Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to challenge the common claim of “infinite variety” being demanded in the marketplace by measuring not just how much variety theoretically could be produced, but how much is actually demanded by the customer. To this effect, the authors propose and...

It is now becoming apparent that the prevalent “stock‐push” approach in the automotive industry of building vehicles against a long‐term forecast and fulfilling the large majority of orders from existing stock is no longer a viable proposition. Pressure from rising stock levels in the...

Purpose: Companies are increasingly challenged by sustainability-related supply chain risks. Research has developed linking supply chain sustainability priorities, practices and triple bottom line performance; however, risk is rarely included in these models. The purpose of this paper is to...

Purpose – Vehicle manufacturer “CarCo” has spent decades developing its supply strategy based on customer ordered production. Yet the combination of an over‐crowded European market and the need to grow sales poses a dilemma: what strategy does it adopt to manage its global operations?...

Purpose – The paper's aim is to evaluate the changing patterns of defence requirements and their implications on supply chains and relationships within the UK defence industry. Design/methodology/approach – The paper builds a case study on the UK defence industry comprising 22...

Purpose – This paper provides a structured literature review of sustainability in purchasing and supply management, moving beyond the traditional environmental and social sustainability. The paper reviews the concept of sustainability at three levels of inter‐organizational analysis – i.e....

Purpose This paper aims to reflect on recent closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) practices using a natural resource-based view (NRBV) and dynamic capabilities (DC) perspective. Design/methodology/approach Two empirical case studies of CLSC exemplars are used to discuss the theoretical relevance of...

Purpose – This paper investigates the stalled adoption of a supplier park at Bridgend Engine Plant in the UK. It starts from the position that not all firms can or should implement the same set of practices. Design/methodology/approach – Critical incident technique and semi‐structured...

Supply chain network design (SCND) models and methods have been the subject of several recent literature review surveys, but none of them explicitly includes sustainable development as a main characteristic of the problem considered. The aim of this review is to bridge this gap. The paper...