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Sustainable operations management: recent trends and future directions

Article  in  International Journal of Operations & Production Management · April 2014

DOI: 10.1108/IJOPM-12-2013-0557

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 International Journal of Operations and Production Management

Sustainable operations management: recent trends and

future directions

Journal: International Journal of Operations and Production Management

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Manuscript ID: IJOPM-12-2013-0557

Manuscript Type: Editorial

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Page 1 of 12 International Journal of Operations and Production Management

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3 Sustainable operations management: recent trends and future directions
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5 Abstract
6
7
Purpose
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9
10 Sustainable operations management (OM) has been of increasing interest to businesses and
11 governments in recent years. This paper considers how operations practice and research has
12 responded to demands to address sustainability.
13
14 Approach
15
16 In this paper, we consider how the field of sustainable OM is developing, and has responded
17
18
to recent business trends. We consider how the research published in the International
Journal of Operations and Production Management has evolved since the last sustainability
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20 special issue published in 2001.
21
22 Findings
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23
24 Of the total number of articles published in IJOPM since 2001, only 3.3% have investigated
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25 some aspect of sustainable OM. Of these sustainable OM articles, 64% are environmental
26
articles, and there is an emerging trend for social articles, or articles that address the triple
27
28 bottom line. We distinguish between studies that focus on internal operations, and articles
that explore sustainability between organisations in supply chains. We briefly describe each
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29
30 paper in the special issue, and give an overview of how the papers address different aspects
31 of sustainability.
32
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33 Research limitations/implications
34
35 This paper analyzes articles in IJOPM, and it would be interesting to investigate whether
36
similar trends are identifiable in other OM journals.
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37
38
39 Practical implications
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40
41 This paper provides a useful overview of sustainable OM for practitioners, identifying
42 sustainability research within and between organisations, and shows how the nature of
43 sustainable OM research has changed in recent years.
44
45
Social implications
46
47
48 This paper highlights the recent trend in articles that address social issues in OM, such as
49 employee well-being, health and safety, and the triple bottom line of sustainability.
50
51 Originality/value
52
53 This is the first special issue on sustainable OM in 13 years in IJOPM. We conclude with
54 thoughts about future research directions, and expect the proportion of sustainable OM papers
55
to increase in years to come.
56
57
58 Keywords
59
60 1
 International Journal of Operations and Production Management Page 2 of 12

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2
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4 Sustainability, social, environmental, triple bottom line, operations management, supply
5 chain management
6
7
8
9 Introduction
10
11 Increasingly, organisations are interested in managing corporate social responsibility (CSR)
12 and sustainability as part of their operations management (OM). OM practices and research
13 must respond to demands to address sustainability. This response is triggered by climate
14 change and other environmental concerns, the well-being of workers and communities, and
15 other broad social demands. We define sustainable OM as the pursuit of social, economic and
16 environmental objectives – the triple bottom line [TBL] – within operations of a specific firm
17
and operational linkages that extend beyond the firm to include the supply chain and
18
communities. Many different aspects of OM can be considered from a sustainability
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19
20 perspective. These aspects encompass product design and eco-design, adoption of
21 environmental and social standards, process improvement and lean operations, purchasing,
22 supply chain management (SCM), logistics including recycling and closed-loop systems,
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23 performance measurement, and risk management.
24
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25
26 Given the growth, importance and pervasiveness of OM sustainability concerns, a special
27 issue focusing on these efforts is overdue. This need for currency is a reason for this special
28 issue in the International Journal of Operations and Production Management (IJOPM). In
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29 this introduction we first provide an overview how the sustainable OM field is evolving,
30 especially since the last IJOPM special issue that appeared over a decade ago in 2001. This
31 evolutionary overview includes both general literature and the literature specifically in
32 IJOPM. The special issue is then introduced summarizing the select articles that are
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33 included. Finally, perspectives on future research directions and concluding thoughts

