European Journal of Operational Research 233 (2014) 293298

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

European Journal of Operational Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ejor

Editorial

Eco-efciency based green supply chain management: Current status and

opportunities

1. Introduction and background

The main theme of this special issue was derived from the rst
international workshop on Eco-efcient based green supply chain
management (EE-GSCM) held at the Department of Business and
Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
The theme of this workshop was eco-efcient based green supply
chain management, eco-efcient based reverse and closed-loop
supply chain management and carbon footprints in supply chains.
Industries are striving hard to improve their sustainable development through many strategies such as environmental management
systems, green and lean manufacturing, eco-effectiveness and efciency to maintain their place in todays competitive environment.
Among these strategies, eco-efciency, a tool of sustainable
development, gained considerable attention among researchers
and practitioners due to its high momentous benets over a rms
operational performance. While many denitions exist to explain
the concept of eco-efciency, the most cited denition was provided by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
(WBCSD) in 1992 as eco-efciency is achieved by the delivery of
competitively-priced goods and services that satisfy human needs
and bring quality of life, while progressively reducing ecological
impacts and resource intensity throughout the life-cycle to a level
at least in line with the earths estimated carrying capacity
Schmidheiny (1992). In short, eco-efciency combines both
economic and environmental demands. Eco-efciency is used to
identify a set of solutions that do not increase the level of environmental damage unless costs also increase (Neto, Walther,
Bloemhof, Van Nunen, & Spengler, 2009). The simplicity of ecoefciency led it to spread worldwide and to enjoy widespread
acceptance by enterprises who used this concept to support their
decisions, production strategies, and investments striving for sustainable development (Wursthorn, Poganietz., & Schebek, 2011).
Due to its widespread acceptance, eco-efciency became a popular
mechanism by which to examine policy strategies and their possible outcomes (English, Castellucci, & Mynors, 2006; Wursthorn
et al., 2011). Eco-efciency (EE) has been applied successfully by
researchers in many elds such as manufacturing, paramedical,
management, operations, and others to improve sustainability.
More recently, eco-efciency has been used in the eld of supply
chain management. While supply chains have been extended
through lean and green initiatives, there is still a need to integrate
eco-efciency in supply chains in order to balance and to focus on
both economic and environmental aspects. Supply chains are motivated by global trends and seek to achieve sustainable protability
by offering environmentally sound products and practices
0377-2217/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2013.10.058

(Solvang, 2008). While eco-efciency is still subject to debate in regard to supply chains, it stands as a viable research pursuit. We
explore here some of the existing literature on eco-efciency relevant to our special issue. We categorized the literature into three
sections: general (which consists of literature review, empirical
surveys, etc.), tools used and elds of application (Table 1), and
supply chain management (Table 2).
Honkasalo, Rodhe, and Dalhammar (2005) made an empirical
analysis to explore the IPPC directive in terms of driving EE using
a case study based on British, Finnish, and Swedish dairy industries. Burritt and Saka (2006) studied the linkage of environmental
management accounting and EE measurement using environmental management accounting (EMA) and EE indicators for a Japanese
case study. Erkko, Melanen, and Mickwitz (2005) investigated the
concept of EE using an empirical study conducted in a Finnish
industry. Ct, Booth, and Louis (2006) identied that there is a
need to propose new EE indicators for micro and small businesses
through an empirical study and literature survey in Canada. Berkel
(2007a, 2007b) reviewed the EE related concepts in primary metal
production industry with ve prevention practices and ve
resource productivity themes. Dahlstrm and Ekins (2007) presented the value chain analysis (VCA) to interpolate the economic
and environmental dimensions of the aluminum industry in the
UK. Prasad and Pagan (2007) identied the current status of EE
by investigating a project named Queensland food eco-efciency.
Fernndez-Vi, Gmez-Navarro, and Capuz-Rizo (2010) executed
their study in three stages: review with benchmarking, surveys,
and interviews. Halkos and Tzeremes (2013) addressed the economic growth and environmental efciency of UK regions and they
plotted the relationship between the regions and their environmental inefciencies through a Conditional Directional distance
function.
Based on the above analysis, it is clear that many works exist in
the focus areas of supply chains and other manufacturing and
industry concerns. Despite the proliferation of research, no study
addresses issues such as an eco-efciency-based green supply
chain, reverse supply chain, closed loop supply chain, and carbon
footprint-based supply chain. The special issue (SI) had over 95
submissions, and after a rigorous review and revision process, 13
articles were selected for publication. These articles address the
topics previously mentioned and seek to bridge gaps in the literature on eco-efciency in supply chains. Here, we provide a short
review of each paper selected for this special issue, highlighting
its major contribution, the tool used, and the industry represented.
The rst paper in this SI, Quantitative models for sustainable supply chain management: developments and directions (Brandenburg,

