SUSTAINABILITY

Supply-chain sustainability is a business issue affecting an organization's supply chain or

logistics network in terms of environmental, risk, and waste costs. There is a growing need for
integrating environmentally sound choices into supply-chain management. There is a scope that
play a major role in ensuring the firm’s long term sustainability, the 3 E’s (economic,
environment, and equity) and 3 P’s (People, profit, and planet), it is apparent that more carefully
articulating equity and people into Ethical and Educational dimensions provides a more
actionable framework from which to examine the challenges and implications of supply chain
sustainability.

Environmental
For many individuals and organizations, particularly those relatively new to
sustainability, environmental or green issue have been synonymous with sustainability. In many
organizations, external regulations often result in impose “responses” to environmental
initiatives. However, these external forces are increasingly driving pressures for process changes
and internal cost savings. Firms have very different levels of commitment regarding
environmental concerns resulting in three firm type categories: (1) proactive green marketers
(Strong pursuit of sustainability within free market system); (2) traditional consumption
marketers (driven more by consumer beliefs regarding the environment and firm
product/reputation); and (3) reactive green marketers (pursuit of sustainability within the
government and regulatory compliance framework).
By design, supply chain solutions from MIQ Logistics go hand-in-hand with
environmental sustainability initiatives. For example, shipment consolidation, distribution
optimization, and electronic documentation all can reduce fuel consumption and waste. That
means, in addition to better bottom-line results, your supply chain could very well leave a
smaller footprint on the environment. However, there is growing belief that under specific
circumstances, firms can increase their profits by adopting environmentally sustainable practices.
These environmental perspective include conservation, reduction, and good business
management practices.
Conservation
Business focus on conservation by analyzing ways to better manage and minimize
reliance on energy, water and other naturally occurring resources. There are many opportunities
to reduce the volume of scarce resources used in the final product design or the manufacturing
process itself through material substitution or re-configuration. Similarly, operations processes
may focus on developing greener product designs, or eliminating waste associated with product
disposal.
Usage Reduction
Usage reduction involves reducing waste, increasing recycling, decreasing the release of
greenhouse gases, and managing products at end of life.
Business Management Practices