34
complete this introduction to the special issue.
35
36
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38 How the sustainable OM field is evolving
39
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40 In the last twenty years, sustainable OM research has been burgeoning, a reflection of
41 numerous changes in business and society. In the 1990s, there was a focus on resource
42 productivity, and the need to reduce the consumption of resources and to use them more
43
44
efficiently. The underlying concern was that if we continue to consume resources at current
45 rates, we would need over three planets worth of resources (Weizsacker et al. 1997). An
46 interest in resource productivity was typified by the desire to be green and competitive, to
47 make a profit or gain competitive advantage by improving environmental performance
48 (Porter and Van de Linde 1995). Interest in environmental performance has continued, with a
49 focus on green products and processes, reducing waste and CO2 emissions, recycling and
50 reverse logistics or closed-loop supply chains.
51
52 In parallel, a broader and deeper examination of social and humanitarian issues in operations
53
54
has complemented this environmental research. For example, there has been increasing
55 interest in the CSR behaviour of firms, and voluntary initiatives such as the Global Reporting
56 Initiative have reflected this extension. Also, more research on health and safety and
57 employee welfare, particularly along global supply chains has dovetailed with the
58 introduction of standards and codes of conduct within and between firms. Studies of ethical
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Page 3 of 12 International Journal of Operations and Production Management

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3 products and fair trade reflect increasing consumer interest in how products are sourced. The
4 (un)ethical buying behaviour of purchasers within organisations has come under scrutiny.
5 There is also an attendance to the behavioural and psychological aspects of OM (Croson et al.
6 2013). Humanitarian aid is a burgeoning aspect of logistics research, considering the supply
7
of products to communities in emergency situations. More recently, studies have sought to
8
9 investigate social, economic and environmental issues in combination, allowing examination
10 of the triple bottom line of sustainability.
11
12 Unfortunately, the last decade has endured a global recession, linked in part to dubious
13 ethical practices in the banking industry. Simultaneously, with the expansion of social media,
14 high profile cases of companies ‘behaving badly’ (Amaeshi et al. 2008) have been amplified
15 through media reporting and social media commentary. Consumers have a platform to raise
16 concerns, and companies are being pressured to respond. This situation has been reflected in
17
an increasing number of studies exploring risk management and sustainable OM and SCM.
18
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20 Previous literature reviews suggested that sustainability research has tended to be atheoretical
21 (Seuring and Müller 2008, Carter and Rogers 2008). Some research has attempted to address
22 this potential shortcoming, either through theory development or theory testing. Some studies
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23 take established theories and explore sustainability issues through those theoretical lenses
24 (Sarkis et al. 2011). Examples include the resource based view of the firm (Barney 1991),
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25 which has been adopted to explore aspects of sustainable supply chain management (Shi et al.
26 2012, Paulraj 2011) and transaction cost economics (Williamson 1985), which has helped to
27
illuminate remanufacturing (Martin et al. 2010). Alternatively, recent studies seek to develop
28
conceptual frameworks in order to explain sustainable OM and SCM (Carter and Easton
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30 2011).
31
32
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33 Developments in the sustainable OM literature: an IJOPM perspective

34
35 We can also identify recent trends in sustainability articles in IJOPM. The last special issue
36 on sustainability in IJOPM was in 2001 (Wilkinson et al. 2001). The special issue was
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37
entitled ‘The sustainability debate’. The contents of the special issue included an article
38
39 exploring the linkages between ISO9000 systems, TQM and ISO14001 (Daily and Huang
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40 2001). Other papers explored corporate architectures for sustainability (Griffiths and Petrick
41 2001), and how environmental performance relates to operations performance (Jiménez and
42 Lorente 2001). The final two papers considered reducing greenhouse gas emissions. One
43 study explores product and process development in consumer automotive transport (Byrne
44 and Polonsky 2001), and the other focused on how the Kyoto Protocol influences commercial
45 incentives and process innovation (Hill 2001).
46
47
Of significant note, this earlier special issue and one the previous year (Angell 2000) focused
48
49 exclusively upon environmental issues. The introduction to the special issue did, however,
50 acknowledge economic, social and human sustainability issues (Wilkinson et al. 2001), but
51 these were considered at the organisational level rather than along supply chains. For
52 example:
53
54 ‘For true corporate sustainability, an organisation must recognise, value and promote
55 the capability of its people. For human resource sustainability to be achieved,
56 therefore, the HR policies and practices need to be integrated for sustained business
57
performance and positive employee outcomes of equity, development and well-being’
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 International Journal of Operations and Production Management Page 4 of 12

