Contingency theory, climate change, and low-carbon operations management

Purpose: Drawing on the theory of contingency, the aim of this work is to understand how supply chain-related contingencies, arising from climate change, are related to changes in the organisational structure of firms. Further, the authors explore how this relationship influences the perception of sustainability managers on the adoption of low-carbon operations management practices and their related benefits. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve this goal, this research uses NVivo software to gather evidence from interviews conducted with ten high-level managers in sustainability and related areas from seven leading companies located in Brazil. Findings: The authors present four primary results: a proposal of an original framework to understand the relationship between contingency theory, changes in organisational structure to embrace low-carbon management, adoption of low-carbon operations practices and benefits from this process; the discovery that an adequate low-carbon management structure is vital to improve the organisations’ perceptions of potential benefits from a low-carbon strategy; low-carbon management initiatives tend to emerge from an organisation’s existing environmental management systems; and controlling and monitoring climate contingencies at the supply chain level should be permanent and systematic. Originality/value: Based on the knowledge of the authors, to date, this work is the first piece of research that deals with the complexity of putting together contingency theory, climate-change contingencies at the supply chain level, organisational structure for low-carbon management and low-carbon operations management practices and benefits. This research also highlights evidence from an emerging economy and registers future research propositions. © 2017, © Marcelo Wilson Furlan Matos Alves, Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, Devika Kannan and Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour

Decarbonisation of operations management–looking back, moving forward: a review and implications for the production research community

This paper systematically analyses the vital motivations, drivers and barriers to the adoption of low-carbon operations management practices in response to climate change, highlighting the implications for the International Journal of Production Research (IJPR)’s community, which has contributed significantly to discussion of and research into sustainable production. Based on a thorough review of key articles on low-carbon operations management published in a number of prestigious journals, seven propositions for future research are suggested. Additionally, a unique classification of the barriers to and motivations for low-carbon production is put forward. These areas, which deserve further investigation, are (a) economic issues, (b) policy, (c) technology, (d) governance and (e) the market. The research agenda proposed for low-carbon production and operations may prove useful to the production research community in planning future developments and research projects, increasing knowledge and designing teaching modules on the topic. The study concludes by shedding light on the main research opportunities that IJPR’s community will encounter. © 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group