Supply chain sustainability performance measurement of small and medium sized enterprises using structural equation modeling

Sustainability of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is significant as SMEs contribute to GDP substantially in every economy. This research develops an innovative sustainable supply chain performance measurement model for SMEs. Prior researches predominantly use balanced score card (BSC) approach that presume causal relationship of criteria and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which derive efficiency of units from a few input and output criteria. While DEA is effective for policymakers, BSC is more suitable for individual SME. The proposed method that uses structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to derive the relationship of criteria and criteria weights formulates regression-type models for a specific region as well as for specific SME. The SEM-based supply chain sustainability performance measurement model is beneficial to policymakers as they can determine means for improvement at a regional level. The proposed method could also facilitate managers/owners of individual SMEs with measures for improving their supply chain sustainability performance. The method has been applied to three varied geographical locations in the UK, France and India in order to demonstrate its effectiveness

Biogas potential from municipal and agricultural residual biomass for power generation in Hazaribagh, Bangladesh – A strategy to improve the energy system

Energy is considered as one of the significant benchmarks towards sustainable growth. Due to the recent economic growth, energy demand is increasing day by day in Bangladesh. The power generation mainly relies on fossil fuels though there are plans to increase the renewable energy share by the concern stakeholders. Considering the global warming, energy generation from renewable sources is considered as a sustainable way to mitigate the anthropogenic emission. This study, therefore, addresses the potentiality of biogas production from municipal waste and agricultural residues in a city territory of Dhaka namely Hazaribagh. The potential sources include wastes from two markets, six slaughterhouses, domestic wastes, one poultry farm and three croplands. The calculations made in this study to estimate the amount of biogas and electricity from the described sources are done in a simple way, just to illustrate the potential. This study suggests that there is a good potentiality of biogas production and electricity generation from municipal wastes and agricultural residues of Hazaribagh. Moreover, this study also mentions the significant actors like government, future owners, people and so on that are needed to be incorporated to implement biogas solution in a city territory