294

Table 1
Eco-efciency based literatures categorized by focus and tools used.
Tools/methodology useda

Author

Problem addressed

Field of application

DEA

Dyckhoff and Allen (2001)

Sarkis and Cordeiro (2001)

Extended the generalized DEA model for evaluating the eco- efciency (EE)
Investigated the relationship between the pollution prevention and end-of-pipe efciencies using data collected from 482
U.S. rms during 1992
Tried to measure the technical efciency and EE as an indicator and combined these indicators to decrease the pollutants
in 24 power plants in Europe
Proposed six DEA models to check the EE of the Chinese coal-red power plants
Computed the wide range of EE indicators and validated with the Spanish olive growing farms

General
General

Checked whether the innovation in organizational practices improve the eco-efciency with the case of 437 largest fossil
fuels electricity generating plants
Attempted to prove that the remanufacturing practices are more eco-efcient for a Xerox photocopier remanufacturing
case
Conducted a research to improve the EE

Power plant

Korhonen and Luptacik (2004)

LCA

Kerr and Ryan (2001)

Seppl et al. (2002)

EE indicators

LP

Snapshot graph and EE

indicators
Re and De linking
evaluation
MFEFP

Park, Tahara, Jeong, and Lee (2006)

Breedveld, Timellini, Casoni, Fregni, and
Busani (2007)
Bidoki and Wittlinger (2010)
LaRosa et al. (2013)
Maxime, Marcotte, and Arcand (2006)

Compared four decision making methods under both environmental and economic aspects of end-of-life washing machine
Evaluated the environmental impact and EE of the fabric lter

Mickwitz, Melanen, Rosenstrm, and

Seppl (2006)
Aoe (2007)
Salmi (2007)

Proposed and explained the EE indicators using a Kymenlaakso case study

Kharel and Charmondusit (2008)

Klang, Vikman, and Bratteb (2008)
Park and Behera (2013)
Park and Tahara (2008)
Simic and Dimitrijevic (2012)
Charmondusit and Keartpakpraek (2011)

EIO-LCA, DEA and LP

Wang, Liu, Hansson, Zhang, and Wang

(2011)
Cerutti, Beccaro, Bagliani, Donno, and
Bounous (2013)
Egilmez, Kucukvar, and Tatari (2013)

Delphi method
RELPM

Fernndez-Vi et al. (2013)

Simic and Dimitrijevic (2013)

Identied the best EE based PVC coating agent

Explored the EE of the new material (usage of hemp mats instead of glass ber in composite material)
Addressed the environmental issues in Canadian food and beverage industry using a new eco-efciency indicator

Proposed EE indicator and provide the relationship between the functions of EE and eco design
Integrated the complex utilization production model in mining sectors to maintain the waste management to increase the
EE
Investigated the eco-efciency of iron rod industry in Nepal through quantitative analysis
Measured the sustainability in waste management by combining the EE indicator with environmental indicator
Proposed the EE indicators to evaluate the eco-efciency of seven industrial symbiosis networks (ISN)
Identied the key eco design issues with the assistance of producer-based EE and consumer-based EE
Proposed a model to improve the EE and protability of the vehicle recycling factories under the EU legislative specically
on production planning
Evaluated the EE of the petroleum and petrochemical group
Explored the Shandong Provinces pulp and paper industry EE trend from 2001 to 2008
Examined the sustainability and EE of food production in Northern Italy using the footprint analysis
In order to increase the EE, sustainability was measured among U.S. manufacturing sectors and the results compared from
various industries
Reviewed the tools which stimulate the EE practices in SMEs under the pressure of public administration in Venezuela
Proposed a methodology to reduce the landll of end-of-life vehicles under the consideration of risk and economical
aspects

