Unlocking Doing by Doing Good: A Sustainable and Ethical Operations Perspective

Jason X. Wang*, Wen Zhang, Jie Ma

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingEntry for encyclopedia/dictionarypeer-review

Abstract

Sustainable and ethical operations (SEO) are crucial for modern businesses. However, the desire for SEO from society and scholars has not yet been balanced with the concerns of managers and practitioners about how to successfully put SEO into practice. It is questionable whether 'doing well' (e.g., operations excellence) is accomplished by 'doing good' (e.g., environmental and ethical practices). In this chapter, we present an SEO operations framework to help understand practical concerns and explore strategies and models for achieving successful SEO outcomes. We suggest analyzing the context of operations by examining the drivers and barriers to SEO that are proposed in this chapter. This allows companies to clearly identify their own operations attributes and market/regulation demands in order to design appropriate SEO strategies. We also propose compliance and innovative strategies for companies to focus on meeting demand-driven SEO or striving for operations improvement. Scholars in operations management (OM) and managers should make an effective use of supporting factors while being mindful of challenges and critical issues in order to ensure that SEO translates into tangible and successful outcomes.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEncyclopedia in Operations Management
EditorsTsan-Ming Jason Choi
Place of PublicationAmsterdam, Netherlands
PublisherElsevier
Edition1st
ISBN (Electronic)9780443289941
ISBN (Print)9780443289934
Publication statusAccepted/In press - 15 Jul 2024

Keywords

  • Circular economy
  • carbon neutrality
  • compliance strategies
  • Digitalization
  • disclosure mechanisms
  • innovative strategies
  • sustainable supply chain management
  • supply chain visibility and transparency
  • sustainable and ethical operations

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