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ISBITM 2016: Life Cycle Thinking and Supply Chain Sustainability Risk

Event Type
Conference
Sponsor
18th International Society for Business Innovation and Technology Management (ISBITM)
Details
May 1, 2016 9:00am - May 3, 7:00pm
 - 
University of Michigan, Michigan League, Ann Arbor

Life Cycle Thinking and Supply Chain Sustainability Risk

This talk will introduce life cycle thinking and its application to supply chain sustainability risk assessment. A systematic and quantifiable risk assessment model based on triple bottom line is developed in order to understand supply chain sustainability risk. We divide the supply chain sustainability risk into three components: operational risk, environmental risk and social risk. The apparel industry (deep structure) and automobile industry (broad structure) are chosen as case studies for demonstration. For each industry, we conduct supply chain mapping, calculate each risk, and identify the sector with highest supply chain sustainability risk. We also divide the supply chain sustainability risk into location‐based, activity‐based and conducted materiality analysis. Finally, based on the characteristics of each industry, we suggest strategies to improve supply chain sustainability.


Prof. Dr. Ming Xu is an Assistant Professor in School of Natural Resources and Environment and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He earned his BS and MS from Tsinghua University, China, and PhD from Arizona State University, all in environmental engineering. Prior to his current appointment at the University of Michigan, he was a postdoctoral fellow in School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology from 2009 to 2010. His research focuses on systems‐based evaluation of environmental implications of emerging technology and networked systems. At the University of Michigan, he co‐directs the Graduate Certificate Program in Industrial Ecology and is a core faculty of the Center for Sustainable Systems. He is the Editor‐In‐Chief of Resources, Conservation & Recycling. He was awarded the Robert A. Laudise Medal from International Society for Industrial Ecology for “outstanding achievement in industrial ecology by a researcher under the age of 36” in 2015. He received the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award in 2016, which is the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher‐scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.