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3 (p.1497)
4 and
5
6 ‘To what extent do corporations need to exercise social responsibility as well as
7
economic responsibility?’ (p.1498)
8
9 (Wilkinson et al. 2001)
10
11 The researchers whose research was published in the special issues in 2000 and 2001 were
12 amongst the sustainable OM vanguard, pioneering research in environmental OM issues.
13 Within IJOPM, the nature of sustainability articles has evolved since the last special issue in
14 2001. Whilst environmental research is still strong, there are more studies that explore social
15 sustainability concerns and the triple bottom line of sustainability. The focus has also
16 broadened from operations management within an organisation to the supply chain.
17
18
We now analyze the articles appearing in IJOPM since the 2001 special issue on
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19
20 sustainability. Articles were identified by keywords: green, environmental, social, ethical,
21 economic or sustainable. To be conservative, we excluded articles that were marginally
22 relevant, such as those articles that used ‘sustainability’ in a different context (e.g., Bateman
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23 2005, Bateman and David 2002). Twenty-eight IJOPM articles were identified in the period
24 2002-2014. These articles are categorized in Table 1 according to their environmental or
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25 social focus, some of which also considered economic outcomes. A final category considers
26 two or more joint TBL outcomes. The number of articles published in IJOPM each year is
27
shown in Figure 1, showing social, economic, environmental, and TBL papers.
28
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29
30 Of all the IJOPM articles published since 2001, only 3.3% are sustainability articles. When
31 we consider the aspects of sustainability, it is clear that the majority of sustainability research
32 published in IJOPM still focuses on environmental issues (64%). Social issues in OM have
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33 seen a recent increase since 2010. Economic sustainability studies are rare, and tend to
34 explore the link between environmental OM or SCM and firm performance. There is a gap in
35 research investigating the economic aspects of sustainability, both from a firm and a supply
36 chain perspective. It would be useful to explore how economic value (as well as social and
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37
environmental value) is shared along the sustainable supply chain, and to assess who accrues
38
39 the benefits and costs of sustainability initiatives.
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40
41 Table 1 also shows that IJOPM has published a similar number of articles addressing internal
42 and between-firm sustainability. Since 2001, articles focused on internal operations have
43 looked at human factors, environmental production, environmental management systems
44 (EMS), and their effect on environmental, financial and TBL performance. Studies with an
45 inter-firm focus have explored socially responsible and values based SCM, and ethical issues
46 between buyers and suppliers. A number of studies have examined environmental SCM, and
47
the effect it has on performance. Triple bottom line studies have considered sustainable
48
49 procurement in the public sector, and within the current special issue there is an emergence of
50 SCM studies that incorporate the triple bottom line of sustainability, termed sustainable SCM.
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
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Page 5 of 12 International Journal of Operations and Production Management

