Helena Carvalho

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to suggest an Index entitled {GResilient} Index to assess the greenness and resilience of the automotive companies and corresponding supply chain. Design/methodology/approach: An integrated assessment model is proposed based on Green and Resilient practices. These practices are weighted according to their importance to the automotive supply chain competitiveness. The Delphi technique is used to obtain the weights for the focused supply chain paradigms and corresponding practices. The model is then tested using a case study approach in the automotive supply chain. Findings: The case study results confirmed the applicability of this Index in a real-world supply chain. The results show that the Resilient supply chain management paradigm is the one considered as the one that more contributes for the automotive supply chain competitiveness. Research limitations/implications: The proposed Index was developed in the automotive sector context therefore it could not be adjusted to a different one. Future research could consider other aggregation methods for the Index construction. Practical implications: Supply chain participants will be able to evaluate the performance of their companies or supply chain in terms of Green and Resilient paradigms. Also, the Index can be effectively employed for functional benchmarking among competing companies and supply chains.

Purpose –This paper aims to propose a resilience index to assess the company ability to avoid and minimize the negative effects of supply chain disturbances.
Design/methodology/approach – An inductive research approach was used to develop a resilience assessment model. In a first stage, to collect empirical data, an exploratory case study was performed in seven companies’ belong to different positions in the Portuguese automotive supply chain. Next, a resilience index was derived from the case study main findings. In a final stage, the index was then tested using a case study approach in the automotive supply chain.
Findings – It was found that managers do not associate supply chain disturbances to a particular type of events, but with the negative effects that events provoke. The results also suggest that the resilience strategies they used are dependent on the type of supply chain disturbances negative effects. These empirical findings were used to develop a supply chain resilience assessment model and two resilience indexes: resilience index of “on time delivery” to “capacity shortage” and resilience index of “on time delivery” to “materials shortage”.
Research limitations/implications – This paper has the limitations common to all case studies, such as the subjectivity of the analysis and results generalization. Since only the automotive sector was studied, the findings are not universally applicable across different industry sectors in various countries.
Originality/value – The study contributes to the existing literature by empirically investigating the main effects of supply chain disturbances and how companies can increase supply chain resilience. It also suggests a way to evaluate companies’ resilience after a disturbance occurrence and identifies a set of supply chain state variables to improve supply chain resilience.

As organizações são concebidas com o enfoque principal na eficiência. As práticas de gestão que adoptam pressupõem, regra geral, a estabilidade do ambiente onde estão inseridas. Por isso, as organizações ficam vulneráveis aos distúrbios a que são sujeitas, e cuja frequência é cada vez maior, o que condiciona a sua eficiência, o seu nível de produtividade e, consequentemente, a sua competitividade. Porque existe uma relação de interdependência mais ou menos definida entre as organizações, a ocorrência de um distúrbio numa delas pode afectar todas as que dela dependem. É, por isso, fundamental que as organizações sejam mais resilientes, isto é, sejam capazes de reagir a um distúrbio inesperado, regressando rapidamente ao estado original ou a um melhor, após a cessação do distúrbio. Neste sentido, uma das acções que pode ser tomada é a definição de planos de mitigação e/ou de contingência. A adequação de planos, de mitigação e/ou de contingência, a implementar quando uma organização está perante um distúrbio, sendo por natureza uma actividade pró-activa, pressupõe a identificação dos distúrbios a que a organização pode ficar sujeita. Atendendo a que os distúrbios podem ter características muito diferentes, no que concerne à frequência de ocorrência, efeito crítico, nível de previsibilidade, área afectada na organização e duração, e podem, ainda, ter origem em fontes diversas, internas ou externas à organização produzidas pelo Homem ou pela Natureza, é fundamental que existam modelos que permitam a sua caracterização e a quantificação do grau de severidade das suas consequências para a organização onde incidem. É possível identificar na bibliografia modelos cujo desenvolvimento está associado aos distúrbios. Contudo, o âmbito em que são desenvolvidos é muito diverso. Nenhum deles, porém, permite caracterizar os distúrbios. O principal objectivo deste artigo é apresentar um modelo conceptual que permita caracterizar os distúrbios e avaliar a severidade dos seus efeitos para a organização onde incidem.