Power plant
Olive farms

Re-Manufacturing
Finnish metal
industry
Decision making
Ceramic tile industry
Decision making
Decision making
Food and beverage
Industry
Kymenlaakso case
study
EEE products
Waste management
Iron rod industry
Waste management
ISN
Eco design
Industry
Petroleum
Pulp and paper
industry
Fruit production
Manufacturing
SMEs in Venezuela
End of life vehicles

a
DEA data envelopment analysis; LCA life cycle analysis; LP linear programming; MFEFP multi functional ecological foot print; EIO-LCA economic input output-life cycle analysis; RELPM risk explicit linear
programming method.

Editorial / European Journal of Operational Research 233 (2014) 293298

Yang and Pollitt (2009)

Picazo-Tadeo, Beltrn-Esteve, and GmezLimn (2012)
Sarkis and Cordeiro (2012)

Power plant

Table 2
Eco-efciency in supply chain based literatures.
Problem description

Tool/solution methodologya

Field of
application

Mosovsky, Dickinson, and

Morabito (2000)
Berkel (2002)
Narayanaswamy et al. (2005)
English et al. (2006)

Focuses on continuous improvement in EE using EcoPro along with resource productivity, sustainability and competitive advantage

LCA

Manufacturing

Explored the signicant usage of LCA in EE evaluation with an illustration from Queensland wheat starch industry
Evaluated the EE of agribusiness processes such as: wheat to bread, barley to beer, and canola to cooking oil
Explored the EE of cold roll production, in which they focus the mid-way value adding chain to ensure that they are sustainable

LCA
LCA
Case study

Michelsen, Fet, and Dahlsrud

(2006)
Solvang (2008)

Utilized nine EE indicators proposed by WBCSD to measure the EE of extended SC

EE indicators

Attempted to increase the continuous improvement of eco- efciency in supply chains using the holistic green approach

Holistic green approach

Ji (2009)
Neto et al. (2009)

Eco SC model
Multi-objective LP

Michelsen and Fet (2010)

Analyzed the disruption risk and ecology in SCs with a case study of Chinese industries
Proposed a two-phased heuristic to obtain a good approximation for efcient frontier (EF) without enumerating all extreme efcient
solutions and to obtain a good visual representation of the EF
Discussed the way for the improvement of EE in SCM

Agribusiness
Agribusiness
Cold roll
production
Furniture
production
Waste
management
Trading
Trading

Langella and Zanoni (2011)

Investigates the Pareto-efcient frontier which provides the best options to the distribution managers to maintain their EE

Zhu, Geng, and Lai (2011)

Investigate the relationship between the environmental supply chain and circular economy with the aid of empirical sample collected from
396 Chinese manufacturers
Integrated EE and eco-effectiveness to provide the comparison between the lean, green, sustainable, eco-efcient and eco- effectiveness
supply chain
Validates the EE of the food industries with suggestions to improve its EE in extended SC

Korol et al. (2012)

Pimenta, Gouvinhas, and
Evans (2012)
Li and Hana (2013)
Tseng, Tan, Lim, Lin, and
Geng (2013)
Wang, Zhu, and Lu (2013)

Optimized the transportation planning to increase the EE using an illustration from UK food SC
Benchmarked the EE in green supply chain under uncertainty with the aid of smart phone manufacturer
Investigated the optimal material ow allocation and network design to reduce the carbon and increase product value to achieve this
Pareto frontier, which are illustrated with the refrigerator industry

Eco indicators and empirical

analysis
Nonlinear mathematical
programming
Empirical and Hierarchy
Regression Analysis
Literature survey and
Empirical study
Product LCM and EE
Multi-modal transportation
planning
Fuzzy set theory combined
with TODIM
Multi-objective mixed integral
programming

Furniture
production
Trading
Manufacturing
General
Food
production
Food SC
Electronic
production
Manufacturing

Editorial / European Journal of Operational Research 233 (2014) 293298

Author

a
DEA data envelopment analysis; LCA life cycle analysis; LP linear programming; MFEFP multi functional ecological foot print; EIO-LCA economic input output-life cycle analysis; RELPM risk explicit linear
programming method.