1
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3 Aspect Social issues Environmental issues Social or environmental Triple bottom line N
Topics issues, combined with (including
4 the economic bottom this
5 line special
6 issue)
7 Internal Human factors and OM Environmental Impact of environmental Environmental 13 (14)
operation (Neumann and Dul 2010) production management on firm management and the
8 (Rao 2004, González et performance triple bottom line
9 al. 2003) (Burgos-Jiménez et al. (Giovanni 2012)
10 2013)
11 Environmental Sustainable OM
management (systems) (Jeffers 2010)
12 (González et al. 2008,
13 Heras-Saizarbitoria et al.
14 2011, Paulraj and Jong
2011, Ronnenberg et al.
15
2011, Viadiu et al. 2006)
16 & (Prajogo et al. 2014)
17
18 Environmental
Fo
performance
19 (Daily et al. 2012, Zailani
20 et al. 2012)
21 Between Socially responsible Environmental SCM Impact of green SCM on Sustainable 11 (16)
22 firms SCM (Rao 2002, Simpson et al. firm performance procurement
r
(i.e., (Awaysheh and Klassen 2007, Cousins et al. 2004, (Zhu et al. 2005) (Brammer and Walker
23 supply 2010, Hoejmose et al. Vachon and Klassen 2011)
24 chain) 2013) & (Stevenson et 2006, Rao and Holt 2005)
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25 al. 2014) & (Petkova and Dam Sustainable SCM

26 2014) (Blome et al. 2014,
Values based SCM Fabbe-Costes et al. 2014,
27 (Pullman and Dillard Roehrich et al. 2014)
28 2010)
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29
Unethical buyer supplier
30
practices
31 (Eckerd and Hill 2012)
32 N 5 14 2 3 24 (30)
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33 (including (6) (16) (2) (6)

this
34 special
35 issue)
36 Table 1: Sustainable OM and SCM articles in IJOPM published since 2001 (articles in this
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37 special issue shown in italics)

38
39
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40
41
42 4
43
44
45 3
46 Social
47 Economic
2
48
49 Environmental
50 1 TBL
51
52
53 0
54 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
55
56 Figure 1: Papers published in IJOPM since 2001, focusing on social, economic,
57 environmental and triple bottom line issues.
58
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 International Journal of Operations and Production Management Page 6 of 12

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4
5 Papers in the current special issue: a brief description
6
7 In The diffusion of environmental management system and its effect on environmental
8 management practices, Daniel Prajogo, Ailie Tang, and Kee-Hung Lai surveyed 286
9 companies in Australia to examine the diffusion of environmental management systems
10 (EMS) across the organisational functions of production, procurement, sales, logistics and
11 R&D. In general, EMS diffusion has a positive effect on green products, processes and SCM.
12
13
The deeper the EMS diffusion, the more embedded environmental management practices are
14 in organisational routines.
15
16 In The impact of environmental supply chain sustainability programs on shareholder wealth,
17 Boyana Petkova, and Lammertjan Dam studied environmental supply chain sustainability
18 programmes, and how the stock price fluctuates when a firm announces its commitment to
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19 such a programme. They conducted an event study of 66 companies that committed to the
20 Carbon Disclosure Project. Rather surprisingly, they found that the market reacted negatively
21 to such announcements, and that industries that face consumer pressure are less likely to
22
announce their participation.
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23
24
In Social sustainability in developing country suppliers: An exploratory study in the ready-
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26 made garments industry of Bangladesh, Mark Stevenson, Fahian Huq and Marta Zorzini
27 illuminated through four case studies in Bangladesh why developing country suppliers are
28 adopting socially sustainable practices. Higher labour retention motivates companies to
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29 implement social standards. More open dialogue between buyers and suppliers aids
30 implementation.
31
32
In Supply Chain Collaboration and Sustainability: A profile deviation analysis, Constantin
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34 Blome, Anthony Paulraj and Kai Schuetz surveyed 259 German firms to investigate
35 sustainable supply chain collaboration. They have developed an ideal profile on eight
36 sustainability indicators from top performing companies. Based on the extent of deviation
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37 from their ideal type, it was found that firms lacked internal capabilities to benefit from
38 sustainability collaboration with suppliers and customers and improve firm performance.
39
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40 In Sustainable Supply Chains: a Framework for Environmental Scanning Practices, Nathalie

