Big Data Analytics for Climate Change Action in Global Supply Chains : A Qualitative Investigation

The globalization of supply chains has come with its own negative impacts, particularly on the environment. Products from all parts of the world are available to everyone by transporting them across continents. But transportation of goods across the globe needs energy that is produced largely by burning fossil fuels. This contributes to global warming and climate change. Organizations are becoming increasingly aware of this effect and are taking steps to minimize the environmental impact of global supply chains. In this paper, we conduct qualitative research through semi-structured interviews with the stakeholders to examine the institutional drivers of climate change action. Big data analytics (BDA) has emerged as a potent approach to improve the efficiency of operations. The study also investigates the literature to identify the avenues where BDA can prove beneficial in optimizing the use of resources, and hence minimizing the negative environmental impact of global supply chains. The research has various academic and managerial implications that are highlighted in the paper