Resources and Capabilities for Sustainable Operations Strategy (original) (raw)

Building a competitive advantage through sustainable operations strategy

This paper addresses an important gap in sustainability and technology management studies: the strategies for sustainable operations. Based on analysis of cases from automotive, textile, chemical, and food processing industries, the authors discuss the responses companies take to environmental and social pressures when aiming at increasing profitability. Our findings show that adaptations of traditional operations strategy frameworks can be useful when developing and assessing sustainability strategy for operations. Lastly, we also offer definitions for 'sustainable operations strategy' and 'sustainable technology' as those are not yet established in the literature. We consider the contribution of this article to be linked to the development and evaluation of sustainable operations strategies, which will invariably include the choice and use of technologies.

Sustainable operations strategy: theoretical frameworks evolution

Companies are developing new models for assessing sustainability of their operations nets. They are engaging in an evolutionary trajectory that over time leads them to different levels of sustainability maturity. This paper proposes a set of maturity-based recommendations that could be used for reviewing operations strategy. Recommendations are developed based on the following premises: there is an evolutionary development of operations management models regarding sustainable issues; these models have been consolidated in the last ten years; there are evidences in literature that could be used to trace models evolution.

Sustainable operations management

Purpose Sustainable operations management (OM) has been of increasing interest to businesses and governments in recent years. This paper considers how operations practice and research has responded to demands to address sustainability. Approach In this paper, we consider how the field of sustainable OM is developing, and has responded 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 special issue published in 2001. Findings Of the total number of articles published in IJOPM since 2001, only 3.3% have investigated some aspect of sustainable OM. Of these sustainable OM articles, 64% are environmental articles, and there is an emerging trend for social articles, or articles that address the triple 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 paper in the special issue, and give an overview of how the papers address different aspects of sustainability. Research limitations/implications This paper analyzes articles in IJOPM, and it would be interesting to investigate whether similar trends are identifiable in other OM journals. Practical implications This paper provides a useful overview of sustainable OM for practitioners, identifying sustainability research within and between organisations, and shows how the nature of sustainable OM research has changed in recent years. Social implications This paper highlights the recent trend in articles that address social issues in OM, such as employee well-being, health and safety, and the triple bottom line of sustainability. Originality/value This is the first special issue on sustainable OM in 13 years in IJOPM. We conclude with thoughts about future research directions, and expect the proportion of sustainable OM papers to increase in years to come.

Sustainable operations management: recent trends and future directions

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 2014

Sustainable operations management (OM) has been of increasing interest to businesses and governments in recent years. This paper considers how operations practice and research has responded to demands to address sustainability.

Studying sustainability process implementation through an operations management lens

2014

Sustainable operations have developed a strategic role for enterprises’ competitiveness, particularly when they are connected to product and/or process improvement, new markets, and risk management. Some companies are differentiating themselves through sustainability, showing innovative solutions for incorporating sustainable practices. This paper explores identifying patterns in sustainable practices adoption. Three Brazilian companies were studied for characterizing their sustainable operations management models. The results pointed that patterns are emerging but companies are still reaching difficulties to integrated sustainability to their competitive strategies, business models and value chain. Also the results contribute for identifying recommendations that can be followed to establish a sustainable operations management model.

Studying sustainability process implementation through operations management lens

21th International Annual EurOMA Conference, 2014

Sustainable operations have developed a strategic role for enterprises' competitiveness, particularly when they are connected to product and/or process improvement, new markets, and risk management. Some companies are differentiating themselves through sustainability, showing innovative solutions for incorporating sustainable practices. This paper explores identifying patterns in sustainable practices adoption. Three Brazilian companies were studied for characterizing their sustainable operations management models. The results pointed that patterns are emerging but companies are still reaching difficulties to integrated sustainability to their competitive strategies, business models and value chain. Also the results contribute for identifying recommendations that can be followed to establish a sustainable operations management model.

Developing capabilities for Sustainable Operations Management

5th International EurOMA Sustainable Operations and Supply Chains Forum, 2018

Integrating sustainability in companies' agenda is a complex and multidisciplinary task. Based on the results of a survey conducted in 2015 with 106 respondents from manufacturing and infrastructure companies in Brazil, this research aims to verify the organization of a list of the main sustainable operations management capabilities that can provide companies with a path to achieve a higher level of maturity regarding sustainability integration. The research contributes by mitigating the lack of frameworks that seek alignment between operations with sustainability issues, helping to guide the strategy and to audit the level of sustainability integration.

Sustainability operations management: an overview of research trends

2012 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference, 2012

Several authors have been devoted their research projects to understand and map research topics and themes studied in the field of Industrial Engineering (IE), particularly those related to Operations Management (OM), aiming to contribute to the field scope delimitation, identifying for that purpose its main authors and their contribution for theory and practice. This study seeks to frame this knowledge regarding to sustainability research. Bibliometrics and statistics analysis were performed using information collected from 500 selected papers in nine international databases related to OM field, based on the keywords "Sustainability" and "Operations Management". Results point to a central set of nineteen authors whose work is strongly related to sustainability issues. All information are systematized generating descriptive statistics, network graphs and multivariate matrices for research topics, methodologies, outlets, main academic and normative references. Thus, this paper contributes with an overview of trends and gaps for future research in sustainability concerning operations management field.

Practicing sustainability in operations and supply Chain management

Supply chain forum, 2022

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.