295

296

Editorial / European Journal of Operational Research 233 (2014) 293298

Govindan, Sarkis, & Seuring, 2013) provides an overview of

quantitative models in sustainable supply chain management.
The authors reviewed 134 papers and found that most focus on
multiple criteria decision making and that signicantly fewer
papers analyze the sustainable supply chain through mathematical
models. Accordingly, this paper serves to establish the developments and directions for future research in the eld of sustainable
supply chain management with the assistance of two decades
worth of research in quantitative and formal models in forward
supply chains.
Next, Alliance or no alliancebargaining power in competing
reverse supply chains (Sheu & Gao, 2013) analyzes the effects of
bargaining in reverse logistics and explores how such bargaining
affects negotiations between manufacturers and reverse logistics
providers. In this paper, an asymmetric Nash bargaining game is
introduced to manage two scenarios, a reverse logistics provider
alliance and a no reverse logistics provider alliance. The study
indicates some special contributions and implications in terms of
bargaining in reverse logistics.
The next paper, Reverse supply chain coordination by revenue
sharing contract: A case for the personal computers industry
(Govindan & Popiuc, 2013) explores the signicant effect of
recycling in supply chains from each and every actor which
includes all participants perspectives. Using analytical models,
they analyzed coordination contracts of two- and three-echelon
reverse supply chains that are applied in the PC industry. Their
study demonstrates that the revenue sharing contract increases
economic prot in reverse logistics and provides some interesting
managerial implications.
The fourth paper in this SI, Determining optimal resource
recycling boundary at regional level: A case study on Tokyo Metropolitan Area in Japan (Chen, Fujita, Hayashi, Kato, & Geng, 2013) proposes an optimization model for identifying the optimal recycling
boundary, a method tested in the Tokyo Metropolitan Region
(TMR) concerned with the recycling of plastic waste. The results
provide policy implications on waste collection and recycling
planning.
On the cooperation of recycling operations (Lu, Qi, & Liu, 2013)
considers two major issues: the inefciency of small scale and
developing countries recycling efforts, and the inefcient selling
of recycled parts by single rms in recycling sectors. The authors
propose a cooperative game theory to clarify issues with recycling
considerations such as cost, production, and rates. They also attempt to maximize the prot of recycling rms through cooperative operations which are explained in their numerical examples.
In the paper Sustainable SC through the complete reprocessing
of end-of-life products by manufacturers: a traditional versus
social responsibility company perspective (Faccio, Persona,
Sgarbossa, & Zanin, 2013) seeks to achieve sustainability in supply
chains through reprocessing of end-of-life products with the aid of
manufacturers. Their study explores methods to minimize total SC
costs: rst by a linear programming model and then by a parametric analysis. Both approaches evaluate and compare the economical
sustainability of the proposed closed loop supply chain (CLSC)
model versus the classical forward supply chain (FWSC) model.
The seventh paper, Optimal acquisition and production policy
in a hybrid manufacturing/ remanufacturing system with core
acquisition at different quality levels (Cai, Lai, Li, Li, & Wu,
2013) analyzes acquisition and production planning problems for
a hybrid manufacturing/remanufacturing system. They consider
the two conditions of high quality and of low quality core acquisition. They derive and then analyze optimal dynamic acquisition
pricing and production policies, and they explore the inuences
of system parameters in terms of acquisition prices and production
quantities through a stochastic programming model.

Next, Strategic analysis of manufacturersupplier partnerships:

An ANP model for collaborative CO2 reduction management (Theien
& Spinler, 2013) proposes a methodology that uses an analytic network process to evaluate the supplier who best cooperates with
the manufacturer in terms of CO2 reduction management. They
illustrate the model in a fast moving consumer goods industry
and identify the factors required for evaluating the supplier
derived from real life scenarios. The study provides great implications for supplier selection in terms of sustainable development
and it engages both manufacturer and supplier relations.
In their paper, The impact of consumer returns policies on
consignment contracts with inventory control (Hu, Li, & Govindan,
2013) investigates the consignment contract from both vendor
and retailer perspectives. They consider a model where an
upstream vendor has a consignment contract with a downstream
retailer, and under this scenario, they compare the two different
arrangements of retailer- and vendor-managed consignment
inventory (RMCI/VMCI) programs. This paper also explores return
policy impacts by considering a consigning contract without a
return policy as a benchmark case.
The tenth paper, A multi-criteria decision making model for
advanced repair-to-order and disassembly-to-order system
(Ondemir & Gupta, 2013) proposes a multi-criteria decision
making model to integrate advanced repair-to-order and disassembly-to-order systems. The processing of each product that
includes sensors, RFID tags, or sensor embedded products is examined to reach the optimum demand environment via disassembly,
disposal, recycling, and storage.
The paper Evaluating green supplier development programs with
a grey-analytical network process-based methodology (Dou, Zhu, &
Sarkis, 2013) develops a methodological framework to evaluate
the inuence of GSD programs on suppliers performance and
involvement propensity. The proposed framework was validated
with the case of a leading manufacturer in Chinas pivot irrigation
equipment industry.
Selecting green suppliers based on GSCM practices: Using fuzzy
TOPSIS applied to a Brazilian electronics company (Kannan, Jabbour,
& Jabbour, 2013) evaluates suppliers based on GSCM using hybrid
MCDM and fuzzy TOPSIS. Suppliers are ranked based on their
scores in GSCM practices. Then, the framework was validated with
a Brazilian company and compared with other rankings obtained
from geometric and graded means aided by Spearman rank and
followed by sensitivity analysis.
The nal paper, Timing and eco(nomic) efciency of climatefriendly investments in supply chains (Lukas & Welling, 2013) provides an overview of bargaining in the implementation of a carbon
dioxide (CO2) saving investment project. They propose a sequence
model to explore bargaining negotiations between the parties in
the project; their model proves that the outcome of bargaining
leads to neither economic nor ecological prot. They conclude that
an increase in the number of links in a supply chain results in a decrease of eco-efciencies.

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all the authors who have submitted papers for the special issue and the reviewers who have reviewed
manuscripts in a timely manner. Special thanks to the Editors of
EJOR, in particular Professor Roman Slowinski and Professor Robert
Dyson, and to journal manager Rosie Stewart for their constant
support right from the beginning until the editorial process has
been approved. Special thanks to the previous journal manager Jacqueline Turner who helped us a lot at the beginning of the special
issue.

