and Statistics. Among the 120 reviews are many that are new or heavily revised, including a new review on High Energy Soft QCD and Diffraction and one on the Determination of CKM Angles from B Hadrons. The Review is divided into two volumes. Volume 1 includes the Summary Tables and 98 review articles. Volume 2 consists of the Particle Listings and contains also 22 reviews that address specific aspects of the data presented in the Listings. The complete Review (both volumes) is published online on the website of the Particle Data Group (pdg.lbl.gov) and in a journal. Volume 1 is available in print as the PDG Book. A Particle Physics Booklet with the Summary Tables and essential tables, figures, and equations from selected review articles is available in print and as a web version optimized for use on phones as well as an Android app