SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS

RESEARCH BASED ASSIGNMENT ON

a. SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

b. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEAN OPERATIONS
AND SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS.
c. ENVIRONMENT ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY

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 1. SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
Organizations are having an overwhelming interest in managing corporate social responsibility
(CSR) and sustainability as part of their operations management. OM practices and research
must respond to demands to address sustainability. This response is triggered by climate change
and other environmental concerns, the well-being of workers and communities, and other broad
social demands. We define sustainable OM as the pursuit of social, economic and environmental
objectives the triple bottom line within operations of a specific firm and operational linkages
that extend beyond the firm to include the supply chain and communities. Given the growth,
importance and pervasiveness of OM sustainability concerns, a special issue focusing on these
efforts is overdue. This need for currency is a reason for this special issue in the International
Journal of Operations and Production Management (IJOPM).
STRUCTURE OF THE PAPER
The research paper gives an introduction to sustainable operations management. This is followed
by the ways in which sustainable OM field is evolving, Developments in the sustainable OM
literature. Later, it discusses about the overview of special issue. Then, it is followed by future
research directions. Conclusion was explained at the end of this research paper.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research methodology involves the usage of secondary data with review and analysis
of the literature review of articles related to sustainable operation management and
supply chain management in IJOPM since 2001.

MAJOR FINDINGS
In the last 20 years, the pioneers of sustainable OM have made significant contributions
to the field. There has been an increase in the number of papers on different topics in

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 recent years, and our understanding of sustainable OM has broadened and deepened.
sustainable OM research is still driven by the profit paradigm, linking sustainability with
organisational and financial performance. The OM discipline is in a position to lead other
business disciplines in sustainability research and practice. This special issue continues
the sustainability leadership position of OM. Given this situation, they look forward to
seeing the next exciting developments in sustainable OM being published in IJOPM.

CRITICISM

Relevancy of the topic:

Human life is dependent upon the natural environment, which, most would agree, is rapidly
degrading. Business enterprises are a dominant form of social organization and contribute to the
worsening, and enhancement, of the natural environment. Sustainability is considered as a
valuable aspect as it provides the scope of existence without affecting future. Which is very
crucial in present scenario. So the topic is very relevant.
Appropriatness of the research methodology:
Only literature review is carried out, which is not that much appropriate
It is not adequately supported as it lack statistical data regarding the topic.

GAPS
Different types of environmental measures (waste and pollution reduction, reduction of
hazardous materials, etc.), social initiatives (related to employees versus the external
community) and economic factors (sales versus costs) could have been analysed
The study is a cross sectional
All data were collected from the key respondent which contains certain disadvantages
The results cant be generalized to all sectors. Also statistical analysis is not carried out
for two papers
The timeframe used to measure all the constructs was the same

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LOGICAL FLOW
The research article logical flow starts with a brief introduction, which was followed by research
methodology, analysis, results and conclusion.

CONCLUSION
Sustainability in OM is one of the most important global challenges of the 21st century.
According to renowned climate scientist James Hansen: Our global climate is nearing tipping
points. Changes are beginning to appear, and there is a potential for rapid changes with effects
that would be irreversibleif we do not rapidly slow fossil fuel emissions during the next few
decades.13 The body of peer reviewed climate science studies is unequivocal: anthropogenic
climate change is a reality.14 In the absence of expeditious action to decrease greenhouse gas
emissions, the prognosis for many on planet earth due to lethal planetary overheating is grim.
Information systems are an important but inadequately understood weapon in the arsenal of
organizations in their quest for environmental sustainability by enabling new practices and
processes in support of belief formation, action formation, and outcome assessment.

Results show that in the assembly industry, internal environmental programs have a positive
impact on the three components of the triple bottom line: Environmental, social and economic
performance. In the case of social programs, there is a positive impact on social and
environmental performance; however, manufacturing plants in these industries still need to
obtain positive financial gains (in terms of reduced manufacturing costs) from this process.
Finally, regarding the external or supply chain programs, our results show that supply chain
assessment has no impact on the triple bottom line, whereas supply chain collaboration
contributes to improve all of the three pillars.

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 2. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEAN OPERATIONS
AND SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS.
INTRODUCTION

Companies are rapidly switching to accepting sustainability as an organizational imperative.

