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Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1545e1551

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Editorial
Sustainability and supply chain management e An
introduction to the special issue

Abstract

This paper introduces the special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production on ‘‘Sustainability and Supply Chain Management’’. This
special issue mirrors the increasing relevance of this topic for both practitioners in companies, and academics. The purpose of this special issue
is to serve as a catalyst to this important topic. Environmental and social problems and challenges do not stop at the gates of single companies,
but have to be considered along the supply chains as the entities across which related material and information flows are organized. The aims of
the paper are to introduce current research topics and provide an overview of the single papers. The papers cover supply chain strength of regions
and regional activities as well as actions taken by small- and medium-sized manufacturing and public organizations. The papers in this issue also
take a look at performance indicators and closed-loop supply chain aspects. Amongst these topics, four papers incorporate social aspects, which
have been relatively and significantly less researched than environmental issues.
Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Sustainability; Supply chain management; Research opportunities; Corporate social responsibility; Environmental; Ethics

1. Introduction and their supply chains although numerous examples exist

where organizations and their related supply chains introduce
Increased globalisation and continued outsourcing in vari- green and socially responsible products, proactively, to the
ous industries have caused industry and organizations to func- market or processes to their supply chains. Thus organizations
tion and compete on a supply chain or interwoven demand see these many dimensions as issues that need to be addressed
networks’ level. Simultaneously with increased demands on for them to remain competitive in an increasingly aware world
strong economic performance of these supply chains, organi- and markets. In both cases, the responsive (reactive) and the
zations are now held responsible for the environmental and so- proactive situations form two extremes on a continuum. Within
cial performance of their suppliers and partners. These this continuum a wide range of actions taken by companies
pressures are derived from a number of internal and external aiming for sustainable supply chains can be executed.
sources including employees and management, socially aware Therefore, we define sustainable supply chain management
organizations, communities, governments and non- as the management of material and information flows as well
governmental organizations. The pressures tend to reverberate as cooperation among companies along the supply chain
throughout the supply chain, but especially to those organiza- while taking goals from all three dimensions of sustainable
tions whose brand names may be closest to the public eye such development, i.e. economic, environmental and social, and
as many consumer-based multinational organizations. Public stakeholder requirements into account. In sustainable supply
scrutiny has increased as consumers have become more chains, environmental and social criteria need to be fulfilled
knowledgeable of the fact that it is not only the end product, by supply chain members to remain within the supply chain,
but also the supply chain that need close observance and mon- while it is expected that competitiveness would be maintained
itoring. Problems in environmental or social performance can through meeting customer needs and related economic
easily spoil the brand equities and sales of these organizations, criteria.
thus making overall supply chain performance a critical As management principles and theories associated with
competitive focus. sustainable supply chains continue to advance, the need for
Responses to pressures from various external groups have additional investigation and critical analysis arises to further
traditionally been a reactive stance taken by organizations understand the field. Historically, the concept of supply chains

0959-6526/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.02.002
1546 Editorial / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1545e1551

