Masters Degrees (School of Public Leadership)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (School of Public Leadership) by browse.metadata.advisor "Burger, Johann"

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    Business is key: a sustainable supply chain management checklist could hold the solution to environmental preservation
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03) Nadia Chandra, Guhring; Burger, Johann; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : Sustainability is key for global survival, but the problem is raised as to how the world can achieve sustainability. Businesses hold the potential to have a massive impact regarding how products are produced, raw materials are purchased and product waste is handled. This raises the question as to how businesses can actually implement sustainability throughout their operations. This study aims to assess the use of companies’ supply chains to address this question. This paper will look into both academic theories of supply chain sustainability and practical commitments made by companies, and assess where the overlays exist. Secondary research was conducted by means of a literature review, looking into many theoretical concepts including but not limited to: sustainable supply chain management, the triple bottom line, reverse logistics, sustainable sourcing and sustainable development. Furthermore, case studies were developed for the fast moving consumer goods industry by looking into six companies (four international and two South African). These case studies were developed by using sustainability reports, newspaper articles and articles published by NGOs. It was determined by the findings of this paper that there are three key areas of sustainable sourcing, which are: (1) Supplier relationships, looking into using a firm’s influence over suppliers, improving small-scale farming practice, forming partnerships with suppliers, as well as developing a supplier code of conduct; (2) Holistic Purchasing Strategy, whereby firms no longer look merely at price but take the externalities which impact sustainability into account when purchasing for their supply chain; (3) Partnerships with NGOs, whereby companies form relationships with NGOs in the areas in which they wish to improve and benefit from shared expertise. The findings for reverse logistics revealed two key areas, these are: (1) Product design, whereby businesses focus their product design on different principles to increase sustainability, like design for environment, design for sustainability, design for disassembly, design for recycling, and design for remanufacture; (2) Product Recovery, whereby companies look both in-house to recycle and reduce waste that goes to landfills and end-user/consumer recycling of waste their products create. These findings from sustainable sourcing and reverse logistics form the foundation for the development of the checklist which businesses can use to assess their sustainability efforts and then make the appropriate changes. Future research that can be addressed includes studies that replicate this study but make use of different industries like technology or high-end beauty products. Another area could be a replica study of the companies discussed in this study to assess at a future point their progress and current commitments. Alternative research could focus on the other aspects of supply chain management which were not covered in this paper, namely warehousing, production and distribution.