Sustainable Supply Chain Management - A Project Management Perspective

  Organizational Project Management   Resource Management   Sustainability  

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the practice of coordinating sourcing, production, inventory management and transportation among all the actors and focuses on speed, cost and reliability of operations. Sustainable SCM adds the goals of environmental and social values to it and this means addressing global issues such as climate change, water security, deforestation, human rights, fair labour practices corruption etc. In short we have to consider all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN. SCM is inherently operational though various projects could be identified within the chain. The Sustainability paradigm has added another dimension for projects within SCM because many of the initiatives being discussed now and in the near future are in fact projects. These are guided by the recent interest in principles and practices of circular economy, sustainable sourcing waste recovery & management, resource efficiency, reverse logistics etc among others. At some point in time, possibly in the coming decade, sustainability as a mindset will be fully set and one would view it as a an operational parameter, till then all efforts to become sustainable will be achieved largely through projects.

Learning Outcomes:

• What is SCM and Sustainable SCM?
• Principles & Practices for SCM to become sustainable 
• Project Management Framework & Methodology for Sustainable SCM
• What can we do as project professionals?

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the practice of coordinating sourcing, production, inventory management and transportation among all the actors and focuses on speed, cost and reliability of operations. Sustainable SCM adds the goals of environmental and social values to it and this means addressing global issues such as climate change, water security, deforestation, human rights, fair labour practices corruption etc. In short we have to consider all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN. SCM is inherently operational though various projects could be identified within the chain. The Sustainability paradigm has added another dimension for projects within SCM because many of the initiatives being discussed now and in the near future are in fact projects. These are guided by the recent interest in principles and practices of circular economy, sustainable sourcing waste recovery & management, resource efficiency, reverse logistics etc among others. At some point in time, possibly in the coming decade, sustainability as a mindset will be fully set and one would view it as a an operational parameter, till then all efforts to become sustainable will be achieved largely through projects.