and the environment can be traced back over decades, but 2. Research opportunities in sustainable supply chain
focused academic and management research in this field can management
only be traced to the past 10e15 years. The early 1990s saw
the growth and advent of business and environment, and indus- In organizing this special issue, we identified a number of
trial ecology and industrial ecosystem research, which both opportunities and methods for research in the emergent and
informed environmental supply chain management. During rapidly maturing field. Some of these items we identified
this time, the nascent concept and term ‘supply chain manage- that require investigation included:
ment’ was emerging and gaining popularity among researchers
and practitioners. Yet, both these emergent research topics  Reviews of certain lines of development regarding the
were going through ‘sense-making’ process. This early period intersection of sustainability and supply chain
was a foundation building time for environmental supply chain management.
management by integrating the practices and developing  Empirical or case studies of companies and other supply
frameworks and models. Much of the early work was identify- chain actors’ initiatives that aim to enhance sustainability
ing and describing what it meant to have environmentally aspects that may be integrated into supply chain
sound supply chain systems. management.
During this period, the concept of sustainability started to  Concepts and cases on the integration of particularly rele-
incrementally enter the corporate environmental management vant sustainability issues into supply chain management.
lexicon. The term sustainability also has its own history and These topics might cover environmental and/or social
definition ranging from an inter-generational philosophical issues only.
stance to a multi-dimensional and multi-scale term for busi-  Contributions on the relation between the three dimen-
ness management. The inter-generational philosophy focuses sions of sustainability (i.e. economic, environmental,
on making sure that future generations are not negatively social) in a supply chain perspective, so that the under-
impacted by decisions we make today. The multi-dimensional standing of winewin and trade-off situations is advanced.
focus includes topics related to the ‘triple-bottom-line’ of  Case studies on how actors improve the sustainability per-
balancing corporate social responsibility including balancing formance of products and services by collaboration in the
economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustain- supply chain.
ability. The multi-scale focus includes geographical, institu-  The need or limits for supply chain integration for provid-
tional, and temporal scales. That is, sustainability has been ing environmentally and socially sound products.
applied to regions and countries as well as individual organi-  The influence of cultural and ethical aspects in the context
zations and partnerships including both short-term (months, of sustainability and supply chain management.
years) and long-term (decades) dimensions. This broadening  Corporate Social Responsibility and supply chain
of the topic and its many meanings and dimensions have management.
made a coherent industrial research agenda in this field diffi-  The interrelation between fair trade initiatives and supply
cult. With the additional complexities of supply chain man- chain management.
agement, research and investigation becomes much more  The use of environmental and social standards in supply
than a trivial exercise. chain, in particular for supplier evaluation.
During this time, additional insights and theory have been  The interrelation of sustainable supply chain management
used to further embellish and explain various organizational with other concepts of inter-organizational sustainability
phenomena related to environmental supply chain manage- management.
ment and sustainability. Perspectives from organizational
theory, operations management, business ethics, corporate What you will see in the upcoming special issue is a broad
social responsibility, technology, engineering, economics, variety of research directions, methodologies and insights
policy, political science, law and environmental science have based on research from all over the world. We intentionally
combined with analytical approaches to play significant roles did not limit the methodological perspectives and include con-
in further refining the field and its direction. Recently a number ceptual, analytical, and practical papers in the mix. We hope
of special issues in operations and supply chain management that these papers provide a more complete picture of the
journals related to environmental supply chain management state-of-the-art of research in this continually growing disci-
have or will be published. From our perspective, other journals plinary field.
are primarily focusing on environmental dimensions. What Table 1 offers an overview of the 15 papers contained in
separates our special issue is that we have made a concerted this special issue. It is interesting to note that the methodolo-
effort to broaden the perspective to incorporate sustainability. gies include case study research and modelling approaches in
This goal was not an easy exercise due to the aforementioned six papers each. This is not necessarily historically representa-
complexities. We encouraged researchers to broaden their tive of the research in this field, where in recent years survey
perspectives to go beyond the environmental principles of their research has also played a major and increasing role. The
supply chains or to integrate environmental principles within treatment of environmental issues in 12 papers is more in
the corporate social responsibility focus of their supply chain line with the mainstream research in sustainable supply chains.
research. Expanding the sustainability focus we see that social
 Editorial / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1545e1551 1547

Table 1
An overview to the papers in the special issues
Authors Title Sustainability dimension Methodology
Environmental Social
Vachon and Mao Linking supply chain strength to sustainable development: A country-level analysis X X Survey
Côté et al. Influences, practices and opportunities for environmental supply chain management in X Case study
Nova Scotia SMEs
Kovács Corporate environmental responsibility in the supply chain X X Case study
Ciliberti et al. Investigating corporate social responsibility in supply chains e A SME perspective X Case study
Sigala A supply chain management approach for investigating the role of tour operators on X X Case study
sustainable tourism: The case of TUI
Preuss and Walker Fostering sustainability through sourcing from small businesses: Public sector perspectives X Case study
Bala et al. Experiences with greening suppliers e The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona X Case study
Ellram et al. Applying 3DCE to environmentally responsible manufacturing practices X Literature review
Lai et al. An economic and environmental framework for analyzing globally sourced auto parts X Model
packaging system
Tsoulfas and Pappis A model for supply chains environmental performance analysis and decision making X Model
Schmidt and Schwegler A recursive ecological indicator system for the supply chain of a company X Model
Georgiadis and Besiou Sustainability in electrical and electronic equipment closed-loop supply chains: X Model
A system dynamics approach
French Improving Sustainability through effective re-use of product returns e minimizing X Model
waste in a batch blending process environment
Hutchins and Sutherland An exploration of measures of social sustainability and their application X Model
to supply chain decisions
Seuring and Müller Literature review of peer-reviewed publications on sustainable supply chain management X X Literature review
Total 13 6

