Stakeholder collaboration for circular economy in WEEE industry: A sociotechnical theory perspective

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) poses significant environmental and economic challenges. Research, along with regional regulations, underscores the importance of effective circular transition in mitigating these issues. The complexity of products, processes, and supply networks advocate for enhanced collaboration among established and emerging stakeholders in WEEE management for circular economy (CE). Drawing on multiple case studies involving diverse actors engaged in the WEEE industry, this study explores the current sociotechnical landscape and discusses several directions to foster stakeholder collaboration from a sociotechnical standpoint. Findings show that achieving the circular transition of WEEE necessitates an approach that seamlessly integrates the social and technical contexts where the social dynamics need to fit with the technological capabilities of involved actors

A resource orchestration perspective of organizational big data analytics adoption: Evidence from supply chain planning

This paper investigated the organizational adoption of big data analytics (BDA) in the context of supply chain planning (SCP) to conceptualize how resources are orchestrated for organizational BDA adoption and to elucidate how resources and capabilities intervene with the resource management process during BDA adoption. This research elaborated on the resource orchestration theory and technology innovation adoption literature to shed light on BDA adoption with multiple case studies. A framework for the resource orchestration process in BDA adoption is presented. We associated the development and deployment of relevant individual, technological and organizational resources and capabilities with the phases of organizational BDA adoption and implementation. We highlighted that organizational BDA adoption can be initiated before consolidating the full resource portfolio. Resource acquisition, capability development and internalization of competences can take place alongside BDA adoption through structured processes and governance mechanisms. A relevant discussion identifying the capability gap and provides insight into potential paths of organizational BDA adoption is presented. We call for attention from policymakers and academics to reflect on the changes in the expected capabilities of supply chain planners to facilitate industry-wide BDA transition. This study opens the black box of organizational BDA adoption by emphasizing and scrutinizing the role of resource management actions

Fast fashion operations and supply chain management: How is circular economy beyond communication?

The fast fashion business model, known for rapid market delivery, cost efficiency, and frequent product releases, raises significant concerns about resource overconsumption, waste generation, and increased rate of garment disposal. The circular economy emerges as a vital concept to address these issues by promoting waste elimination and the regeneration and circulation of resources. This paper explores how operations and supply chain management within fast fashion firms support the adoption of circular economy practices, analysing data from sustainability reports. We discuss preliminary results and highlight the key issues for future research and or organisational disclosure

Assessing circularity along the agri-food supply chain: a decision making tool

Circular economy (CE) is gaining momentum as a sustainable and resource efficient economic model. In the agri-food context, the CE transition would effectively tackle the natural resource depletion, responding the urging challenges of food waste and insecurity. Combining systematic literature review and expert interviews, this paper addresses how CE strategies can be assessed in the context of agri-food supply chain. The study brings some initial advancement in circularity assessment, presenting a list of CE indicators relevant for each CE strategy and supply chain stage. Perspectives from the practitioner experts are integrated to present further considerations for advancement

Unfolding the link between big data analytics and supply chain planning

Big data analytics (BDA) has captured growing research interests in operations and supply chain management literature, yet, despite the significant implication, extant knowledge falls short in drawing the link between BDA and supply chain planning (SCP) with in a structured manner. This paper employs the Delphi technique to uncover the synergies between BDA technology, conceptualized as big data sources and BDA methods, and the SCP activities framed with the SCP matrix. The panel runs for three rounds with 35 experts including scholars, supply chain practitioners, and BDA specialists. The results of this paper suggest that the relevance of BDA depends on the focal SCP activity. Thirty-five projections are presented on the expected impact of BDA on SCP that are classified into three groups based on the significance of impact and probability of occurrence. This work advances the understanding of BDA in supply chain management drawing implications to prioritize BDA investment for SCP

On the Impact of Blockchain Technology on Business Models and Supply Chain Management

Digitalization is changing the way companies create value. It is an umbrella term for diverse applications of digital technologies to processes inside companies and along the value chain. This research aims at understanding how literature has addressed the impact of blockchain technology on business models (BM) and supply chains. The study is based on a simple framework assuming that blockchain technology can affect BM directly, but also indirectly via supply chain management (SCM). Thus, three types of relationships are studied: i) the impact of blockchain on BMs, ii) the impact of blockchain on SCM, and iii) the impact of blockchain on BMs via SCM. To this aim, a systematic literature review is conducted using the Web of Science and Scopus databases. The selected 78 relevant articles are analyzed both by descriptive and content analysis. Results show that blockchain technology can affect BMs either generically or in specific industries, while it affects SCM on the dimensions of 1) efficiency and process improvement, 2) transparency and traceability, 3) sustainable SCM, and 4) supply chain collaboration. The indirectly impact of blockchain on BMs via SCM act on the dimensions of 1) supply chain transparency, 2) supply chain restructuring and 3) supply chain collaboration. This paper concludes with a research agenda discussing the open research questions before blockchain can achieve wide adoption in practice

Circular supply chain configuration: A multiple case study in the fashion and textile industry

