Assignment 1: Individual

The purpose of this individual assignment is to give each of you an opportunity to research and understand the concept of sustainability in supply chain management, develop the skills and understanding to examine a specific supply chain and apply sustainable principles, and integrate sustainability using the Triple Bottom Line definition, in a practical way.

Title and Scope

A sustainable supply chain is one that includes measures of profit and loss as well as social and environmental dimensions (Carter and Rogers, 2008), it is a concept often referred to as the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) which considers financial, social, and environmental performance (Kleindorfer et al, 2005).

Using the triple bottom line definition of sustainability:

1) Define the scope, importance and impact of sustainable supply chains.
2) Discuss the importance and opportunities for enterprises to implement sustainable supply chain practices.
3) Develop a high-level roadmap for supply chain sustainability and scope-out how such a roadmap could be applied to a conventional global supply chain.

The working title of the assignment is:

“Sustainable Supply Chains and the Triple Bottom Line approach”.

Given “sustainability” in supply chain management is an emerging topic with little regulatory governance or recognised international reference standards you should take a “holistic” perspective to include all supply chain elements. It is expected that in producing masters-level work you will use appropriate theories and /or frameworks and/or guides to structure, explicate and inform your analysis.

Theories, frameworks and guides you may find useful on this assignment include:

Pagell and Wu (2009), The Triple Bottom Line (Elkington J, 1994), the SCOR model (Supply Chain Council/APICS). Supply Chain Sustainability, A Practical Guide for Continuous Improvement (UNGC/BSR, 2010), Business Guide to a Sustainable Supply Chain, A Practical Guide (NZBCSD,2003).

Some frameworks include Porter’s Five Forces, Porter’s Value Chain and PESTLE/ SWOT/ SMART analysis.

Given the time constraints and the absence of specific detailed supply chain knowledge you are not expected to collect empirical data, your analysis, therefore, will be based entirely or largely on your reading and synthesis of academic and/or industry information sources together with information gained from discussion and class lectures. Use quotations, examples and illustrations in your report.