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This paper aims to assess the current practice in research on supply chain management applying a case study method. Two particular research fields, namely sustainable supply chain management (SustSCM) and performance supply chain management (PerformSCM), are used as examples.

The paper is based on a content analysis, where quality criteria for documenting case study research are analyzed. A total of 68 papers from the two research fields (51 SustSCM and 17 PerformSCM) forms the sample. The criteria of analysis chosen are taken from the case study research process.

There are two major findings: first, supply chain researchers have to make a greater effort to collect data from supply chains (i.e. at least two, or better, three or more stages of the supply chains). Second, the research process needs to be more comprehensively documented in related peer‐reviewed journal publications. This way, the value of case study based research might be appreciated more, as well enabling stronger conclusions to be drawn on the individual piece of research.

The research presented focuses on two particular fields inside SCM. However, the observations made that methodological rigor is often lacking in the papers holds for both fields.

The paper contributes to the further development of appropriate empirical research strategies for supply chain management.

The intention of the paper is to present recent developments in German‐based supply chain‐controlling literature (management accounting in supply chains) and place them in a context of recent lines of research on supply chain management.

The approach taken in the paper is a conceptually‐based review of related publications.

The study finds that supply chain controlling has picked up on controlling concepts, i.e. rationality, coordination and information, which are transferred to the meta‐level of a supply chain. This is linked to recent debates in supply chain management literature, which are captured as the performance frontier of a supply chain, the coordination and integration needs of a supply chain and the information needed to manage and control a supply chain.

Management accounting instruments need to be applied on a supply chain level more and more.

The paper summarizes research contributions on supply chain controlling published in German and puts them in an international context.

Strategic outsourcing and supply chain integration issues have gained considerable attention in recent years. Concentration on core competencies usually addresses examples along one supply chain. However, a different phenomenon appears in the strategic “dis‐integration” of companies. As explored in five cases taken from the German chemical industry, a separation of two kinds of companies can be observed. Product manufacturers concentrate their business on specific products and technologies, while facility operators, which can also be conceived as service factories, are formed to operate the infrastructure of a production site. This will be described and analysed on building outsourcing and service management thought. A model will be derived describing how the formation of facility operators takes place. The services offered are analysed to yield insights into the business of facility operators. The link between product manufacturers and facility operators offers challenges for future research in supply chain management.

This research analyzes the current knowledge regarding the use of maturity models (MMs) in SSCM, aiming to identify the main characteristics, trends and research gaps on the subject. Facing the growing interest in carrying out studies directed at sustainability, to the detriment of more prescient environmental and social impacts and the need to consolidate the concepts present in the literature regarding the SSCM, an absence of similar studies in the current literature was found. The authors have selected articles to compose a database that allows users to analyze and classify publications on MMs in SSCM, being those subdivided into 7 categories: focus, methodology, analyzed sector, sustainable practices, dimensions of sustainable development, type of MM and model/framework validation method.

To achieve this purpose, a literature systematization was conducted by searching publications using defined keywords in two databases and following a process of classification. The systematic process has five steps, from the selection of databases to the filtering of publications, review of information and analysis of the sample.

The topic under study is promising, with a few publications dealing with it, mainly in Brazil, and there is a trend to exploit more of the area in future research.

This research provides a detailed analysis of an emerging theme, divided into seven thematic categories. Results demonstrate that the topic is still underexplored, indicating an important research gap to be filled.

This study aims to investigate the under-researched role of the sub-supplier’s direct environment in achieving compliance with multi-tier sustainable supply chain management (MT-SSCM) objectives.

Building on conceptual research, this study aims to generalize the characteristics of multi-tier supply chains in light of institutional theory and supply chain (SC) uncertainty to enhance the understanding of their complex interrelationship.

A three-dimensional framework is built around the supply and demand uncertainty as well as the pressures for sustainability exerted by the supplier’s direct environment to propose ideal constellations for the application of MT-SSCM. Moreover, research directions and implications for the alteration of suboptimal constellations are developed.

