Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRODUCTION RESEARCH
Volume 61, Issue 14, Pages 4657-4683Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2021.1890260
Keywords
Supply chain management; multi-tier supply chain; pulp and paper industry; manufacturing industry; sustainability practices
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The study examines the sustainability of the pulp and paper industry's supply chain, focusing on factors that influence multi-tier sustainability. The results highlight the importance of institutional and technological factors in achieving a sustainable supply chain.
The pulp and paper industry has significant sustainability implications and necessarily requires a careful consideration of direct and lower-tier suppliers for effective sustainable supply chain management. This paper utilized an extensive literature review and semi-structured interviews of experts in the Chinese pulp and paper industry to unearth the factors that highly influence multi-tier supply chain sustainability. A Technological-Organizational-Environmental (TOE) and Human-Organizational-Technological (HOT-fit) based theoretical framework was employed to classify the identified factors. Then, an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) based methodology was applied to determine the relative importance of the factors. A comparison analysis of the relative importance of the factors as determined by the experts in the focal companies, Tier-1 suppliers and Tier-2 suppliers of the Chinese pulp and paper industry is presented. The results show that institutional and technological factors are most critical to actualizing multi-tier supply chain sustainability. Thus, the study outcomes present relevant theoretical and practical implications for the managers and practitioners in the pulp and paper industry on how to facilitate multi-tier supply chain sustainability for increased competitiveness. Furthermore, this study provides guidelines for other industries as well and sets the stage for subsequent theorization and exploration of multi-tier supply chain sustainability for expected performance gains.
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