Priorities in Decision Making Inline With Supply Chains (Term Paper Sample)

Name:
Instructor:
Course:
Date:
Balancing priorities: Decision-making in sustainable supply chain management
There has been an increase in global concerns on social and environmental issues. This has called for researchers to do what they know best. Wu Z. and Pagell M. have done a research on the sustainability of supply chain management systems. Here in are answers to a few questions in relation tot eh research report by the two researchers.
This is a research conducted by Wu and Pagell by the use theory-building via case studies (Christiansen, 30). The purpose of the research was answering the question of the way companies balance profitability of a short term as well as lasting environmental sustainability. This is significant especially when making decisions of supply chains under uncertainty conditions.
The method of research used in this case is quantitative which is evidenced by the use of materials like case studies in building their theory. These two scholars provide five sets of propositions which elaborate on the way patterns in the management of green supply chain make decisions plus balance shorts as well as long-term objectives. Moreover, four environmental postures have been identified to assist in explaining the decisions that organizations make when they are dealing with strategic-offs in the midst of social, economic and environmental elements of the triple-bottom line (Zijm, et al, 36).
Wu ad Pagell used a set of ten exampler industries in their research (Christiansen, 30). These would be sufficient in covering the goal of the research. This is because they will help them in building a testable and coherent model that would be used by supply chain mangers in developing sustainable supply chains because they had covered a wide range of industries (Zijm, et al, 36).
The research was effective in realizing a three dimensional framework in supply chain (Zijm, et al, 36). The first was the X-axis and represented the supply chain, the other dimension was management on the Y-axis and sustainability was on the Z-axis. At the first dimension research provided two main classifications with the first dealing with process such as production, procurement, distribution and sales (Zijm, et al, 36). On the other hand, the other deals with the system players. On the second dimension the functions of management are controlled at a strategic level. The authors places three levels on the Y-dimension; strategic, tactical and operational. These will ensure effectiveness and efficiency in the supply chain system. Finally, at sustainable dimension there were three objectives namely social environmental and economic. The X and Y axis address the economic responsibility and the Z-axis as the sustainability dimension of the system.
According to the findings of this report, the sustainability issues would be more relevant in the Information Communication industry (Christiansen, 30). This is because in supply chain management sustainability is not dependent on economic achievement alone but it depends on how successful it is in terms of social, environmental and innovations. IT industry is known to have the innovations, social and environmental issues.
There are timeframes in relation to the sustainability dimension in each industry. There is the long term and short term times frames and ...