Responsible Business Operations: Challenges and Opportunities

This book presents state-of-the-art research on responsible operations practices. The book identifies the challenges and opportunities arising from the shift towards responsible business operations and examines these issues through the lenses of operations management, emphasizing the supply chain transformations associated with these changes. Developing a responsible business model presents a great opportunity for firms to differentiate in the marketplace through innovative models and insights around responsible operations and supply chain management. To do so, companies in many industries are changing their practices around sourcing materials, supplier compliance around processes and labor, scientific and sustainable approaches to farming in emerging countries, managing counterfeiting risks, and public health management.

Responsible Business Operations: Challenges and Opportunities is divided into three sections. Section 1 focuses on environmental responsibility for companies. It also explores alternative energy solutions for both the developed and developing world, as well as worldwide carbon footprint reduction efforts. Section 2 is dedicated to social responsibility, with chapters covering topics including improving agricultural food chains and humanitarian challenges for businesses. Finally Section 3 promotes ethical responsibility, analyzing ways to improve supplier compliance to product, process and ethical standards.

Vinayak Deshpande is a professor and area chair of Operations at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business school. His research interests are in the area of customer service and demand information driven supply chain management, supply chain collaboration, and addressing sustainability and corporate social responsibility issues in supply chains. He conducts this work in industry sectors that include defense, aviation, airlines, healthcare, computers and hi-tech. His research has been published in premier academic journals such as Management Science, Operations Research, and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management.

Jayashankar Swaminathan is the GlaxoSmithKline Distinguished Professor of Operations. He teaches courses in global operations, global execution models and global supply chain strategy and management. Dr. Swaminathan has published more than 100 articles on these topics. He is the author of ＂Indian Economic Superpower: Fiction or Future?＂ He currently serves as a department editor for Management Science and Production and Operations Management journals.