Strategic Direction of Information Technology on Sustainable Supply Chain Practices: Exploratory Case Study on Fashion Industry in Malaysia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33736/ijbs.4628.2022Keywords:
Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Information Technology Resources, Sustainable Fashion, Triple Bottom LineAbstract
A growing body of research emphasises sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in contrary with limited studies exploring role of information technology (IT) in sustainable supply chain activities. Moreover, little is known on SSCM implementation in niche industries like fashion/textile-apparel industry. As most studies concentrated on investigating IT impact on business performance and profitability in supply chain, integrating sustainable practice with IT is still scarce. The aim of this study is to identify current SSCM practices with the focus on IT role in supporting SSCM in fashion industry. For that purpose, this study applies the sustainable key practices framework discussed in the literature of SSCM and adopted previous study framework that differentiates four IT roles for sustainability. Using the proposed frameworks, interviews were conducted with five fashion practitioners that are currently engaged with SSCM practices. The findings from this study highlight the existence of SSCM practices in fashion industry. Finally, this finding enhances the current understanding of how IT can support SSCM practices and helps future research in exploring the IT implementation, challenges and benefit towards SSCM.
References
Abdul-Rashid, S., Sakundarini, N., Raja Ghazilla, R., & Thurasamy, R. (2017). The impact of sustainable manufacturing practices on sustainability performance, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 37(2), 182-204. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-04-2015-0223
Aftab, M. A., Qin, Y., Kabir, N., Barua, Z. (2018). Super Responsive Supply Chain: The Case of Spanish Fast Fashion Retailer Inditex-Zara. International Journal of Business and Management, 13(5), 212-227. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v13n5p212
Agbonkhese, S. E. (2010). Measuring environmental and social sustainability in the apparel supply chain (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ageron, B., Bentahar, O., & Gunasekaran, A. (2020). Digital supply chain: challenges and future directions, Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal, 21(3), 133-138. https://doi.org/10.1080/16258312.2020.1816361
Agrawal, T. K., Kumar, V., Pal, R., Wang, L., & Chen Y. (2021). Blockchain-based framework for supply chain traceability: A case example of textile and clothing industry. Computer & Industrial Engineering, 154, 107130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2021.107130
Amni Husna, M. S, Syaimak, A.S., & Aida, S. (2020). Sustainable Supply Chain Management in Malaysia: Issues and Futures. Asia-Pacific Journal of Information Technology and Multimedia, 9(2), 50 - 68. https://doi.org/10.17576/apjitm-2020-0902-05
Bag, S., Telukdarie, A., Pretorius, J. H. C., & Gupta, S. (2021). Industry 4.0 and supply chain sustainability: framework and future research directions. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 28(5), 1410-1450.
Berg, B., & Lune, H. (2012). Qualitative research methods for the social science (8th ed). Boston: Pearson.
Bozic, D. (2017). From Haute Couture to Fast-Fashion: Evaluating Social Transparency in Global Apparel Supply Chain. Biological Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351058353-16
Carter, C. R., & Easton, P. L. (2011). Sustainable supply chain management: evolution and future direction, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics, 41(1), 46-62. https://doi.org/10.1108/09600031111101420
Choi, T.-M., & Shen, B. (2016, July 19-21). A System of System Framework for Sustainable Fashion Supply Chain Management in Big Data Era. 2016 IEEE 14th International Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN). Poitier, France. https://doi.org/10.1109/INDIN.2016.7819290
Closs, D. J., Speier, C., & Meacham, N. (2011). Sustainability to support end-to-end value chains: the role of supply chain management. Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, 39(1), 101-116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-010-0207-4
Dao, V., Langella, I., & Carbo, J. (2011). From green to sustainability: Information technology an integrated sustainability framework. Journal of Strategic Information System, 20(1), 63-79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsis.2011.01.002
Eitiveni, I., Kurnia, S., & Buyya, R. (2017). Sustainable Supply Chain Management: Taxonomy, Gaps and Future Directions. In PACIS 2017 Proceedings, 121.
Ejsmont, K., Gladysz, B., & Kluczek, A. (2020). Impact of Industry 4.0 on Sustainability - Bibliometric Literature Review. Sustainability 12(14), 5650. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145650 https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145650
Elkington, J. (1999). Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of the 21st Century. Capstone, Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1002/tqem.3310080106
Eltayeb, T., Zailani, S., & Ramayah, T. (2011). Green supply chain initiatives among certified companies in Malaysia and environmental sustainability: Investigating the outcomes, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 55(5), 495-506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2010.09.003
Fashion Revolution (2018). Fashion Revolution. Retrieved 12 January 2019, from https://www.fashionrevolution.org/.