Incorporating the supplier’s environment in the choice of MT-SSCM practices couples the sustainability priorities of the focal firm and the supplier. This enables a more complete picture of the sustainability objectives and sustainable development aims of the SC partners.

On the basis of institutional theory, the study extends current MT-SSCM concepts by including the supplier’s direct environment in the choice of ideal management practices in a particular SC setup. It provides a definition of a multi-tier SC as an institutional field and a number of research implications regarding MT-SSCM as well as generic SSCM. Moreover, the proposed framework helps SC managers to understand the complex interplay of the SC partners’ sustainability aims and provides implications for choosing the most suitable MT-SSCM practices.

This paper aims to examine how companies enact traceability in their global supply chains (SCs) to achieve sustainability goals and how this so-called traceability for sustainability (TfS) can contribute to (sustainable) supply chain management ([S]SCM). For this, the paper focuses on the paramount example of the apparel industry.

This study presents an integrative and systematic literature review of 89 peer-reviewed journal articles on the confluence of traceability and sustainability in global apparel SCs. It comprises content analysis and abductive category-building based on previous literature.

A conceptual framework emerges to describe TfS as an evolving cycle, comprising three dimensions: governance, collaboration and tracking and tracing. Resources and capabilities literature set the foundations for conceiving TfS as a distinctive meta-capability construct. Hence, besides being associated to increased performance, risk management and SC process transformation, TfS ultimately blurs boundaries and integrates non-traditional SC actors into the same ecosystem with important implications for sustainability and (S)SCM. This study refers to the industrial upgrading potential of global SCs to explain how leveraging enabling technologies for TfS may help to improve the triple-bottom-line (TBL) performance of the actors in the broad ecosystem while reducing the risks associated to those technologies. Thus, TfS can contribute to (S)SCM and to TBL sustainability within and beyond SC boundaries.

This study conceptually frames (S)SCM exploring TfS as a meta-capability and contributes to the underexplored question of how to achieve sustainability in global SCs.

Literature review articles have become a frequently applied research approach in operations and supply chain management (SCM). The purpose of this paper aims to elaborate on four approaches for developing or employing theory in systematic literature reviews (SLRs).

The paper uses conceptual arguments and illustrates them by pointing to recent examples. In SLRs, the material collection is usually based on keywords and searching databases, which is comparatively well documented. Data analysis, however, often falls short in documentation and, consequently, is neither well explained nor replicable. Therefore, the focus of this paper is the elaboration of the data analysis and sense-making stage in the research process of SLRs.

The paper presents four different approaches, which are characterized as theory (1) building, (2) modification, (3) refinement and (4) extension, based on whether new concepts are formed or extant concepts within SCM or other fields of management theory are adopted.

The limitation of this research is that literature reviews could be conducted and presented in many ways. Since the focus of this research is on systematic literature reviews, only a limited number of approaches can be discussed and presented here.

The paper contributes to explaining the process and expected outcomes of a literature review and, therefore, aids in further developing the related methodological approaches. This is relevant as literature review publications now often replace conceptual or theoretical pieces but still have to deliver concerning demands of theory building.

The aim of this paper is to identify key categories of Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and related practices that are required to fulfill the demands of sustainability and, therefore, contributing to sustainability performance. As part of this, the authors will identify different approaches in practice implementation in SSCM and supply chain management (SCM). SSCM has become a topic of great interest and is linked to the assumption that a more sustainable performance for businesses would be achieved on its implementation. Such performance has to be achieved with respect to all three dimensions of sustainability.

The paper is conceptual in nature. The authors draw from literature on SSCM and examine frameworks and critical accounts on the topic. This allows identifying key aspects of SSCM and pointing out differences and overlaps with SCM.

The authors identify five key categories which are of high importance for the sustainable management of supply chains: orientation toward SCM and sustainability, continuity, collaboration, risk management and proactivity. In a second step, the authors describe distinctive practices which allow organizations to follow the goals formulated in the five key categories. Finally, they highlight issues preventing companies that follow a rather “conventional” approach to SCM to reach the level where it can be called SSCM, i.e. how to reach sustainability performance in SCM.