dimensions are included in five of the papers that appear in the approach towards managing sustainability issues in their
special issue. This result exemplifies an observation that social supply chains.
dimensions of sustainability have started to gain the attention The author team of Côté, Lopez, Marche, Perron and
of research agendas of researchers. Only three of the papers Wright study ‘‘Influences, practices and opportunities for
balance and address both environmental and social issues. environmental supply chain management in Nova Scotia
This balance is expected to be one of the major challenges SMEs’’. Their starting point is that supply chain management
for future research as well as corporate practice. Dealing offers considerable opportunities to reduce a company’s envi-
with these trade-offs among the three dimensions will stay ronmental impact. The supply chains of three small and me-
on the agenda and offer opportunities and challenges. dium enterprises (SMEs) operating in the Burnside Industrial
Park in Nova Scotia, Canada are investigated to explore the
opportunities to improve environmental performance of
3. An overview of the special issue contributions SMEs linked in supply chains. This study has confirmed that
time and, to a lesser degree, financial resources to address
Observing that the integration and balancing of these major solid waste and energy issues are the greatest limiting factors.
dimensions is a critical issue, we begin the sequence of the This study demonstrates that opportunities do exist to reduce
papers with Vachon and Mao. In the paper ‘‘Linking supply greenhouse gas emissions and solid waste. Although the ben-
chain strength to sustainable development: A country-level efits that would be gained from the implementation of any of
analysis’’, Vachon and Mao investigate the potential link the individual actions in the supply chains explored in this
between supply chain characteristics and sustainable develop- study are individually small, the cumulative benefits that could
ment at the country level. In particular, the linkage between be achieved among supply chains and within industrial parks
supply chain strength, generally defined as the number and are substantial given the number of small and medium-sized
quality of the suppliers and customers in a country, and three enterprises.
dimensions of sustainable development namely environmental ‘‘Corporate environmental responsibility in the supply
performance, corporate environmental practices, and social chain’’ across corporate boundaries is an important issue in
sustainability is assessed. Using archival data from The Global the literature. In this special issue two articles discuss this
Competitiveness Report (2004e2005) and the 2005 Environ- from different perspectives. Kovács examines various
mental Sustainability Index, a statistical assessment of the dimensions of corporate environmental responsibility, up-
linkage was conducted. The results indicate that supply chain stream and downstream of product and process supply chains
strength is positively linked to all three dimensions of sustain- in a study based on 16 case studies in Finnish trans-national
able development. This leads to the interpretation that trade- corporations. One of the most interesting findings of her study
offs among the dimensions of sustainability do not exist. is a disruption of environmental demand in the supply chain.
Such findings support that companies take a proactive Environmental demand spilling over from other industries
1548 Editorial / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1545e1551

