Stepping-stones for integrated chain management in the firm

✍ Scribed by Teun Wolters; Peter James; Mark Bouman

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 172 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0964-4733
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0836(199707)6:3<121::aid-bse107>3.0.co;2-c

✦ Synopsis

Plans (issued in 1989 and 1993)

identi®ed Integrated Chain Management ± the incorporation of sustainability considerations into supply chains and related networks ± as an important means of implementing their ambitious environmental objectives in the economic sphere. However, there is a debate going on as to what kind of policy measures would support its adoption and how they can be implemented in practice.

Integrated Chain Management has two main features. The ®rst is the ¯ows of materials which result from economic activities. The second is the institutional frameworks which shape the production and consumption processes which drive the material ¯ows. Previous studies have examined the ecological, economic, organizational and public policy aspects of Integrated Chain Management. However, they have not clari®ed the business logic behind the forces that give rise to chainoriented action. This matters because public policy is most effective when it is compatible with existing business trends. This paper therefore examines these trends (in particular Total Quality Management, Supply Chain Management and environmental management) utilizing current literatures and four case studies of large British and Dutch companies. From this examination it generates four steppingstones for encouraging movement towards Integrated Chain Management. In principle, the results are relevant to all economic sectors.