Supply Chain Sustainability in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

This book examines the sustainability of supply chains in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), in developed and emerging economies.

Drawing on contributions from experts in the field and examining case studies from a range of countries, including Thailand, Bangladesh, France, Spain, Austria and Greece, this book provides researchers and industry practitioners with guidance on how to make SMEs more sustainable through appropriate trade-offs between economic, environmental and social aspects. Over the course of the book, the authors examine the current state of sustainable supply chain practices, highlight the key issues and challenges, and identify critical success factors across different industries and geographical locations. They also explore how supply chain carbon footprints and effectiveness are measured, and navigate the delicate balance between reducing the carbon footprint whilst still ensuring enhanced productivity. Finally, the book reflects on how the circular economy model might facilitate higher sustainability of SMEs.

Supply Chain Sustainability in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners of supply chain management and sustainable business.

Prasanta Kumar Dey is a professor of Operations Management at Aston Business School. He was honoured as the 50th Anniversary Chair of Aston University in 2017. He also won the Vice Chancellor Award for Research Excellence in 2012. He is also a fellow of the Academy of Social Science. One of his research projects got shortlisted for the Newton Prize in 2020 and another project received the Green Gown Award in 2021 under the category of "benefiting society". He is a leading and globally recognised scholar in technology and operations management, including sustainable supply chain operations and circular economy. He has published more than 180 research papers in leading international refereed journals. His research projects have been funded by international funding bodies. He is also leading circular economy projects in India, Thailand, Bangladesh, Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam, Kenya, Barbados, Trinidad, the UK, France, Germany, Austria, Greece, Spain and Malta through industry academia collaboration. He is the editor in chief of the International Journal of Energy Sector Management.

Soumyadeb Chowdhury is Associate Professor of information analytics, technology and sustainability management within the Information Management Department in the Toulouse Business School (TBS Education). He also leads the TBS Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility. His research concerns emerging technologies (such as artificial intelligence, blockchain technologies and cloud computing) and their business implications, circular economy, employee mental health, and business productivity.

Chrisovalantis Malesios is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Agricultural University of Athens, and teaches courses in the fields of statistics/econometrics and mathematics. He has worked as a teaching fellow in the Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace for 10 years and as a statistician at the Institute of Statistical Research Analysis and Documentation (I.S.R.A.D.) of Athens University of Economics. During 2018–2020 he was affiliated with the Aston University, Aston Business School, working as a postdoctoral Marie Skłodowska-Curie research fellow. He has published over 70 papers in refereed international journals such as the British Journal of Management, Business Strategy and the Environment, Statistics in Medicine, Ecological Economics, Ecological Indicators, PLοS ONE, Annals of Operations Research, Journal of Socio-Economics, European Societies, and South European Society and Politics.