The F&T industry, a major global polluter, seeks a CE transition to mitigate environmental impact. Supply chain restructuring is vital, particularly in the RSC, necessitating strategic localization and centralization decisions in the face of evolving regulatory and technological landscapes. This study explores RSC configurations and their influencing factors, through multiple case studies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to 6 RSC actors, covering all steps of the RSC. Findings suggest the need for more local and hybrid RSCs, focusing on collection and sorting in proximity to waste generation. The study aims to guide practitioners and policymakers toward more sustainable practices

Triadic Supply Network Relationship in Supplier Involved New Product Development: Case study research in China and Italy

Supplier involvement (SI) in new product development (NPD) has been intensively studied in literature, focusing on how buying firm manages the interface with its supplier (e.g. (Ragatz et al. 1997; Petersen et al. 2005; van Echtelt et al. 2008)). However, on the one hand, this dyadic buyer-supplier focus has been challenged by (Choi & Wu 2009a), arguing that the smallest unit of a network should be a triad. On the other hand, the triadic supply network relationship (SNR) is still unexplored specifically under the context of collaborative product development. Therefore, this paper aims to bridge the two separated pieces of research, outlining the potential configurations of triadic SNR and to validate the impact of context variables when suppliers are involved in the NPD projects. To this aim, 18 case studies were developed from Chinese and Italian companies in manufacturing industry, and their triadic SNR configuration is studied focusing on the collaborative attitude among the actors. Findings raised interesting insight that, when particular focus is placed on SI in NPD, the theoretical validity of several configurations might not be applicable in practice. Also, the impact of context variables on the triadic SNR was complemented by integrating the supplier-supplier dimension to the existing literature on buyer-supplier perspective. In the end, we discussed potential influencing factors not being included in this paper thanks to the semi-structured interviews, making the first attempt to understand the complex network relationship dynamics in supplier involved NPD

PDCD4 regulates apoptosis in human peritoneal mesothelial cells and promotes gastric cancer peritoneal metastasis

Objective. Programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) is a tumor suppressor gene, however, the function and regulatory mechanism remain to be discovered. The connection between tumorigenesis and apoptosis is one of the most important foci of cancer research. Our study aimed to explore the connections between PDCD4-mediated apoptosis of human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMC) and peritoneal metastasis in gastric cancer. Methods. The PDCD4 expression in 31 pairs of HPMC and tumor tissues was assessed by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. In cell experiments, we monitored gastric cancer cell migration with a Transwell chamber assay when PDCD4 was silenced in HPMC. Subsequently, apoptosis of HPMC was detected by a flow cytometric assay and western blotting. After analyzing cytokines in culture supernatants from gastric cancer with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) was abundant in the culture supernatants of gastric cancer. Then, PDCD4 expression in HMrSV5 cells was analyzed by western blotting after retreatment with different concentrations of TGF-β1. Moreover, apoptosis of peritoneal mesothelial cells treated with TGF-β1 was detected according to the above methods. Results. In human metastatic peritoneal tissues, the expression of PDCD4 was significantly lower than that in normal tissues. At the same time, decreased expression of PDCD4 in HPMC was associated with increased migration capacity of gastric cancer cells. Moreover, suppressing the expression of PDCD4 promoted apoptosis in mesothelial cells which may be regulated by TGF-β secreted from gastric cancer cells. Conclusions. These data suggested that decreased expression of PDCD4 significantly promoted apoptosis in human peritoneal mesothelial cells, thus inducing peritoneal metastasis, and that TGF-β1 secreted from gastric cancer cells may have played a crucial role

Flotillin2 expression correlates with HER2 levels and poor prognosis in gastric cancer.

ObjectiveFlotillin gene is known as a tumor promoter or suppressor, depending on the tumor type or tumor stage. We aimed to investigate the clinical significance of flotillin2 protein expression in gastric cancer.MethodsWe examined flotillin2 and erbB2 levels in tissue microarray of 282 gastric cancer samples and analyzed the association between flotillin2 levels, clinicopathologic factors and prognosis. The regulation of erbB2 by flotillin2 was examined with flotillin2 siRNA-transfected gastric cancer cells.ResultsFlotillin2 partially co-localized with erbB2 at the plasma membrane as detected by confocal microscopy, levels of erbB2 were reduced after flotillin knockdown in SGC-7901 cancer cells, and the expression of flotillin2 was positively correlated with that of erbB2. In non-neoplastic gastric mucosa, flotillin2 was not expressed in the epithelial compartment. In gastric cancer, positive staining of flotillin2 was shown in 129 (45.7%) of 282 cases, also, it was significantly associated with a Lauren grade, histologic type, lymphovascular invasion and tumor location. Moreover, survival analysis showed that flotillin2 expression was an independent prognostic factor of poor survival (pConclusionsThese results indicate that a positive correlation exists between flotillin2 and erbB2 expression levels, flotillin2 maybe involved in the stabilization of erbB2 at the plasma membrane, flotillin2 is significantly correlated with cancer progression and poor prognosis in gastric cancer