More and more companies now recognize that creating a sustainable supply chain is more that just the right thing to do-it's a requisite to business success. Sustainability today resembles the quality movement of three decades ago. As with quality, there was initial resistance to "going green." But it soon became apparent that the benefits were far too great to ignore. And done right, sustainability can be free.
The growing importance of China and India, along with rapidly rising fuel prices, have caused some firms to begin to re-examine their manufacturing processes and the configurations of their supply chains. In relation, the definition of the concept of sustainability is evolving. For many firms and organizations, sustainability refers primarily to environmental stewardship. For other groups, sustainability seems to primarily mean actions related to social responsibility. Many of the managers who have worked on the concept of sustainability in the past have avoided much focus on the financial portion of sustainability and concentrated on the environment and social responsibility.
For this project, we plan to focus on how supply chains, and the firms that make up those supply chains, can be long lasting.