Future business and the role of purchasing and supply management: Opportunities for ‘business-not-as-usual’ PSM research

The raison d'être for this article is simple: traditional ways of researching, theorizing, and practicing purchasing and supply management (PSM) are no longer sufficient to ‘meet the moment’. Scholars need to advance a “business-not-as-usual” footing approach to their work, if they are to make a meaningful contribution to addressing the current and future emergencies, as highlighted by recent extreme weather and the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, what can this, or should this, mean for a field rooted in traditional business thinking? This article builds on the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management's (JPSM) 25th Anniversary Special Issue editorial (2019); members of the JPSM's editorial team advance their unique perspectives on what “business-not-as-usual” means for PSM. Specifically, we advocate both thinking much more widely, in scope and ambition, than we currently do, and simultaneously building our ability to comprehend supply chains in a more nuanced and granular way. We explore whether the bias toward positivist work has omitted potentially interesting findings, and viewpoints. This leads to a call to re-think how we approach our work: should the key criteria always be to focus on theory development or testing? Should academics “think bigger”? Turning to specific research themes, illustrations of how our current thinking can be challenged or broadened by addressing the circular economy, and role of purchasing and innovation. Specifically, the focus on the PSM function as an intrapreneur within the larger organization, and the role of innovation and technology in PSM work. Taken together, we hope the ideas and arguments presented here will inform and inspire ambitious and novel approaches to PSM research with significant and enduring impact on the transformation of business

On the road to carbon reduction in a food supply network: a complex adaptive systems perspective

Purpose: In acknowledging the reality of climate change, large firms have set internal and external (supplier oriented) targets to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study explores the complex processes behind the evolution and diffusion of carbon reduction strategies in supply networks. Design/methodology/approach: The research uses complex adaptive systems (CAS) as a theoretical framework and presents a single case study of a focal buying firm and its supply network in the food sector. A longitudinal and multilevel analysis is used to discuss the dynamics between the focal firm, the supply network and external environment. Findings: Rather than being a linear and controlled process of adoption-implementation-outcomes, the transition to reduce carbon in a supply network is much more dynamic, emerging as a result of a number of factors at the individual, organizational, supply network and environmental levels. Research limitations/implications: The research considers the emergence of a carbon reduction strategy in the food sector, driven by a dominant buying firm. Future research should seek to investigate the diffusion of environmental strategies more broadly and in other contexts. Practical implications: Findings from the research reveal the limits of the control that a buying firm can exert over behaviours in its network and show the positive influence of consortia initiatives on transitioning to sustainability in supply networks. Originality: CAS is a fairly novel theoretical lens for researching environmental supply network dynamics. The paper offers fresh multilevel insights into the emergent and systemic nature of the diffusion of environmental practices in supply networks

Voiceless but empowered farmers in corporate supply chains: contradictory imagery and instrumental approach to empowerment

There have been calls for a shift of focus towards the political and power-laden aspects of transitioning towards socially equitable global supply chains. This paper offers an empirically grounded response to these calls from a critical realist stance in the context of global food supply chains. We examine how an imaginary for sustainable farming structured around an instrumental construction of empowerment limits what is viewed as permissible, desirable and possible in global food supply chains. We adopt a multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine the sustainable farming imaginary for smallholder farmers constructed by one large organization, Unilever, in a series of videos produced and disseminated on YouTube. We expose the underlying mechanisms of power and marginalization at work within the sustainability imaginary and show how “empowerment” has the potential to create of new dependencies for these farmers. We recontextualize the representations to show that while the imaginary may be commercially feasible, it is less achievable in terms of empowering smallholder farmers

Sustainability in supply and value chain management

This chapter presents the case for integrating sustainability principles into supply and value chain management provision at higher education level as an urgent matter for consideration. It draws on the key declarations including Global Action Programme (GAP) of UNESCO that support the incorporation of sustainability values and practices into all aspects of learning to underscore the need for embedding supply and value chain management curriculum with sustainability. The shared experience and insights from scholarly engagement with integrating sustainability principles at three levels in higher education facilitates sustainability knowledge transfer. Grounded in the extant literature, a critical discussion of the integration process including pedagogical practices reveals prospects and challenges to scaling up of sustainable supply and value chain management education

Practicing sustainability in operations & supply Chain management

Grounded in a sustainability-practice approach, this editorial provides reflections on how sustainability can be embedded as part of organisations' daily operations and supply chain management (SCM) practices. Moving away from the understanding of a practice as a static action, we explore the metaphor of a tree to demonstrate that a practice is both complex and dynamic. In this editorial, we define practice and how sustainability practice became part of operations and SCM. We glance at previous literature on these aspects, including practice theories, and show how the papers gathered in this special issue complement the ongoing scholarly conversation. The papers additionally provide interesting contributions to advance the practice debate. Finally, we suggest several research directions

ISO 14001 certification: literature review and research directions

Environmental sustainability has become a key priority for managers, scholars and policy makers. After about twenty years of research in this field, this paper presents the first literature review on ISO 14001, the most important environmental certification. Six prominent streams of ISO 14001 research, i.e., drivers, barriers/problems/limitations, variables affecting the implementation and diffusion, impact on performances, and variables affecting the results, have been identified, organized into a conceptual framework, and presented. Drawing from these findings, we propose an agenda for future research on this topic

The ISO 14001 environmental certification: state of the art and research agenda

Environmental sustainability has gained momentum in business world and academia. This paper presents the first literature review on the most important environmental certification, namely the ISO 14001. We identify and summarize six streams of ISO14001 research by applying the antecedents\u2013structure/process\u2013consequences framework. We propose an agenda for future research

Caractérisation des effets de la dénutrition sur le phénotype musculaire sur un nouveau modèle de mini-porc Yucatan obèse

International audienc

The yucatan minipig: A new preclinical model of sarcopenic obesity

International audienc