leads to a multiplying effect of industry regulations across The final case study paper by Bala, Mu~ noz, Rieradevall
several supply chains. Thus environmental demand crosses and Ysern investigates ‘‘Experiences with greening
industrial and geographical borders, giving way to global stan- suppliers e The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona’’. Similar
dards. In this way, supply chains can be seen as mediators of to Walker and Preuss their study focuses on a public adminis-
industry regulation. tration supply chain. This paper explains the strategy and pro-
The paper ‘‘Investigating corporate social responsibility in cedures followed by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
supply chains e A SME perspective’’ from Ciliberti (UAB) to spread green purchasing practices throughout its
Pontrandolfo and Scozzi analyzes the practices adopted and administration and supply chain, highlighting the identified
difficulties experienced by small and medium-sized enter- barriers against their implementation and monitoring, and
prises to transfer socially responsible behaviours to suppliers showing the actions carried out to overcome them. One issue
that operate in developing countries. They conducted a multi- is the long public tender process and the question on how sup-
ple case study on five Italian socially responsible small and pliers are monitored, which is a central problem in many on
medium-sized enterprises. An important finding in their the initiatives undertaken in sustainable supply chain manage-
research was that consumer behaviour is not a corporate social ment. A second issue is the quality and performance of pur-
responsibility (CSR) driver; the companies decided to engage chased products and services, which should, of course, not
in CSR due to the personal values of the owner. The compa- fall behind those of conventional products. Again, this points
nies in their study use a management strategy towards to the question of trade-offs.
suppliers that combines compliance requirements and capacity In line with this goal and focusing on durable products,
building approaches. The findings have shown that these instead of services, the article from Ellram, Tate and Carter
organizations invest significant resources in communicating titled ‘‘Applying 3DCE to environmentally responsible
CSR to suppliers, and in monitoring and auditing their manufacturing practices’’ deals with the on-going interest in
suppliers. This finding further supports Kovács’ contention improving new product development performance. The simul-
that there is a need for global standards to regulate communi- taneous design of product, process and supply chain (3DCE),
cation and monitoring in the supply chain. has been proposed as a way to improve traditional new product
Sigala presents insights into a service management related development outcomes, such as reduced time to market, lower
supply chain, an issue that has also not received much atten- costs, and improved customer acceptance. Environmentally
tion in the literature on sustainable supply chain. As the title responsible manufacturing (ERM) and new product develop-
emphasizes ‘‘A supply chain management approach for inves- ment concentrate on reduced emissions, hazardous materials
tigating the role of tour operators on sustainable tourism: The elimination, and lower product weight without sacrificing
case of TUI’’, one particular group of actors in a service indus- functionality. The authors are interested in the question if
try is addressed. This research is justified because of the employing 3DCE to integrate new product development and
impact that tour operators as focal companies have on the ERM yields better benefits than could the separate and unco-
design of the overall service. In choosing a single case study ordinated application of environmental goals and new product
approach, the author provides in-depth insights into the mea- development initiatives? They developed a framework which
sure taken to apply supply chain management thought in suggests that studies examining the alignment of product,
a tourism environment. TUI uses tourism demand forces and process, and supply chain are needed to improve outcomes
pressures for motivating suppliers to adopt sustainable prac- and to expand the body of knowledge in the area of ERM.
tices. Their goal is achieved by publishing good sustainable The consequences of seemingly simple supply chain deci-
performance internally and externally, e.g. in travel agents’ sions can become quite complex from a sustainability perspec-
catalogues, brochures, websites, and related publications, tive. For example, the decision for the type of packaging can
where rankings of suppliers are provided. have profound implications on how organizations’ sustainabil-
Another non-traditional industrial supply chain aspect is ity manages their supply chains. Lai, McGinnis, Zhou and
evaluated by Walker and Preuss in their article ‘‘Fostering Guldberg in their contribution titled ‘‘An economic and
sustainability through sourcing from small businesses: Public environmental framework for analyzing globally sourced
sector perspectives’’. Sourcing from small businesses does auto parts packaging system,’’ provide a prescriptive, opera-
have implications for the governance of sourcing processes tional framework to help organizations and managers begin
and would benefit from a partnership approach. The authors to grasp and make sense of the complexities involved in the
examine barriers to public sector sourcing from small busi- management of sustainable supply chains. Using various
nesses and they made suggestions how these can be overcome. models and databases they show how an integrative perspec-
Their cases concentrated on the health sector and local govern- tive can be completed for a packaging and transportation
ment as the largest sub-sections of public procurement in the decision. An interesting underlying thought in the manage-
UK. The case study data show sourcing from local suppliers ment of the sustainable supply chain that was observed in
can improve the local economic situation, which can have this paper is that need to consider and dynamically evaluate
follow-on benefits in terms of well-being and health of multiple types of boundaries in a supply chain.
the local population. Supporting local small businesses to In a similar prescriptive context to Lai et al., Tsoulfas and
become public sector suppliers thus makes a direct contribu- Pappis provide some valuation and decision models that rely
tion to the economic and social aspects of sustainability. on a comprehensive definition of environmental performance
 Editorial / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1545e1551 1549