Fusch, P., & Ness, L. (2015). Are we there yet? Data saturation in qualitative research. The Qualitative Report, 20(9), 1408-1416. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2015.2281
James, A., & Montgomery, B. (2017). Engaging the fashion consumer in a transparent business model. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 10(3), 287-299. https://doi.org/10.1080/17543266.2017.1378730
Jusoh, M. Y., Haron, H., & Kaur, J. (2017). A Conceptual Framework for BYOD to Support Green Computing in Public Sector, International Journal Control Theory Application, 10(7), 27-34.
Koksal, D., Strahle, J., Martin, M., & Freise, M. (2017). Social Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Textile and Apparel Industry - A Literature Review. Sustainability, 9(1), 1-32. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9010100
Kurnia, S., Rahim, M. M., & Gloet, M. (2012). Understanding The Roles of IS/IT in Sustainable Supply Chain Management. PACIS 2012 Proceedings, 50, 1-18.
Kurnia, S., Mahbubur, R., Samson, D., & Singh, P. (2014). Exploring the Adoption of Sustainable Supply Chain Practices in Australia: Current Practices and Adoption Motivations, PACIS 2014 Proceedings, 31, 1-16.
Lee, Y. K. (2021). Transformation of the Innovative and Sustainable Supply Chain with Upcoming Real-Time Fashion Systems. Sustainability, 13(3), 1081. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031081
Luthra, S., Kumar, A., Zavadskas, E. K., Mangla, S. K., & Garza-Reyes, J. A. (2020). Industry 4.0 as an enabler of sustainability diffusion in supply chain: an analysis of influential strength of drivers in an emerging economy. International Journal of Production Research, 58(5), 1505-1521. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2019.1660828
Melville, N. (2010). Information System Innovation for Environmental Sustainability. MIS Quarterly, 34(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.2307/20721412
Moretto, A., Macchion, L., Lion, A., Caniato, F., Danese, P., & Vinelli, A. (2018). Designing a roadmap towards a sustainable supply chain: A focus on the fashion industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 193,169-184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.04.273
Nadiah, R. (2018, May 19). Today's Trend Tomorrows Trash. New Straits Times. https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/pulse/2018/05/370987/todays-trend-tomorrows-trash
Niinimäki, K., Peters, G., Dahlbo, H., Perry, P., Rissanen, T., & Gwilt, A. (2020). The environmental price of fast fashion. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 1(4), 189-200. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-0039-9
Ninlawan, C., Seksan, P., Tossapol, K., & Pilada, W. (2010). The Implementation of Green Supply Chain Management Practices in Electronics Industry. Proceedings of the International MultiConference of Engineers and Computer Science 2010, 3, 1-6.
O'Rourke, D. (2014). The Science of Sustainable Supply Chains. Science, 344, 1124-1127. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1248526
Oelze, N. (2017). Sustainable Supply Chain Management Implementation-Enablers and Barriers in the Textile Industry. Sustainability, 9(8), 1435. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9081435
Prasad, D. S., Pradhan, R. P., Gaurav, K., & Sabat, A. K. (2020). Critical Success Factors of Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Organizational Performance: An Exploratory Study. Transportation Research Procedia, 48, 327-344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2020.08.027
Rahim, M. M., Kurnia, S., Singh, P., & Samson, D. A. (2013, December 4-6). A taxonomy of IT usage to support the implementation of environmental sustainable supply chain management practices. 24th Australasian Conference on Information System, Melbourne, Australia.
Ratan, S., Sekhari, A., Rahman, M., Bouras, A., & Ouzrout, Y. (2010, August). Sustainable Supply Chain Management: State-of-the-Art. International Conference on Software, Knowledge, Information Management and Applications, Paro, Bhutan.
Rivera, A., & Kurnia, S. (2015). Exploring the roles of ICT in supporting sustainability practices. Australasian Conference of Information Systems, Adelaide, Australia.
Sánchez-Flores, R. B., Cruz-Sotelo, S. E., Ojeda-Benitez, S., Ramírez-Barreto, M.E. (2020). Sustainable Supply Chain Management-A Literature Review on Emerging Economies. Sustainability, 12(17), 6972.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su12176972
Sarkis, J., Zhu, Q., & Lai, K. (2011). An organizational theoretic review of green supply chain management literature, International Journal of Production Economics, 130(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2010.11.010
Seidel, S., Recker, J., Pimmer, C., & Brocke, J. V. (2010, August 12-15). Enablers and Barriers to the Organizational Adoption of Sustainable Business Practices. Proceeding of the 16th Americas Conference on Infomation System: Sustainable IT Collaboration around the Globe, Swisstotel Lima, Lima.