41 Fabbe-Costes, Christine Roussat, Margaret Taylor and Andrew Taylor explored
42
43
environmental scanning practices in sustainable SCM contexts through 45 interviews and a
44 focus group. Scanning was found to be undertaken at all levels, from the society in which the
45 organization operates, through its network and chain to the firm, its function and people.
46 Scanning practices are also bounded by factors such as geography, the activities of similar
47 companies and industries, and time scales. The study highlights the need for a multi-level
48 framework for such scanning activities.
49
50 Finally, in Reputational Risks and Sustainable Supply Chain Management: Decision Making
51
under Bounded Rationality, Jens Roehrich, Johanne Grosvold and Stefan Hoejmose focus on
52
53
approaches that managers use in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) to protect
54 their company’s reputation. However, because managers face bounded rationality, which
55 constrains their decision-making, they balance the cost of implementing SSCM with the risk
56 of exposure. Managers might make sub-optimal choices with respect to their engagement in
57 socially and environmentally responsible SCM practices. Collaboration with suppliers can
58 help spread the costs of sustainable SCM.
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Page 7 of 12 International Journal of Operations and Production Management

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2
3
4 Overview of the special issue
5
6 The papers in the special issue focus on different aspects of sustainability. Three papers have
7
a predominantly environmental focus, looking at green products, processes and SCM
8
9 (Prajogo et al. 2014), and reductions in pollution, waste, and energy (Petkova and Dam 2014,
10 Blome et al. 2014). One paper focuses on social sustainability in Bangladesh (Stevenson et al.
11 2014), which is encouraging giving the paucity of research on developing countries. The final
12 two papers investigate a broad range of sustainability issues (Roehrich et al. 2014, Fabbe-
13 Costes et al. 2014).
14
15 Of the six papers, three papers consider the impact of SSCM on performance, including
16 environmental and market performance (Blome et al. 2014), productivity (Stevenson et al.
17
2014) and financial performance (Petkova and Dam 2014).
18
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19
20 Several different theories contribute to the framing of sustainable OM/SCM problems in this
21 special issue. Relational theory (Dyer and Singh 1998) was adopted to explore collaboration
22 in sustainable SCM (Blome et al. 2014). The implementation of socially sustainable
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23 practices was explored (Stevenson et al. 2014) using a transaction cost economics lens
24 (Williamson 1985). The theory of constraints (Gupta and Boyd 2008) was used to explore
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25 decision-making in sustainable SCM (Roehrich et al. 2014). Another study tests and extends
26 a conceptual framework of environmental scanning (Fabbe-Costes et al. 2014).
27
28
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29 Future research directions

30
31
32 This special issue presents the most recent exemplary research on sustainable OM. Current
research topics in IJOPM are summarized in Figure 1, along with future research
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33
34 opportunities shown in italics.
35
36
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Suppliers in
37 developing
Negotiating
Socially meaning
38 countries
responsible Human
39 SOCIAL SCM factors
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40 (Un)ethical
Role of
behaviour
41 Values based SCM
individuals
Sustainable Procurement

42
43
Balancing trade-offs

Sustainable SCM

Environmental
Sustainable OM

Multi-tier production
44 studies
45 ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPLIER FOCAL FIRM
46 EMS
Environmental
47 SCM Environmental
48 performance

49
Environmental
50 Green SCM
management
and firm
51 ECONOMIC performance
and firm
performance
52 Off-shoring and
Effect of
economic
53 reshoring
recession SMEs
54
55
56
57 Figure 1: Current research in sustainable OM, with future research opportunities shown in
58 italics
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 International Journal of Operations and Production Management Page 8 of 12

