Table Of ContentSustainable Operations Management
Sustainable Operations Management applies the principles of sustainability to all strategic
decisions of operations: capacity management, supply network, process technology, and
development and organisation. This book extends the existing literature of operations
management that for years has been paramount in creating economic value with little
consideration of environment and social dimensions. Whilst based on robust theoretical
frameworks, some developed by its own authors, the book is enriched by international
case studies and real-world illustrations throughout, to demonstrate how this theory
translates to practice. Each chapter begins with learning objectives and ends with a
summary, activity, or questions for discussion. Readers will gain a comprehensive and
in-depth knowledge on how to manage operations for sustainability. They will learn
the ways to formulate a sustainable operations strategy and the elements involved in
managing tactical and operational activities to enhance sustainability performance over
time. The book covers all aspects of the new business sustainability paradigm from an
operations perspective, including sustainable development goals, the circular economy,
and digital transformation. With international agreements and national policies in place
around themes such as climate change, ocean plastic pollution, loss of biodiversity, water
scarcity, and zero landfill targets, this book will be a must for any university abiding to the
Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRIME). The text is suitable mostly
for MSc and MBA students on sustainable supply chain and operations management
modules as well as broader operations management courses, but it can also be used for
final-year undergraduate students as part of advanced operations management modules.
Breno Nunes is Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Operations Management and Deputy-
director of the Centre for Circular Economy and Advanced Sustainability at Aston
Business School, UK. He is currently President of IAMOT – the International Association
for Management of Technology. Breno has published his research in high-impact journals
and delivered several keynotes worldwide on SOM and related topics.
Luciano Batista is Director of the Centre for Circular Economy and Advanced
Sustainability (CEAS) at Aston Business School, UK. He is also Chartered Member of
the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and affiliated faculty member of the
Microeconomics of Competitiveness group at Harvard Business School, USA.
Donato Masi is Deputy-director of the Centre of Cybersecurity Innovation at Aston
Business School, UK, and Reader in Operations and Supply Chain Management in the
Operations and Information Department.
David Bennett is Affiliated Professor at Chalmers University, Sweden, and Emeritus
Professor at Aston University, UK. David’s research interests are concerned with issues
relating to management of technology, operations systems design for manufacturing, and
the transfer of technology between industrialised and developing countries.
Sustainable Operations
Management
Key Practices and Cases
Breno Nunes, Luciano Batista,
Donato Masi, and David Bennett
Cover image: Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
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© 2023 Breno Nunes, Luciano Batista, Donato Masi and David Bennett
The right of Breno Nunes, Luciano Batista, Donato Masi and David Bennett to be
identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
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trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-367-44379-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-44383-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-00937-5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003009375
Typeset in Bembo
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Access the Support Material: www .routledge .com /9780367443832
Contents
PART 1
Setting the scene 1
1 Introduction to sustainable operations management 3
2 Towards a circular economy 20
3 Sustainable operations strategy 30
PART 2
Sustainable operations management practices 51
4 Sustainable facilities 53
5 Sustainable supply chains 70
6 Sustainable production 84
7 Process technologies and sustainable operations 97
8 Sustainable design and product development 113
PART 3
Cases on sustainable operations management 135
9 Sustainable operations management in the automotive industry 137
10 Natura Brasil: Building sustainability leadership in the cosmetics industry 168
Index 185
Part 1
Setting the scene
1 Introduction to sustainable
operations management
This chapter presents the topics of sustainability, sustainable development, and related
concepts. It also provides an overview of the operations function, its role and importance
for business sustainability. The concept of sustainable operations management (SOM) is
then defined alongside its implications for the management of operations in respect of its
traditional roots.
The key learning objectives of the chapter are:
• to develop awareness of the key concepts of sustainable development and sustainable
operations management;
• to recognise the elements and trade-offs within the dimensions of operations sustain-
ability, namely: economic, environmental, and social;
• to identify the areas of operations which are related to the improvement of sustain-
ability performance.
This book comprises three parts: Part 1 Setting the scene, Part 2 Sustainable opera-
tions management practices, and Part 3 Cases in sustainable operations management
(see Figure 1.1). The first three chapters belong to Part 1 (Introduction to sustainable
operations management; Towards a circular economy; Sustainable operations strategy).
Chapters 4 to 8 are in Part 2 (Sustainable facilities; Sustainable supply chains; Sustainable
production; Process technologies for sustainable operations; Sustainable design and prod-
uct development), and the cases that comprise practical examples in sustainable operations
management comprise Part 3.
Introduction to sustainability and sustainable development
Before becoming mainstream in the operations management discipline, sustainability had
been discussed for a long time in other academic disciplines such as philosophy, history,
sociology, and biology. For example, philosophers, historians, sociologists, and biologists
have extensively analysed the collapse of ecosystems, societies, and economies. Besides
analysis based on military power, which includes the relationship between allies and ene-
mies, other studies on the resilience and collapse of ancient civilisations were usually
linked to use, degradation, and availability of (natural) resources, strength of social institu-
tions, and individual and collective behaviour (Nunes, 2011). In economics, for instance,
a landmark sustainability study (although not using the term ‘sustainability’ as such) is
the Essay on Population by Thomas Malthus (Malthus, 1798). At the time, Malthus
DOI: 10.4324/9781003009375-2
