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Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management - Call for Papers: Special Issue on Flexible practices for resilient and sustainable supply chains

Guest editors:

Sanjoy Paul, Associate Professor, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
email: sanjoy.paul@uts.edu.au (this opens in a new tab)
web: https://www.uts.edu.au/staff/sanjoy.paul (this opens in a new tab)

Priyabrata Chowdhury, Lecturer, School of Accounting, Information Systems and Supply Chain, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
email: priyabrata.chowdhury@rmit.edu.au (this opens in a new tab)
web: https://www.rmit.edu.au/contact/staff-contacts/academic-staff/c/chowdhury-dr-priyabrata (this opens in a new tab)


Introduction to the Special Issue:

The importance of supply chain resilience and sustainability has never been more evident than in the wake of recent global supply chain disruptions. While supply chains have faced disruptions in the past, the magnitude of the recent global disruptions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, was unprecedented, impacting even the most prominent global supply chains. Consequently, the focus shifted from sustainability to survival, hindering the progress of supply chain sustainability initiatives (Paul et al., 2021). 

In response, supply chains have intensified their efforts to enhance both resilience and sustainability. They have adopted various preparedness strategies to mitigate the impact of future disruptions. However, Brown (2022) expresses concerns that while supply chains may focus on preparing for similar pandemics, the next major disruptions, such as cyber-security threats or conflicts between nations, could take a different form. Consequently, relying solely on strategies tailored to specific disruptions may not ensure long-term resilience and sustainability. The global disruptions have demonstrated that pre-planned strategies may prove ineffective during unique and severe disruptions. Instead, supply chains need to prioritize flexibility to achieve sustainable supply chain resilience (Kazancoglu et al., 2022).

As a result, service and manufacturing organizations and their supply chains must develop flexible strategies and systems to build resilience and achieve sustainability (Mangla et al., 2014). Flexibility can be applied in various dimensions to support these objectives. For instance, Tang and Tomlin (2008) suggest that flexibility in multiple areas, such as multiple supplier selection, supply contracts, manufacturing processes, and product and pricing decisions, can enhance supply chain resilience. A recent study focusing on JD.COM highlights that flexible operational strategies have enabled the company and its supply chains to maintain resilience during the pandemic. Additionally, research indicates that supply chain flexibility complements other strategies in building a robust supply chain (Kamalahmadi et al., 2022).

While there is a growing consensus on the need for flexible practices and structures to achieve resilient and sustainable supply chains, specific guidance on the extent of flexibility is required. For example, it remains unclear how to develop a flexible supply chain and what are the necessary capabilities for developing flexibility. This special issue aims to address these gaps by exploring the intricacies of building flexible practices for resilient and sustainable supply chains. It will focus on integrating research that examines the interactions among flexible practices, resilience, and sustainability in supply chain disciplines.


Topics and Coverage: 

Topics may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Types of flexible approaches for resilient and sustainable supply chains.
  • Enablers and antecedents of flexible supply chains and their impacts on resilience and sustainable goals.
  • Inter-relationships among flexibility, resilience, and sustainability.
  • Contributing factors for building a flexible supply chain aiming to be resilient and sustainable.
  • Real-life case studies on flexible operations that have built resilient and sustainable supply chains.
  • Comparisons of flexible practices and their resilient and sustainable performance across industries and firm sizes.
  • Flexible practices in multi-tier supply chains and how they contribute to resilience and sustainable performance.
  • Firm orientations toward flexibility, resiliency, and sustainability in the post-pandemic era.
  • Optimization of flexible operations for resilient and sustainable supply chains.
  • Role of leadership and firm orientation for a flexible supply chain design.
  • Flexible practices for service and manufacturing supply chains and how they differ.
  • Stakeholder collaboration and resource allocations for flexible practices in resilient supply chains.
  • Latest tools, techniques and management approaches for managing flexibility, resilience and sustainability in supply chains.


Submission Details:

Articles submitted to the journal should be original contributions and should not be under consideration for any other publication at the same time. Authors submitting articles should follow the submission guidelines of the Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management for preparing the manuscripts (link below).
All papers will undergo double-blind review following the journal’s normal review process and editorial processes outlined in its submission guidelines (this opens in a new tab).

Important Dates:

Last date for paper submission: 31 May 2024
Notification of first round of review: 31 July 2024
Re-submission due date: 30 September 2024
Editorial follow-up by 15 November 2024
Volume to be published by: 31 December 2024 
Submission site: https://www.editorialmanager.com/jfsm/ (this opens in a new tab) 

References:

Brown, E., 2022. Building resilience for the next supply chain disruption, MIT News. Available at  https://news.mit.edu/2022/building-resilience-next-supply-chain-disruption-james-rice-1121 (this opens in a new tab). Accessed on 19 June 2023.

Kamalahmadi, M., Shekarian, M. and Mellat Parast, M., 2022. The impact of flexibility and redundancy on improving supply chain resilience to disruptions. International Journal of Production Research, 60(6), 1992-2020.

Kazancoglu, I., Ozbiltekin-Pala, M., Mangla, S.K., Kazancoglu, Y. and Jabeen, F., 2022. Role of flexibility, agility and responsiveness for sustainable supply chain resilience during COVID-19. Journal of Cleaner Production, 362, 132431.

Mangla, S.K., Kumar, P. and Barua, M.K., 2014. A flexible decision framework for building risk mitigation strategies in green supply chain using SAP–LAP and IRP approaches. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 15, 203-218.

Paul, S. K., Chowdhury, P., Moktadir, M. A., and Lau, K. H. (2021). Supply chain recovery challenges in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Business Research, 136, 316-329.

Tang, C. and Tomlin, B., 2008. The power of flexibility for mitigating supply chain risks. International journal of production economics, 116(1), 12-27.

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