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Recent Developments in Green and Sustainable Supply Chains
Edited by Alfred L. Guiffrida and Pratim Datta
An important challenge organizations need to overcome has to do with how they perceive sustainability. They might not say this, but most firms act as if sustainability is about being less bad [...] people don't get excited about incremental changes [...] They need a more ambitious vision [...] A cool part of sustainability work is uncovering the assumptions that lead people to do things in a way that's out of touch with the company's larger reality [...] ([71] Prokesch, 2010).
Introduction
The focus of corporate strategy has traditionally been about increasing the bottom line through cost reduction and increased sales. However, growing concerns over issues such as the limitation of resources, global warming, greenhouse gases (GHGs), and consumer health have increased the urgency for firms to incorporate sustainability into their strategies ([52] Lee, 2010). With the development of the internet and 24-hour news, every company is constantly under the watchful eye of the public. Unsustainable practices hidden in the supply chain has the potential to become public information extremely quickly, leaving a company's brand value damaged and shareholders displeased. This is no more evident than the effect that the recent oil spill off of the US Gulf Coast had on the stock value of British Petroleum ([60] Moss Kanter, 2010; [40] Gross, 2010), the severe fines imposed on Shenzhen Energy Group after an ocean tanker transporting coal struck the Great Barrier Reef ([43] Huang, 2010), and the consumer boycotts that threatened Nike after the public was made aware of "sweatshops" ([48] Kenyon et al. , 2000).
With the rise of today's "conscious consumer", adding sustainability into the corporate strategy has become about meeting the expectations of investors while taking into account the long-term impact that operations have on the community and environment ([71] Prokesch, 2010). A focus on supply chains is a step towards the broader adoption and development of sustainability, since the supply chain considers the product from initial processing of raw materials to delivery to the customer ([80] Seuring et al. , 2008; [54] Linton et al. , 2007). Since supply chain managers are engaged in every facet of the business process including logistics, strategic planning,...