indicators. In their paper titled ‘‘A model for supply chains own potential waste, but also working with distributors and
environmental performance analysis and decision making,’’ customers to take back and re-use product, thus eliminating
they focus on the more complete internal supply chain ranging the customers’ burden of disposal. Implications of the program
from product design and manufacture to transportation and for downstream supply chain partners are identified and
logistics. An insightful perspective here is that not only oper- a structured approach for implementation is presented. Modi-
ational and technical performance characteristics are impor- fication for use in similar production environments is possible,
tant, but also a clear set of organizational, management, and enhancing sustainability, while providing environmental as
motivational dimensions are introduced into the evaluation. well as economic benefits.
The implicit and explicit implications for internal and external One of the goals of this special issue was to broaden topic of
monitoring, control and reporting from such a comprehensive sustainability measures and indicators in supply chains to incor-
set abound. porate social dimensions. We have seen that environmental and
In line with this aim to develop appropriate performance economic dimensions and performance indicators were devel-
indicators, Schmidt and Schwegler build on life-cycle assess- oped and analyzed in papers by Lai et al., and Tsoulfas and
ment thought in their paper ‘‘A recursive ecological indicator Pappis, yet the issue of social dimensions did not seem to play
system for the supply chain of a company’’. They propose the as large a role. This gap was filled somewhat in the contribution
concept of cumulative eco-intensity with which environmental by Hutchins and Sutherland. In their paper titled ‘‘An explora-
or sustainability indicators are related to the added value of tion of measures of social sustainability and their application to
economic activities. Eco-intensities are thereby defined as supply chain decisions,’’ Hutchins and Sutherland seek to ex-
the ratio between ecological expenditure and economic benefit pand the discussion of sustainability to include the critical third
or the inverse of eco-efficiency. Hence, emphasis is placed on dimension of metrics of social sustainability. As is evidenced by
developing one aggregate indicator. The authors point out that their title, this is exploratory work that starts the foundation for
such an approach at comparatively low expenditure for the expanding research and work in this area. A weighted scoring
individual companies allows vertical comparisons along the scheme, similar in context to Tsoulfas and Pappis, is introduced.
value-adding chain and horizontal comparisons among compa- A comprehensive example is presented to provide insights into
nies or production locations The link to the supply chain is how these metrics may be integrated.
established as related environmental burdens are passes on As the last paper of this special issue, Seuring and Müller
with the material flows in the supply chain. Such top-level provide a literature review of sustainable supply chain man-
indicators can be used to guide general decision making, but agement. Their review is based on 191 papers published in
would have to be complemented with more specific ones, as English language peer-reviewed journals. As a result of this
for example, proposed by Tsoulfas and Pappis. extensive literature review, they conclude that the sustainable
The importance of the topic and dimension of motivational supply chain management field is dominated by environmen-
items are not lost in Georgiadis and Besiou’s study titled tally focused research. Contributions to social issues and inte-
‘‘Sustainability in electrical and electronic equipment closed- grative sustainability are only beginning to be investigated.
loop supply chains: A system dynamics approach’’. But the Further, the authors provide a framework to structure the
motivation and drivers for these studies focus on broader research in this field by considering the triggers as well as pro-
levels of external pressures on developing and maintaining posing two major research directions that include: (1) supplier
a closed-loop supply chain within the electronics and electrical management for risks and performance, where emphasis is
equipment industry. This study focuses specifically on a Euro- placed on avoiding risk from suppliers with poor performance
pean country’s efforts to meet the WEEE requirements. on set environmental and social standards; this situation might
Instead of prescriptive decision analysis model, a system require additional criteria for supplier evaluation, and (2)
dynamics model to understand the implications and roles of supply chain management for sustainable products as a more
various ecological motivations is described for a straightfor- proactive strategy. The objective of this review is to challenge
ward case study relying on a single product and single pro- producers to develop and market products and services which
ducer. We see that the complexities continue in this fulfill increased environmental, social equity and sustainability
situation, but we are now focusing on a broader social and leg- standards. The authors emphasize that an essential and urgent
islative level of influence. At this level of analysis, theoretical ingredient for making improvements in supply chain manage-
models such as institutional theory and ecological moderniza- ment is to make dramatic and systematic improvements in
tion theory can play a significant role. multi-directional communication among all stakeholders
The importance of product take back in various contexts along the supply chain. Internal stakeholder will require train-
has led to a wide range of research on closed-loop supply ing and education into sustainable supply chain principles and
chain and reverse logistics in recent years. The paper of their implications with supporting incentive systems. External
French on ‘‘Improving sustainability through effective re- and internal stakeholders will require mechanisms that can be
use of product returns e minimizing waste in a batch blending effective conduits for this communication ranging from
process environment’’ offers a unique contribution as it takes personal relationship developments to advanced electronic
a look at process industries . A case study of a successful commerce based systems. Stewardship programs will need
re-use program in a batch blending production environment to be further enhanced such that all members of the supply
is presented. This involves not only addressing the company’s chain clearly know their roles and have the necessary tools
1550 Editorial / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1545e1551