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3 The number of studies that incorporate the triple bottom line of sustainability in this special
4 issue is particularly welcome. Balancing trade-offs between the different aspects of
5 sustainability is a fruitful direction for future research (Wu and Pagell 2011). There are still
6 many gaps that need addressing in this emerging field. There is significant opportunity for
7
more studies that develop or test theories to help understand sustainable OM. Particularly, in-
8
9 depth case studies might contribute to new theory development. A further link would extend
10 this work to aspects of sustainability performance. Managing sustainability performance
11 along the supply chain will necessarily consider a wider set of trade-offs, particularly in
12 social-environmental and social-economic intersections.
13
14
A further line of research along a behavioural and human factors vein could usefully explore
15
16
the role of individual managers and employees in influencing sustainable OM. It would be
17 helpful to explore different views of sustainability along supply chains, whether the view of
18 one individual, firm or country dominates, and whether the meaning of sustainability may
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19 need to be negotiated and socially constructed within and between organisations.
20
21
Another avenue for research is to explore the impact of recent business trends on sustainable
22
OM. Retrospective studies could explore the effects of economic recession or growth on
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23
24 sustainable OM. It would also be helpful to understand how sustainable OM is affected by
off-shoring and re-shoring. More research is needed in the developing and low-income
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26 countries at the Base-of-the-pyramid (Gold et al., 2013). Given that the majority of the world
27 population lives in these countries under severe social conditions, OM research on
28 sustainability can potentially make a significant contribution.
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29
30
31 Research has tended to investigate sustainable OM from a focal firm perspective, often
32 conducting research in the context of large private sector manufacturing firms. It would be
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33 interesting to explore how small businesses can improve sustainable OM, and to encourage
34 an increase in studies in the service and public sectors. Furthermore, expanding the OM/SCM
35 boundary to go beyond internal and dyadic organizational investigations to multi-tier
36 investigations is an important direction for more holistic explanation of sustainability.
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37 Investigations along this stream become more complex, especially broad-based empirical
38
studies, and methodological advances may be required. Multiple levels of analysis,
39
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40
simultaneously, can prove useful for further insights into the congruency and fit issues within
41 and between organizations.
42
43
44 Final thoughts
45
46
47
In the last 20 years, the pioneers of sustainable OM have made significant contributions to the
48 field. There has been an increase in the number of papers on different topics in recent years,
49 and our understanding of sustainable OM has broadened and deepened. Milton Friedman
50 (1970) argued that ‘the business of business is business’, and that the foremost concern of
51 organisations should be profit, and not CSR and sustainability issues. However, many CEOs
52 reported that sustainability issues are rising on their agendas (Anonymous 2010). It would
53 seem that much sustainable OM research is still driven by the profit paradigm, linking
54 sustainability with organisational and financial performance. Are sustainability initiatives
55
only of value if they lead to a profit or competitive advantage? Or are responsible business
56
57
practices a worthwhile endeavour regardless of profits? There seems to be a groundswell of
58 concern within society of the power of multinational firms, and the pursuit of profit at the
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Page 9 of 12 International Journal of Operations and Production Management

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3 expense of sustainability issues. This interest shows no sign of abating, and we may see
4 interesting studies in the future that are less concerned with shareholder value and more
5 concerned with stakeholder values (Freeman 1984).
6
7
The co-editors have been in a privileged position to evaluate fifty-eight manuscripts
8
9 addressing a myriad of sustainability topics for this special issue. There were many
10 interesting papers submitted that did not make it into the final six selected papers. This
11 number of interesting and potentially novel works is encouraging. We believe that many of
12 these submitted manuscripts, although not appearing in this special issue, will contribute to
13 the sustainability literature. Best wishes to these researchers with their ongoing research as
14 their contributions to the field continue. We would like to thank the many reviewers who
15 contributed their time to reviewing the manuscripts submitted to this special issue.
16
17
The OM discipline is in a position to lead other business disciplines in sustainability research
18
and practice. This special issue continues the sustainability leadership position of OM. Given
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19
20 this situation, we look forward to seeing the next exciting developments in sustainable OM
21 being published in IJOPM.
22
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23 References
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