Supply chain management must adopt different and more innovative strategies that support a better response to customer needs in an uncertain environment. Supply chains must be more agile and be more capable of coping with disturbances, meaning that supply chains must be more resilient. The simultaneous deployment of agile and resilient approaches will enhance supply chain performance and competitiveness. Accordingly, the main objective of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework for the analysis of relationships between agile and resilient approaches, supply chain competitiveness and performance. Operational and economic performance measures are proposed to facilitate the monitoring of the influence of these practices on supply chain performance. The influence of the proposed agile and resilient practices on supply chain competitiveness is also examined in terms of time to market, product quality and customer service.

The supply chains (SCs) have to appeal to new management paradigms to improve their ability to respond rapidly and cost effectively to unpredictable changes in markets and increasing levels of environmental turbulence, both in terms of volume and variety. In this highly demanded context, the Agile paradigm provides the capabilities to SC quickly adapt to changes in the market requirements. The purpose of this paper is to suggest an Agile Index to assess the agility of the automotive companies and corresponding SCs.The proposed integrated assessment model incorporates Agile practices weighted according to their importance to the automotive SC competitiveness and obtained from the Delphi technique.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the deployment of RFID technology in fashion supply chain management (FSCM). It highlights the contribution of RFID to FSCM, supporting faster logistics activities, with greater products quality, cheaper and with more responsiveness, improving customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – An inductive theory building approach is used to develop a conceptual model for RFID deployment in the {FSCM} context. Secondary data analysis from a sample of six companies supports the identification and discussion of the real advantages, disadvantages and barriers felt by companies in a fashion supply chain when {RFID} technology is introduced. Findings – The logistics activities in the fashion supply chain where {RFID} technology is most widely deployed are: shipping operations, tracking of raw materials, semi-finished components and finished garments, collecting finished goods, handling processes, tracking containers, tracking products from factory to store, receiving operations, monitoring, and sorting of merchandise. In most cases, the tagging operation is performed at some stage in the production process and tag reading occurs at distribution centres or at stores. The main barrier identified to the deployment of {RFID} is the problem of interoperability. The costs associated with the technology are the main disadvantage pointed out by the companies. Practical implications – A conceptual framework is proposed exploring the {RFID} advantages and disadvantages across the fashion supply chain, the main barriers to its introduction and the fashion supply chain logistics activities in which {RFID} could be found. This represents an important contribution to companies in this industry to become more aware of {RFID.} Also, new companies which are thinking of introducing this technology could overcome its barriers easily, improving its advantages and minimizing its disadvantages. Originality/value – This paper explores the deployment of {RFID} in the fashion supply chain from the perspective of technology users.

This paper suggests an Ecosilient Index to assess the greenness and resilience of automotive companies and the corresponding supply chain. An integrated assessment model is proposed based on green and resilient practices. The Delphi technique is used to obtain the weights of the supply chain paradigms that are the focus of the study and the corresponding practices. The application of the proposed index is then illustrated using a case study approach in the automotive supply chain; in particular the case study is focused in the link supplier/manufacturer. The case study findings confirm the applicability of this index in a real-world supply chain and highlight its managerial implications. The results show that the resilient paradigm is considered to be the one that contributes more to the competitiveness of the automotive supply chain. The green practice identified as the most important to the greenness of this industry is to reduce energy consumption. The significant contributions to resilience are sourcing strategies that allow switching of suppliers, flexible supply base/flexible sourcing and creating total supply chain visibility. The proposed index was developed in the context of automotive sector; this constitutes an initial effort to close the gap between theory and practice. Future research is needed to investigate the index applicability in different industry contexts.

This paper aims to study the influence of eco-innovation practices on eco-efficiency of business, which embraces environmental and economic performance. Four hypotheses are drawn up based on the existing literature in green supply chain and considering the business innovation. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data on a sample of {USA} and Portuguese innovative organizations. Multivariate statistics and Partial Least Squares ({PLS)} path modelling techniques were used to test the proposed hypothesis. The statistical analysis allows to conclude that there are differences between the eco-innovation practices deployed by organizations belonging to different sectors and with different sizes. Also, it was found that the level of implementation of the different eco-innovation practices by organizations influence the eco-efficiency of businesses.