Editorial / European Journal of Operational Research 233 (2014) 293298

References
Aoe, T. (2007). Eco-efciency and ecodesign in electrical and electronic products.
Journal of Cleaner Production, 15(15), 14061414.
Berkel, V. R. (2007a). Eco-efciency in primary metals production: Context,
perspectives and methods. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 51(3),
511540.
Berkel, V. R. (2007b). Cleaner production and eco-efciency initiatives in Western
Australia 19962004. Journal of Cleaner Production, 15(8), 741755.
Berkel, V. R. (2002). The application of life cycle assessment for improving the
eco-efciency of supply chains. In 75th Anniversary conference. <http://gis.
lrs.uoguelph.ca/agrienvarchives/bioenergy/download/LCA_vanberkel_au.pdf>
[Accessed 01.10.13].
Bidoki, S. M., & Wittlinger, R. (2010). Environmental and economical acceptance of
polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coating agents. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18(3),
219225.
Brandenburg, M., Govindan, K., Sarkis, J., & Seuring, S. (2013). Quantitative models
for sustainable supply chain management: Developments and directions.
European Journal of Operational Research, 233(2), 299312.
Breedveld, L., Timellini, G., Casoni, G., Fregni, A., & Busani, G. (2007). Eco-efciency
of fabric lters in the Italian ceramic tile industry. Journal of Cleaner Production,
15(1), 8693.
Burritt, R. L., & Saka, C. (2006). Environmental management accounting applications
and eco-efciency: Case studies from Japan. Journal of Cleaner Production,
14(14), 12621275.
Cai, X., Lai, M., Li, X., Li, Y., & Wu, X. (2013). Optimal acquisition and production
policy in a hybrid manufacturing/remanufacturing system with core acquisition
at different quality levels. European Journal of Operational Research, 233(2),
374382.
Cerutti, A. K., Beccaro, G. L., Bagliani, M., Donno, D., & Bounous, G. (2013).
Multifunctional ecological footprint analysis for assessing eco-efciency: A case
study of fruit production systems in Northern Italy. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 40, 108117.
Charmondusit, K., & Keartpakpraek, K. (2011). Eco-efciency evaluation of the
petroleum and petrochemical group in the map Ta Phut Industrial Estate,
Thailand. Journal of Cleaner Production, 19(2), 241252.
Chen, X., Fujita, T., Hayashi, Y., Kato, H., & Geng, Y. (2013). Determining optimal
resource recycling boundary at regional level: A case study on Tokyo
Metropolitan Area in Japan. European Journal of Operational Research, 233(2),
337348.
Ct, R., Booth, A., & Louis, B. (2006). Eco-efciency and SMEs in Nova Scotia,
Canada. Journal of Cleaner Production, 14(6), 542550.
Dahlstrm, K., & Ekins, P. (2007). Combining economic and environmental
dimensions: Value chain analysis of UK aluminium ows. Resources,
Conservation and Recycling, 51(3), 541560.
Dou, Y., Zhu, Q., & Sarkis, J. (2013). Evaluating green supplier development
programs with a grey-analytical network process-based methodology. European
Journal of Operational Research, 233(2), 420431.
Dyckhoff, H., & Allen, K. (2001). Measuring ecological efciency with data
envelopment analysis (DEA). European Journal of Operational Research, 132(2),
312325.
Egilmez, G., Kucukvar, M., & Tatari, O. (2013). Sustainability assessment of US
manufacturing sectors: an economic input output-based frontier approach.
Journal of Cleaner Production, 53, 91102.
English, M., Castellucci, M., & Mynors, D. J. (2006). Eco-efciency of the cold roll
formed product supply chain. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 177(1),
626629.
Erkko, S., Melanen, M., & Mickwitz, P. (2005). Eco-efciency in the Finnish EMAS
reportsa buzz word? Journal of Cleaner Production, 13(8), 799813.
Faccio, M., Persona, A., Sgarbossa, F., & Zanin, G. (2013). Sustainable SC through the
complete reprocessing of end-of-life products by manufacturers: A traditional
versus social responsibility company perspective. European Journal of
Operational Research, 233(2), 359373.
Fernndez-Vi, M. B., Gmez-Navarro, T., & Capuz-Rizo, S. F. (2010). Eco-efciency
in the SMEs of Venezuela. Current status and future perspectives. Journal of
Cleaner Production, 18(8), 736746.
Fernndez-Vi, M. B., Gmez-Navarro, T., & Capuz-Rizo, S. F. (2013). Assessment of
the public administration tools for the improvement of the eco-efciency of
small and medium sized enterprises. Journal of Cleaner Production, 47, 265
273.
Govindan, K., & Popiuc, M. N. (2013). Reverse supply chain coordination by revenue
sharing contract: A case for the personal computers industry. European Journal
of Operational Research, 233(2), 326336.
Halkos, G. E., & Tzeremes, N. G. (2013). Economic growth and environmental
efciency: Evidence from US regions. Economics Letters, 120(1), 4852.
Honkasalo, N., Rodhe, H., & Dalhammar, C. (2005). Environmental permitting as a
driver for eco-efciency in the dairy industry: A closer look at the IPPC directive.
Journal of Cleaner Production, 13(10), 10491060.
Hu, W., Li, Y., & Govindan, K. (2013). The impact of consumer returns policies on
consignment contracts with inventory control. European Journal of Operational
Research, 233(2), 398407.
Ji, G. (2009). Ecological supply chains performance evaluation and disruption risk
management strategies. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, 15(2), 351370.