to complete them effectively. Developing and adopting appro- It is our hope that you enjoy this special issue and that new
priate integrative sustainability philosophies and tools, many ideas germinate in directions we have not foreseen but would
of which were reviewed in these papers and presented in be valuable for future progress.
this special issue, are necessary. It is the responsibility of all
stakeholders internal and external to be involved in furthering Acknowledgements
the goals of a sustainable supply chain.
As is the case with any peer-reviewed journal paper, we
4. Conclusions would like to thank all those who contributed to putting
together this compilation of research. Most importantly and
The environmental and social burdens caused by govern- specifically, we thank Prof. Donald Huisingh, Editor-in-Chief
mental, manufacturing, services, profit and non-profit organi- of the Journal of Cleaner Production, who gave us the oppor-
zations will continue to exist. The source and management tunity to guest-edit this special issue. We sincerely thank him
of these environmental and social burdens is not the sole for his continued support and insights into the process. We
responsibility of one organization; whole supply chains and also extend our heartfelt gratitude to all who helped us in
networks of supply chains must be involved. Research in reviewing the papers. Forty-two manuscripts were submitted
understanding the roles, management, tools, and mechanisms for consideration in the special issue. Thirty-five manuscripts
for sustainable supply chains must be augmented in order to were approved and sent out for review. Only 15 papers were
help meet these challenges. finally accepted for the special issue.
In this special issue, we provide a comprehensive look at
these issues and at emergent research needs and themes. One The special issue editors wish to thank the following
glaring and disconcerting issue remains. Even though many sup- reviewers for their time and contribution:
ply chains begin and increasingly also end in Asia or in develop- Benita Beamon, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
ing countries, we did not receive nor accept many papers on this Christoph Bey, ESC La Rochelle, France
topic from those regions of the world. A major part of Claudia Binder, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
manufacturing and service provision in Asia is carried out by Frances Bowen, University of Calgary, Canada
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These SMEs often Andreas Brekke, Norwegian School of Management, Oslo,
form critical parts of the supply chains with larger organizations. Norway
Tremendous opportunities exist to influence the operating prac- Alan Brent, University of Pretoria, South Africa
tices and technologies of SMEs to incorporate environmental Maria Hugh Brodin, University of Linköping, Sweden
and social initiatives. Taking advantage of such opportunities Roger Burritt, University of South Australia, Adelaide,
to incorporate sustainable practices can be very effectively Australia
achieved through sustainable supply chain management. Scott Butner, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA
Based on our sample of contributions, there is a lack of Raffaela Cagliano, Politechnico di Milano, Italy
rigorous research by researchers who are geographically Pavel Castka, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
located in these areas, as well as research that focuses on these Bob Cavana, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand
regions of the world. In particular, because we do not have Anthony SF Chiu, De La Salle University, Manila,
a paper from this geographic area in our special issue, we Philippines
especially encourage researchers in this part of the world to Eva Collins, University of Waikato, New Zealand
take part in the process, and invite established researchers in Jo Crotty, Aston University, UK
other parts of the world to co-work with researchers in these Nicole Darnall, George Mason University, Fairfax, USA
geographic regions. We especially encourage partnerships James Eflin, Ball State University, USA
with researchers in developed and developing countries where Margaret A. Emmelhainz, University of Georgia, USA
resources can be shared and knowledge exchanged so that Simme D. P. Flapper, University of Twente, The
future research becomes publishable in the most influential Netherlands
academic and professional journals. We do not know the Jutta Geldermann, University of Göttingen, Germany
reasons for the dearth of this type of research in these regions, Edeltraut Günther, Technical University of Dresden,
but a call for additional research in this area is clearly needed. Germany
Given this observation, the papers included in this special Geoffrey Hagelaar, Wageningen, The Netherlands
issue were selected through a rigorous review process and Jeremy Hall, University of Calgary, Canada
have stood up to the critiques of experts in the field. Out of Jens Hamprecht, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
dozens of submissions, what is left is research that our Marilyn Helms, Dalton State College, USA
reviewers felt made contributions to advancing knowledge in Diane Holt, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland
this field. We expect that the documents selected will provide Michael Sogard Joergensen, Danish Technical University,
future researchers with new insights for furthering their Copenhagen, Denmark
research in supply chain management. We realize that this is Robert Klassen, University of Western Ontario, Canada
only one step in furthering our efforts to make this a better Beatrice Kogg, University of Lund, Sweden
world for ourselves, our children, and our fellow living beings. Julia Koplin, Volkswagen AG, Germany
 Editorial / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1545e1551 1551