There is, however, little convergence on how organizations become sustainable. Some
researchers suggest that a paradigm shift is necessary to incorporate more sustainable ways of
thinking, while others advocate that sustainability requires only moderate behavioral changes.
Several researchers suggest that sustainability develops most effectively when a singular view
of sustainability is applied throughout the company; others contend that differentiated views
of sustainability emerge within the various subcultures of an organization. Researchers also
disagree about whether sustainability is best implemented from the top-down, bottom-up, or
middle of an organization.

The adoption of lean operational practices and independently the uptake of business practices
related to sustainability and corporate social responsibility continues to grow. Past research has
hinted at relationships between these two areas - suggesting that "lean is green. The lean mantra
of waste reduction and "doing more with less" is immediately apparent as delivering
environmental benefits. Almost all research linking lean operations or lean supply chains to
sustainability issues have focused exclusively on environmental impact.

STRUCTURE OF THE PAPER

The research paper start with the need of sustainability in an organization. Business leaders now
recognize that sustainability has moved beyond the corporate social responsibility agenda to
become an integral part of core business strategy and success. In the first paper The relationship

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between lean operations and sustainable operations, they have clearly shown how to fully
integrate sustainability issues with lean operations. Then they have identified two levels of
lean operations: one at the workplace (centered around operational improvements); and one at
the strategic operating level (focused on the strategy process and broader organizing philosophy
of the company). They end up by finding the necessity of green in lean operations to attain
sustainability.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The paper The relationship between lean operations and sustainable operations uses a
longitudinal multi-year (up to four years observation), multi-case analysis (n =5).

MAJOR FINDINGS / RESULTS

The paper The relationship between lean operations and sustainable operations reports that
lean operations meet a wide range of sustainability outcomes beyond environmental benefits
including supply monitoring, transparency, workforce treatment, and community
engagement. The paper specifies the internal and external policies, procedures, tools, and
strategies for implementation of lean and sustainable operations management. This is
encapsulated in the development of a stage-based theoretical model of lean-sustainability.
Further, it is proposed that lean implementation and sustainability performance are in fact
interlinked.

CRITICISM

Relevance of the subject: There is one common theme across all organizations irrespective if
the business is a government agency, manufacturer, mining or a bank and that is they all perform
operations. The sustainable operation management has resulted from public awareness of
environmental degradation pushing businesses to redefine long term success incorporating
environment and social factors alongside the economic factors. This has influenced business to

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no longer just think about the financial bottom line but to think about the triple bottom line -
planet, people and profit.

Appropriateness of the research methodology used: The papers have used more of case
analysis and exploratory approach. Since multiple cases are being referred, the result could be
accurate to an extend whereas in exploratory methodology, the results may vary with the view
point of the people being interviewed. In second paper only three organizations are taken into
consideration which is not enough to generalize the result.

Results being adequately supported: The sources are mentioned in the paper which support the
results but no adequate examples are provided for further clarification. But all the issues
encountered were analyzed properly and solved.

Gaps/Contradictions: The first paper is based on past research and studies which may not be
relevant with the current scenario. Also, the incomplete definitions are problematic as it fails to
classify lean properly making it difficult to identify the true sustainability benefit and can lead to

incorrect negative associations being identified.

Logical flow of the content: The papers have a proper logical flow clearly starting with the
introduction of the topic, the need of sustainability, the issues regarding implementing it and the
future benefits.

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 c. ENVIRONMENT ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY

INTRODUCTION
The research paper Environment Energy and Sustainability talks about the impact
sustainability has on people, profit and planet. The term sustainability integrates social,
environmental and economic responsibilities. A broad perspective on triple-bottom-line
integrates profit, people and the planet into corporate culture, strategy and operations. Studying
sustainability from the Operations Management field is essential for two fundamental reasons:
First, firms have to account for the energy and other resources they use and the resulting
footprint they leave behind. The primary activities that contribute to their footprint are the
production, transportation, recycling and remanufacturing of current products and the design of
new products; therefore, it is clear that OM can contribute to reduce this footprint Second,
companies need to operate in a prudent and responsible manner and take care of employee health
and safety and the quality of life of the external community.
STRUCTURE OF THE PAPER
The research paper begins with the introduction to sustainable operations: their impact on triple
bottom line. Then it describes the literature review and hypothesis development, which defines
different hypothesis. Later, it discusses about the research methodology used to analyze the
different hypothesis made. In this section, the sample, data collection method and measures are
defined. Then, it is followed by analyses and result part, where the data is analyzed using
hierarchical regression model. In addition to this major results were mentioned in this part and
conclusions were explained at the end of this research paper.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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 The research paper includes data taken from the fifth round of the International
Manufacturing Strategy Survey. In the IMSS questionnaire, questions are divided into
various sections, starting with some general information (size, industry, etc.) and then
focusing on different strategies, programs (organizational, lean, quality, supply chain,
etc.) and performance. Questionnaires were administered simultaneously in each country
by local research coordinators. They were mailed or e-mailed to the Director of
Operations/Manufacturing or the person with the equivalent position in the organization.
The IMSS-V sample consists of 678 manufacturing plants from 19 countries, with an
average response rate of 18.3%. For the purposes of this study, they did not consider
responses from Portugal and Ireland due to the small number of cases in those countries.
Also 4 hypotheses were formulated and analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis.

MAJOR FINDINGS
Though internal-socially oriented action programs have a statistically significant effect on
economic performance, it is not in the expected direction. A significant amount of
variance in environmental, social and economic performance is explained by the
implementation of internal action programs. Regarding the impact of external action
programs, the addition of these variables to the regression equation explains a very
marginal amount of incremental variance in the three regression models (environmental,
social and performance). The coefficient for supply chain assessment is not statistically
significant in any of the three models, whereas the coefficient for supply chain
collaboration is significant at the 10% level. This suggests that the higher the firm, the
better the environmental performance. This mirrors the findings of much of the general
environmental management literature that suggests that small and medium size
enterprises experience less pressure to adopt these practices. These results show that the
effect of the implementation of environmental and social programs on the triple bottom
line is similar irrespective of firm size.
CRITICISM

Relevancy of the topic:

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Human life is dependent upon the natural environment, which, most would agree, is rapidly
degrading. Business enterprises are a dominant form of social organization and contribute to the
worsening, and enhancement, of the natural environment. Sustainability is considered as a
valuable aspect as it provides the scope of existence without affecting future which is very
crucial in present circumstances. Therefore, the topic is very relevant.
Appropriateness of the research methodology:
The research paper involved methodology as follows:
Suitable sector and population were selected.
Questionnaires were conducted to collect necessary data
Hypothesis were formulated
Appropriate statistical tests were conducted on the data

Results are adequately supported as the hypothesis formulated were analysed using the
statistical test and the conclusions were drawn from that results for the second research paper.

GAPS
Different types of environmental measures (waste and pollution reduction, reduction of
hazardous materials, etc.), social initiatives (related to employees versus the external
community) and economic factors (sales versus costs) could have been analysed
The study is a cross sectional
All data were collected from the key respondent which contains certain disadvantages
The results cant be generalized to all sectors. Also statistical analysis is not carried out
for two papers
The timeframe used to measure all the constructs was the same

LOGICAL FLOW
The paper followed a logical flow as it started with brief introduction, which was followed by
research methodology, analysis, results and conclusion.

CONCLUSION

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Results show that in the assembly industry, internal environmental programs have a positive
impact on the three components of the triple bottom line: Environmental, social and economic
performance. In the case of social programs, there is a positive impact on social and
environmental performance; however, manufacturing plants in these industries still need to
obtain positive financial gains (in terms of reduced manufacturing costs) from this process.
Finally, regarding the external or supply chain programs, our results show that supply chain
assessment has no impact on the triple bottom line, whereas supply chain collaboration
contributes to improve all of the three pillars.

REFERENCES

Sustainable operations management

Helen Walker, Robert Klassen, Joseph Sarkis, and Stefan Seuring
[1] Piercy, Nial, Rich, Nick. 2015. The relationship between lean operations and
sustainable operations. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management; Bradford. Vol 35. 315-282.
Garner, David. 2010. Environment Energy and Sustainability.
The New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad. 60

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