297

Kannan, D., Jabbour, A. B. L. D. S., & Jabbour, C. J. C. (2013). Selecting green suppliers
based on GSCM practices: Using Fuzzy TOPSIS applied to a Brazilian electronics
company. European Journal of Operational Research, 233(2), 432447.
Kerr, W., & Ryan, C. (2001). Eco-efciency gains from remanufacturing: A case study
of photocopier remanufacturing at Fuji Xerox Australia. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 9(1), 7581.
Kharel, G. P., & Charmondusit, K. (2008). Eco-efciency evaluation of iron rod
industry in Nepal. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16(13), 13791387.
Klang, A. B., Vikman, P. ., & Bratteb, H. (2008). Sustainable management of
combustible household wasteExpanding the integrated evaluation model.
Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 52(8), 11011111.
Korhonen, P. J., & Luptacik, M. (2004). Eco-efciency analysis of power plants: An
extension of data envelopment analysis. European Journal of Operational
Research, 154(2), 437446.
Korol, B. D., Kolarz, C. K., & Kruczek, M. (2012). Eco-efciency and eco-effectiveness
concepts in supply chain management. In Carpathian logistics congress, Jesenik.
<http://www.logisticon.cz/les/proceedings/09/reports/862.pdf>
[Accessed
05.06.13].
Langella, I. M., & Zanoni, S. (2011). Eco-efciency in logistics: A case study on
distribution network design. International Journal of Sustainable Engineering,
4(02), 115126.
LaRosa, A. D. et al (2013). Life cycle assessment of a novel hybrid glass-hemp/
thermoset composite. Journal of Cleaner Production, 44, 6976.
Li, D., & Hana, Z. (2013).A study of eco-performance of logistics services in food
supply chains. In LISS (pp. 223228). Berlin Heidelberg: Springer.
Lu, L., Qi, X., & Liu, Z. (2013). On the cooperation of recycling operations. European
Journal of Operational Research, 233(2), 349358.
Lukas, E., & Welling, A. (2013). Timing and eco(nomic) efciency of climate-friendly
investments in supply chains. European Journal of Operational Research, 233(2),
448457.
Maxime, D., Marcotte, M., & Arcand, Y. (2006). Development of eco-efciency
indicators for the Canadian food and beverage industry. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 14(6), 636648.
Michelsen, O., & Fet, A. M. (2010). Using eco-efciency in sustainable supply chain
management; a case study of furniture production. Clean Technologies and
Environmental Policy, 12(5), 561570.
Michelsen, O., Fet, A. M., & Dahlsrud, A. (2006). Eco-efciency in extended supply
chains: A case study of furniture production. Journal of Environmental
Management, 79(3), 290297.
Mickwitz, P., Melanen, M., Rosenstrm, U., & Seppl, J. (2006). Regional ecoefciency indicators A participatory approach. Journal of Cleaner Production,
14(18), 16031611.
Mosovsky, J., Dickinson, D., & Morabito, J. 2000. Creating competitive advantage
through resource productivity, eco-efciency, and sustainability in the supply
chain. In Electronics and the environment, 2000. ISEE 2000. Proceedings of the 2000
IEEE international symposium on (pp. 230237). IEEE.
Narayanaswamy, V., Altham, W., Van Berkel, R., & McGregor, M. (2005, February).
Application of life cycle assessment to enhance eco-efciency of grains supply
chains. In 4th Australian life cycle assessment conferenceSustainability measures
for decision support, Sydney (pp. 2325).
Neto, J. Q. F., Walther, G., Bloemhof, J., Van Nunen, J. A. E. E., & Spengler, T. (2009). A
methodology for assessing eco-efciency in logistics networks. European Journal
of Operational Research, 193(3), 670682.
Ondemir, O., & Gupta, S. M. (2013). A multi-criteria decision making model for
advanced repair-to-order and disassembly-to-order system. European Journal of
Operational Research, 233(2), 408419.
Park, H. S., & Behera, S. K. (2013).Methodological aspects of applying eco-efciency
indicators to industrial symbiosis networks. Journal of Cleaner Production (in
press).
Park, P. J., & Tahara, K. (2008). Quantifying producer and consumer-based ecoefciencies for the identication of key ecodesign issues. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 16(1), 95104.
Park, P. J., Tahara, K., Jeong, I. T., & Lee, K. M. (2006). Comparison of four methods for
integrating environmental and economic aspects in the end-of-life stage of a
washing machine. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 48(1), 7185.
Picazo-Tadeo, A. J., Beltrn-Esteve, M., & Gmez-Limn, J. A. (2012). Assessing ecoefciency with directional distance functions. European Journal of Operational
Research, 220(3), 798809.
Pimenta, H. D., Gouvinhas, R. P., & Evans, S. (2012). Eco-efciency within extended
supply chain as product life cycle management. In Sustainable manufacturing
(pp. 255262). Berlin Heidelberg: Springer.
Prasad, P., & Pagan, R. (2007). The Queensland food eco-efciency project: Reducing
risk and improving competitiveness. Journal of Cleaner Production, 15(89),
764771.
Salmi, O. (2007). Eco-efciency and industrial symbiosis A counterfactual analysis
of a mining community. Journal of Cleaner Production, 15(17), 16961705.
Sarkis, J., & Cordeiro, J. J. (2001). An empirical evaluation of environmental
efciencies and rm performance: Pollution prevention versus end-of-pipe
practice. European Journal of Operational Research, 135(1), 102113.
Sarkis, J., & Cordeiro, J. J. (2012). Ecological modernization in the electrical utility
industry: An application of a badsgoods DEA model of ecological and technical
efciency. European Journal of Operational Research, 219(2), 386395.
Schmidheiny, S. (1992). Changing course: A global business perspective on
development and the environment (WBCSD).