Green and lean paradigms have been adopted by companies in order to manage their relationships with suppliers in a supply chain management context, but nearly always separately and with little understanding of their influence on company performance. This paper proposes a theoretical framework for the analysis of the influence of green and lean upstream supply chain management practices on the sustainable development of businesses. To attend this objective, a set of performance measures covering economic (operational cost, environmental cost, and inventory cost), environmental (business wastage, green image, and CO2 emission), and social (corruption risk, supplier screening and local supplier) perspectives is proposed. An explanatory case study was conducted at a Portuguese automaker to test qualitatively the validity of the proposed theoretical framework. From the case study, a model is suggested, which encompasses the relationships between green and lean upstream supply chain practices and sustainable business development.

The main objective of this exploratory paper is to investigate the relationships between green practices of supply chain management and supply chain performance. This relationship is investigated in the context of the automotive industry. Five research propositions are suggested and tested with empirical data derived from five case studies taken from the Portuguese automotive supply chain. The data analysis identifies the most important green practices considered by managers, as well as the performance measures that are most appropriate and most widely used as means to evaluate the influence of green practices on supply chain performance. A conceptual model was derived from the data analysis and it can be used to assess the influence of green practices on supply chain performance. This model provides evidence as to which green practices have positive effects on quality, customer satisfaction and efficiency. It also identifies the practices which have negative effects on supply chain performance.

This paper proposes a composite index, called the AR Index, to assess the agility and resilience of automotive companies and their respective supply chains. As a first step, a model to support the AR Index is developed. Next, an AR Index for the automotive supply chain is suggested using a set of relevant Agile and Resilient supply chain practices. The Delphi technique was used to obtain a series of weights for those practices. Finally a case study approach is used to illustrate the application of the AR Index. This study represents an original approach that suggests a unique composite indicator for the Agile and Resilient paradigms in the context of automotive supply chains

The main objective of this paper is to propose an index to assess the agility and leanness of individual companies and the corresponding supply chain. The index is named Agilean and is obtained from a set of Agile and Lean supply chain practices integrated in an assessment model. The Delphi technique is used to develop a series of weighted Agile and Lean {SCM} practices and also the importance of paradigms through experts in automotive research topics. As a way to illustrate the application of the index and find out if it returns return meaningful values, a case study is presented. The case study results confirm the quite easy applicability of the suggested Agilean index in a supply chain real-world setting. This index makes it possible to assess the companies and corresponding supply chain Agile and Lean behaviour, which is translated into an index score to compare competing companies and supply chains.

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the divergences and commitments between the lean, agile, resilient and green paradigms while investigating the effect of paradigms' practices within supply chain attributes.
Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual model with lean, agile, resilient and green practices and supply chain management attributes is proposed. Causal diagrams were used to represent the relationships between paradigm practices and supply chain attributes. The four diagrams were aggregated to build the conceptual model.
Findings – The conceptual model allows for the identification of synergies and divergences resulting from the paradigms practices implementation. The synergies between paradigms are related to “information frequency” and “integration level” increasing as well as reduction of “production lead time” and “transportation lead time”. However, other supply chain attributes such as “capacity surplus”, “inventory level” and “replenishment frequency” are affected in opposite directions by some paradigms creating divergences.
Research limitations/implications – The model relationships were established using an anecdotal approach derived from the literature review, reflecting only a partial view of supply chain dynamics. More research related to other supply chain attributes and/or paradigm practices, and validation of the proposed relationships is suggested.
Practical implications – The proposed model can be the basis for further research in lean, agile, resilient and green paradigms, contributing to a more sustainable and competitive lean supply chain with the necessary agility toward a quick response, resiliency to disruptions, and harmonization with the ecologic and environmental aspects. Originality/value – To the authors' knowledge this paper is the first to provide an understanding about the tradeoffs among lean, agile, resilient and green supply chain paradigms.