Seuring, S., & Muller, M. (2008). From a literature review to a conceptual framework for sustainable supply chain management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16(15), 1699-1710. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.04.020
Shen, B. (2014). Sustainable Fashon Supply Chain: Lessom from H&M. Sustainability, 6(9), 6236-6249. https://doi.org/10.3390/su6096236
Shen, B., Li, Q., Dong, C., & Perry, P. (2017). Sustainability Issues in Textile and Apparel Supply Chain. Sustainability, 9(9), 1592. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9091592
Srivastava, S. K. (2007). Green Supply Chain Management: A State-of-the-Art Literature Review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 9(11), 53-80. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2007.00202.x
Sroufe, R., & Drake, M. (2010). Measuring the Social Dimension of Triple Bottom Line: An Industry Study. Paper presented at APICS International Conference 2010.
Strahle, J., & Muller, V. (2017). Key Aspects of Sustainability in Fashion Retail. In J. Strahle (Ed.), Green Fashion Retail (pp. 7-26). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2440-5_2
Tan, M. Z. (2018, August 13). Five ways to practise sustainable fashion. Malay Mail. https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2018/08/13/five-ways-to-practise-sustainable-fashion/1662038
TCBL News. (2018). Stop & Read: Transparency as Competitive Advantage. https://tcbl.eu/community/news/stopread-transparency-competitive-advantage
Thoni, A., & Tjoa, A. (2017). Information technology for sustainable supply chain management: a literature survey. Enterprise Information System, 11(16), 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/17517575.2015.1091950
Wan Mohd Isa, W. A. R., Suhaimi, A. I. H., Noordin, N., Harun, A. F., Ismail, J., & Teh, R. A. (2019). Cloud Computing Adoption Reference Model. Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 16(1), 395-400. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijeecs.v16.i1.pp395-400
World Commision on Environment and Development. (WCED) (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford University Press.
Zailani, S., Jeyaraman, K., Vengadasan, G., & Premkumar, R. (2012). Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in Malaysia: A survey. International Journal of Production Economics, 140(1), 330-340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2012.02.008
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright Transfer Statement for Journal
1) In signing this statement, the author(s) grant UNIMAS Publisher an exclusive license to publish their original research papers. The author(s) also grant UNIMAS Publisher permission to reproduce, recreate, translate, extract or summarize, and to distribute and display in any forms, formats, and media. The author(s) can reuse their papers in their future printed work without first requiring permission from UNIMAS Publisher, provided that the author(s) acknowledge and reference publication in the Journal.
2) For open access articles, the author(s) agree that their articles published under UNIMAS Publisher are distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, for non-commercial purposes, provided the original work of the author(s) is properly cited.
3) For subscription articles, the author(s) agree that UNIMAS Publisher holds copyright, or an exclusive license to publish. Readers or users may view, download, print, and copy the content, for academic purposes, subject to the following conditions of use: (a) any reuse of materials is subject to permission from UNIMAS Publisher; (b) archived materials may only be used for academic research; (c) archived materials may not be used for commercial purposes, which include but not limited to monetary compensation by means of sale, resale, license, transfer of copyright, loan, etc.; and (d) archived materials may not be re-published in any part, either in print or online.
4) The author(s) is/are responsible to ensure his or her or their submitted work is original and does not infringe any existing copyright, trademark, patent, statutory right, or propriety right of others. Corresponding author(s) has (have) obtained permission from all co-authors prior to submission to the journal. Upon submission of the manuscript, the author(s) agree that no similar work has been or will be submitted or published elsewhere in any language. If submitted manuscript includes materials from others, the authors have obtained the permission from the copyright owners.
5) In signing this statement, the author(s) declare(s) that the researches in which they have conducted are in compliance with the current laws of the respective country and UNIMAS Journal Publication Ethics Policy. Any experimentation or research involving human or the use of animal samples must obtain approval from Human or Animal Ethics Committee in their respective institutions. The author(s) agree and understand that UNIMAS Publisher is not responsible for any compensational claims or failure caused by the author(s) in fulfilling the above-mentioned requirements. The author(s) must accept the responsibility for releasing their materials upon request by Chief Editor or UNIMAS Publisher.
6) The author(s) should have participated sufficiently in the work and ensured the appropriateness of the content of the article. The author(s) should also agree that he or she has no commercial attachments (e.g. patent or license arrangement, equity interest, consultancies, etc.) that might pose any conflict of interest with the submitted manuscript. The author(s) also agree to make any relevant materials and data available upon request by the editor or UNIMAS Publisher.