298

Editorial / European Journal of Operational Research 233 (2014) 293298

Seppl, J., Koskela, S., Melanen, M., & Palperi, M. (2002). The Finnish metals
industry and the environment. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 35(1),
6176.
Sheu, J. B., & Gao, X. Q. (2013). Alliance or no allianceBargaining power in
competing reverse supply chains. European Journal of Operational Research,
233(2), 313325.
Simic, V., & Dimitrijevic, B. (2012). Production planning for vehicle recycling
factories in the EU legislative and global business environments. Resources,
Conservation and Recycling, 60, 7888.
Simic, V., & Dimitrijevic, B. (2013). Risk explicit interval linear programming model
for long-term planning of vehicle recycling in the EU legislative context under
uncertainty. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 73, 197210.
Solvang, W. D. (2008, April). Increasing eco-efciency through holistic green supply
chain management. In Networking, sensing and control, 2008. ICNSC 2008. IEEE
international conference on (pp. 15361540). IEEE.
Theien, S., & Spinler, S. (2013). Strategic analysis of manufacturersupplier
partnerships: An ANP modelfor collaborative CO2 reduction management.
European Journal of Operational Research, 233(2), 383397.
Tseng, M. L., Tan, K. H., Lim, M., Lin, R. J., & Geng, Y. (2013). Benchmarking ecoefciency in green supply chain practices in uncertainty. Production Planning &
Control, (ahead-of-print), 112.
Wang, Y., Zhu, X., & Lu, T. (2013). Eco-efcient based logistics network design in
hybrid manufacturing/remanufacturing system under low-carbon restriction.
In LTLGB 2012 (pp. 681689). Berlin Heidelberg: Springer.
Wang, Y., Liu, J., Hansson, L., Zhang, K., & Wang, R. (2011). Implementing stricter
environmental regulation to enhance eco-efciency and sustainability: A case
study of Shandong Provinces pulp and paper industry, China. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 19(4), 303310.
Wursthorn, S., Poganietz., W. R., & Schebek, L. (2011). Economicenvironmental
monitoring indicators for European countries: A disaggregated sector-based
approach for monitor efciency. Ecological Economics, 70(3), 487496.
Yang, H., & Pollitt, M. (2009). Incorporating both undesirable outputs and
uncontrollable variables into DEA: The performance of Chinese coal-red
power plants. European Journal of Operational Research, 197(3), 10951105.
Zhu, Q., Geng, Y., & Lai, K. H. (2011). Environmental supply chain cooperation and its
effect on the circular economy practice-performance relationship among
Chinese manufacturers. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 15(3), 405419.

Kannan Govindan
Department of Business and Economics,
University of Southern Denmark,
Odense,
Denmark
Fax: +45 6550 3237.
E-mail address: gov@sam.sdu.dk
Joseph Sarkis
Department of Management, School of Business,
Worcester Polytechnic Institute,
Worcester,
MA, USA
Charbel Jos Chiappetta Jabbour
UNESP The Sao Paulo State University,
Av. Eng. Edmundo C. Coube,
14-01,
Bauru-SP,
Brazil
Qinghua Zhu
Faculty of Management and Economics,
Dalian University of Technology,
Dalian,
Liaoning Province 116024,
PR China
Yong Geng
Key Lab on Pollution Ecology and Environmental Engineering,
Institute of Applied Ecology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Shenyang,
China