Task 3

In the contemporary business scenario, organisations are continuously striving to

develop innovative, new, and effective methods in their supply chain in order to

increase their competitiveness. In the process, some of the organisations have focused

on improving their environmental performance by adopting green practices, while

others have adopted different other practices to ensure the competitiveness. The

underlying paper critically evaluates as to how the strategies and theories proposed in

the academic articles discussed in the seminar could interface to support competitive,

efficient, green, and global supply chain.

Aronsson et al. (2011) carried out a research to find out the important factors essential

in developing a supply chain in the healthcare and how agile and lean can be utilised

as process strategies for improving supply chain performance. They found that supply

chain management works as a philosophy for patient flow. However, they found that

lean as a concept is not the only thing required in health sector but flexibility and

quick response in a hybrid strategy is crucial by combining agile and lean process

strategies. Healthcare requires to ensure promptness in service in order to improve the

quality care and it is not possible if only focus is given on the lean strategy; the

implementation of agile strategy is equally important in order to ensure the patients

are provided with requisite care in timely fashion (Simpson, & Power, 2005).

Therefore, effectiveness of a given supply chain strategy is contextual and largely

depends on the sector it is applied since there is no one-fits-for-all supply chain

strategy.
Dahlgaard, and Dahlgaard-Park (2006) carried out the research on the effectiveness of

lean strategy. They found that both six sigma steps and lean production strategies are

essentially the same as they are rooted in the Japanese TQM practices. They stressed

on the need to focus more on technology factor and less on human factor. However, it

is also dependent on the context since it is not possible to adopt this theory in the

human-intensive industries. These can be only effective in the technology-intensive

industries. Similarly, Andersson et al. (2006) carried out a research to find out the

similarities and differences between six sigma TQM and lean. They found that six

sigma TQM and lean have many similarities in terms of methodologies, and origin,

tools and effects. However, there are differences as well primarily concerning their

main approach, theory, and criticism. The lean concept is slightly different from six

sigma and TQM. The suggested that combining these three will yield great value to

the organisations as they complement each other. Therefore, there is only technical

difference among these concepts and making their use by combining them will help

organisations attain greater success.

With environmental concerns looming large, it has become essential for the

businesses to adopt green practices in their business processes in order to tackle this

problem well. Supply chain also contributes to the environmental problems and

therefore, it is requisite that green practices are implemented by the businesses in their

supply chain operations. Salvatierra-Garrido, and Pasquire (2011) carried out a

research to investigate common perspective of the value for lean construction

practitioners in construction industry. Construction sector has huge impact on society,

which calls for understanding the need of expansion of the underlying value

perspective in the global context from the local context. They found that there is a
lack of value perspective in lean construction as the construction practices are largely

dominated by satisfying the needs of the customers and the societal welfare is often

overlooked in the process. The value perspective has not been reiterated in the

construction industry so far and the players usually meet the minimum requirements

of green practices. They consider green practices to be cost centre rather than profit

centre. Mollenkopf et al. (2010) also investigated the correlation between green, lean,

and global supply chain strategies, focusing on their strategic implications. They

revealed barriers, drivers, converging, and contradictory points across these three

supply chain strategies. Again, there is a need to come up with the findings that

correlate these concepts so that their practical implications can be possible (Dües et

al., 2013.

Kampstra et al. (2006) investigated the gap between the interest in supply chain

collaboration (SCC). They identified three realities which were the establishment of

the collaboration process, starting of the process, and termination of the process. They

outlined the realistic structured approach to SCC containing three loops. On the other

hand, Matopoulos et al. (2007) analysed the concept of SCC in agri-food business

context and provide overall framework for further empirical research. They also found

that there are certain constraints in application of this concept in the agri-food

industry, which largely arise from the nature of the industry. Despite SCC having

significant importance, it finds limited use due to logistics related and operation

issues. The concept of SCC has not matured enough in many of the industries and

therefore there is limitation of its use (Christopher, & Peck, 2004). The advantages

have been shown by many researches but their practical implication has not taken

place well. The extent to which the concept of SCC is successful is also dependent on

the industry context it is being adopted.

The underlying paper critically evaluated as to how the strategies and theories

proposed in the academic articles discussed in the seminar could interface to support

competitive, efficient, green, and global supply chain. It is widely established that

different supply chain strategies have positive impact on the organisations that adopt

them but the extent to which they are applicable in a given context is largely

dependent of the the nature of the industries. While some of the strategies might seem

similar at the surface there is still great difference among them. It will require an art

on the part of the organisations to ensure their integration in their own contexts.
References

Andersson, R., Eriksson, H., & Torstensson, H. (2006). Similarities and differences

between TQM, six sigma and lean. The TQM magazine, 18(3), 282-296.

Aronsson, H., Abrahamsson, M., & Spens, K. (2011). Developing lean and agile

health care supply chains. Supply Chain Management: An International

Journal, 16(3), 176-183.

Christopher, M., & Peck, H. (2004). Building the resilient supply chain. The

international journal of logistics management, 15(2), 1-14.

Dahlgaard, J. J., & Mi Dahlgaard-Park, S. (2006). Lean production, six sigma quality,

TQM and company culture. The TQM magazine, 18(3), 263-281.

Dües, C. M., Tan, K. H., & Lim, M. (2013). Green as the new Lean: how to use Lean

practices as a catalyst to greening your supply chain. Journal of cleaner

production, 40, 93-100.

Kampstra, R. P., Ashayeri, J., & Gattorna, J. L. (2006). Realities of supply chain

collaboration. The International Journal of Logistics Management,17(3), 312-

330.

Matopoulos, A., Vlachopoulou, M., Manthou, V., & Manos, B. (2007). A conceptual

framework for supply chain collaboration: empirical evidence from the agri-

food industry. Supply Chain Management: an international journal,12(3),

177-186.

Mollenkopf, D., Stolze, H., Tate, W. L., & Ueltschy, M. (2010). Green, lean, and

global supply chains. International Journal of Physical Distribution &

Logistics Management, 40(1/2), 14-41.

Salvatierra-Garrido, J., & Pasquire, C. (2011). Value theory in lean

construction. Journal of financial management of property and

construction,16(1), 8-18.

Simpson, D. F., & Power, D. J. (2005). Use the supply relationship to develop lean

and green suppliers. Supply chain management: An international Journal, 10(1), 60-

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