The work presented is conceptual in nature. It would be required to operationalize respective categories and, therefore, test them in empirical research.

The categories and practices identified within the framework can be used for guiding managers toward the implementation of SSCM. This is the case when management takes performance implication into account without solely considering rather simplistic indicators. At the same time, differentiating a company based on the implementation of sustainability practices has become more difficult, due to the proliferation of sustainability in a wider field.

Social aspects are integrated into the framework on the same level as environmental and economic aspects, emphasizing the triple bottom line orientation.

While all practices applied in SSCM have originally been identified and described by researchers for the case of “conventional” SCM, their particular interrelation and joint implementation makes up SSCM and ensures a contribution to sustainability performance.

This study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) on social inclusion within upstream supply chains, targeting a notable literature gap in modern SCM discourse. By delving into this critical, yet underexamined, domain, this study spotlights the pressing need to incorporate social inclusion practices, particularly as global supply chains face increased scrutiny over their social ramifications. It examines social inclusion’s intricacies, offering practical insights for industry professionals to adopt, so that trustworthy social inclusion practices can proliferate across their upstream supply chains, thereby making a substantial contribution to both theoretical understanding and practical application.

Employing five search queries across two leading academic databases, this investigation reviewed 86 articles that examined social issues related to social inclusion in the upstream supply chain. Via content analysis, this study aims to answer essential research questions and employs statistical bibliometric analyses to investigate the collected data further.

This study’s findings establish a definition of social inclusion within the upstream supply chain and present a conceptual framework delineating levers and indicators for evaluating such practices. Through rigorous analysis, it becomes apparent that mechanisms such as supplier compliance, collaboration and development are crucial for promoting social inclusion; however, their importance differs at various levels of suppliers in multi-tiered supply chains. Furthermore, a methodological matrix is introduced for assessing social inclusion practices’ efficacy, equipping practitioners with a roadmap for developing and executing strategies that extend social inclusion efforts throughout the supply chain, as well as emphasising these levers through monitoring, assessment and application of six specified indicators.

This study contributes to the dialogue surrounding upstream supply chain management by spotlighting social inclusion practices, addressing the literature gap in comprehending how social inclusion dynamics operate within upstream supply chains and outlining a distinct direction for forthcoming research. By highlighting the pressing importance of enhancing social inclusion practices, this study not only enriches the theoretical landscape but also lays the groundwork for subsequent empirical studies aimed at deciphering the complexities and practical hurdles associated with the efficient execution of these practices.

While the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on logistics and supply chain management (SCM) is recently much discussed, this is hardly linked to emerging economies and base of the pyramid (BoP) settings. The paper aims as offering a framework linking different conceptual elements to each other for explaining how ICT enables sustainable value creation in emerging economy supply chains (SCs).

The paper builds on conceptual reasoning linking constructs from the different fields to each other.

Using conceptual reasoning linking constructs, six elements are identified: (1) SC flows, (2) BoP challenges and (3) ICT services as starting points, and environmental conditions driving sustainable value creation. The application of ICT within BoP SC operations drives the process of sustainable value creation by enabling new ways of (4) electronic business (e-business) transactions and (5) SSCM behaviors. This leads to (6) sustainable value for businesses using ICT applications and their respective stakeholders.

Empirical testing by collecting field data in emerging economy contexts would be demanded to address the limitation of building on conceptual reasonings.

The framework provides various SC-related measures driving e-business value creation for managers of businesses, charity organizations and policymakers in emerging communities.

Understanding the use of smartphones and other mobile devices for businesses and their supply chains in emerging markets would have wide ranging social implication addressed in the sustainable value creation of the framework offered.

The conceptual framework brings different elements together offering insights into ICT applications in BoP SCs. Linking SCM, ICT and BoP to each other is a novel contribution having wider implications for the future development of emerging economies.