1. Motivation and Problem Statement: In light of increasing resource scarcity and climate change, the design of ecologically sustainable supply chains is gaining urgency. Cooperations and Resource-sharing, i.e., the joint use of materials, production capacities, logistics resources, or employees between companies, holds significant potential for increasing resource efficiency and reducing environmental impacts. However, implementation of such practices is often confronted with barriers such as conflicting objectives, lack of trust, or inadequate technical compatibility. Therefore, a better understanding of the drivers and mechanisms of resource sharing and their joint usage in corporate networks is needed. 2. Structure and Methodology: Based on a systematic literature review and expert interviews, the thesis first develops a multidimensional framework defining 17 key drivers of green supply chains at the internal, relational, and external levels. Using a graph-theoretic approach, the interdependencies of these drivers are modeled, and their influence on the structural sharing capability of a supply chain is quantified. For this purpose, the Green Barrier Index (GBI) is introduced as a novel indicator and applied to a sample of 27 companies. Complementary regression analyses identify critical success factors for performance and sustainability in the supply chains. 3. Concrete Results: The empirical findings demonstrate the fundamental suitability of the driver framework and the GBI for analyzing and evaluating sharing potentials for sustainable supply chains. Industry comparisons reveal the highest sharing maturity in the consumer goods sector, followed by automotive and retail, while mechanical and plant engineering score lower. Top management support, technological capabilities, and inter-company trust prove to be particularly influential drivers. At the same time, the results emphasize the necessity of a context-specific consideration and design of sharing networks. Overall, the thesis makes a valuable contribution to the conceptual foundation, methodological development, and empirical investigation of resource sharing in green supply chains as a forward-looking approach to resilient and sustainable value creation. It provides valuable impetus for academia and practice while also highlighting the vast potential for further research at the interface of SSCM and the sharing economy.
Date of Award | 2024 |
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Original language | German (Austria) |
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Supervisor | Dritan Osmani (Supervisor) |
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Green Supply Chains: Geteilte Ressourcennutzung entlang der Lieferketten - Mechanismen, Treiber und Barrieren
Evtimova, N. (Author). 2024
Student thesis: Master's Thesis