The meaning of sustainability differs drastically depending on which perspective you look at it from. It could mean lower carbon emissions, green and eco-friendly or it could mean a self-sufficient system, or even could be about creating a healthy environment that is based on ecological principles. Putting sustainability within the context of a Supply Chain Management (SCM) process, more accurately a construction supply chain management process, would require immense care. To claim truly sustainable construction would mean that every aspect of the construction process would have to be accountable for it. the two main parts of sustainable and construction are the materials that are used and the methods that are utilized in the construction process. This paper aims to look into ways in which sustainability can be achieved within the construction supply chain.
The construction industry is one of the largest contributor to global waste. The world is slowly turning its focus towards sustainability, and achieving precisely that should be the focus of the industry. This would entail managing the materials that usually contribute to the growing waste, be eco-friendlier, reusable and impactful in a positive way to the environment.
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This can be achieved with the use of the right materials. Materials that over the past few years have been modified by evolving technologies or materials that were naturally obtained during the times of our forefathers, i.e., old school construction materials. In order for a company to have a healthy maximization of its customer value and a gain in competitive advantage in the marketplace it requires to have a handle over its Supply Chain management. When aiming for a sustainable construction process Supply Chain management plays a large role. Nowadays Supply Chain management is built into a company's structure as it reduces cost and time for sourcing and reducing liability risks in the process.
In order for sustainability to be part of the SCM additional developments are being introduced to the existing set of rules.
Along with performance measures like “ time quality and cost” additional factors like environmental and social measures should also be added.
When selecting vendors / suppliers, sustainable performances should become one of the key aspects, thus forcing them to change along with the times in the process.
In order to achieve this companies should organize themselves together to form an industry standard. accelerating the adoption of this process. This can further be accelerated if these changes are pushed by the government through its legislation and spending power. This is not easily done as a said all this comes with its own set of problems.
Keeping in mind all these important points in regards to the importance of sustainability in the construction industry and especially within the SCM, this paper will look at critically appraising the paper by Adetunji, Price & Fleming (2008) titled Sustainability in the Construction Supply Chain. This paper will loosely take the help of the critical appraisal tool by Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) for Systemic Review and Research Synthesis. Some of the points in the checklist will be taken as a guide to systematically analyze the paper.
Critical Appraisal
The review question as a clear and coherent is missing in the paper. But it had a clear and well-communicated intention that was consistently followed through in the course of the research paper. The paper was well researched with no loss of focus of the intention.
The paper looked at several areas of inclusion, starting with holistic considerations of how health and well-being plays a huge role in the topic of sustainability even within SCM. It elaborates on the key differences between various kinds of sustainable practices. In Bove and Swartz article in Mckinsey and company article, titled Starting at the source: Sustainability in supply chains (2016), the quote goes on to say Sustainability factors could alter the growth projections for consumer packaged goods companies, seriously affecting their total returns to their shareholders. This quote is well illustrated throughout the paper as it describes elaborately the various facets of involvement that can bring about a multi sectorial change that is beneficial to the companies, the vendors, the customers amongst other stakeholders.
The methodology employed by the research, was a combination of extensive literature survey along with interviews of employees in certain selected companies shortlisted by the researchers, and then later analysis of the collected information. They also employed an interesting cross industry examination wherein instead of construction data, road construction data was collected and then later applied into the construction industry. Nevertheless, the data remained relevant in terms of sustainable SCM practices within both. Due to the lack of relevant research areas and other hindrances, these techniques seemed adequate given the circumstances.
The research done was based on interviews of clients, suppliers, contractors, subcontractors within the road maintenance sector and the data collected were based on their actual human experiences. Therefore, the sample is not large enough for the data to be generalized. Nevertheless, a hybrid of qualitative and quantitative methodology was used - the questions of the interview derived from literature survey. The gap for error is limited here as it is an experience based survey but the data collected was less comprehensive.
The term Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), from the research done, has not received as much traction, especially considering this research was conducted around a decade ago, but globally the importance of sustainability in every aspect of human functioning has become of high relevance in today’s time . the point that the paper was trying to put forward and create awareness of a holistic approach towards sustainability in one of the least sustainable industry has clearly paved a path for deeper investigative studies into understanding the workings of the industry process.
Mckinsey and company has formulated a framework that allows the evaluation of processes for their sustainability in supply chains which are as follows:
Locate critical issues across the whole supply chain. This allows the companies to look at products and its supply chain individually and address the various issues that the supply chain has with regard to sustainability.
Link supply-chain sustainability goals to the global sustainability agenda. Some supply chain managers have already started to push forth a sustainable agenda to get ahead of the impending regulations.
Assist suppliers with managing impact – and make sure they follow through. This falls on the organizations.
Currently, COVID has brought about an interesting turn of events- it has ripped a gaping hole to expose the vulnerabilities faced by the companies in their supply chains (Kilpatrick, 2020). With China being the “world factory” and the trade liberalization and world in general coming to a stand-still due to the virus, companies are having to come up with urgent interventions to address their supply chain management issue, especially the ones that serve China as their primary market or ones that source their products from China. This has brought about another tectonic shift with several countries focusing on sourcing from the local vendors. The effects of this change economically is yet to be understood but companies have embraced this new shift by adapting to the times.
Conclusion
To conclude, this paper critically analyzed the research paper titled Sustainability in the Construction Supply Chain by Adetunji, Price & Fleming (2008), using the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist as guidance. It looked at various aspects of when the paper was written to the journey it has taken throughout, to the time until the pandemic struck that brought about a paradigm shift in the processes in supply chain management.
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