Gyöngyi Kovacs, Hanken, Helsinki, Finland Natalia Yakovleva, University of Cardiff, UK

Harold Krikke, University of Tilburg, The Netherlands Qinghua Zhu, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian,
Rudolf Large, HTW Saarland, Germany China
Lise Laurin, Earthshift, Huntington, USA
Teresa McCarthy, Lehigh University, USA
Brian McGarrie, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK Stefan Seuring*
Oksana Mont, University of Lund, Sweden Department of International Management, Faculty of Organic
Paul R. Murphy, John Carroll University, USA Agricultural Sciences, University of Kassel, Steinstrasse 19,
Menno Nagel, Delft University of Technology, The 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany
Netherlands *Corresponding author.
Steve New, University of Oxford, UK E-mail address: seuring@uni-kassel.de
Hanna-Leena Pesonen, University of Jyvaskylä, Finland
Joseph Sarkis
Sanna Poikkimäki, University of Jyvaskylä, Finland
Graduate School of Management, Clark University, 950 Main
Gerald Rainer, University of Neuchatel, Switzerland
Street, Worcester, MA 01610-1477, USA
Gordon Rands, Western Illinois University, USA
E-mail address: jsarkis@clarku.edu
Christine Meisner Rosen, University of California at
Berkeley, USA Martin Müller
Frank Schultmann, University Siegen, Germany Chair for Production and the Environment, Institute for
Dayna Simpson, University of Melbourne, Australia Business Administration, Carl von Ossietzky University of
Bent Søndergaard, Roskilde University, UK Oldenburg, Uhlhornsweg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany
Rainer Souren, Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany E-mail address: martin.mueller@uni-oldenburg.de
Achim Spiller, University of Göttingen, Germany
Purba Rao
Dirk Pieter van Donk, University of Groningen, The
Asian Institute of Management, Joseph R. McMicking Campus,
Netherlands
123 Paseo de Roxas Street, 1260 Makati City, Philippines
Walter Vermeulen, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
E-mail address: purba@aim.edu
Helen Walker, University of Bath, UK
Grit Walther, Technical University of Braunschweig,
Available online 24 March 2008
Germany