There is a growing need for integrating environmentally sound

choices into supply-chain management research and practice. Perusal of the

literature shows that a broad frame of reference for green supply-chain management
(GrSCM) is not adequately developed. Regulatory bodies that formulate regulations
to meet societal and ecological concerns to facilitate growth of business and
economy also suffer from its absence. A succinct classification to help academicians,
researchers and practitioners in understanding integrated GrSCM from a wider
perspective is needed. Further, sufficient literature is available to warrant such
classification. This paper takes an integrated and fresh look into the area of GrSCM.
The literature on GrSCM is covered exhaustively from its conceptualization, primarily
taking a reverse logistics angle. Using the rich body of available literature, including
earlier reviews that had relatively limited perspectives, the literature on GrSCM is
classified on the basis of the problem context in supply chain's major influential
areas. It is also classified on the basis of methodology and approach adopted.
Various mathematical tools/techniques used in literature vis--vis the contexts of
GrSCM are mapped. A timeline indicating relevant papers is also provided as a
ready reference. Finally, the findings and interpretations are summarized, and the
main research issues and opportunities are highlighted.
Srivastava, Samir K(2007)

There can be little dispute that

supply chain management is an area of importance in the field of management
research, yet there have been few literature reviews on this topic (Bechtel and
Mulumudi, 1996, Proceedings of the 1996 NAPM Annual Academic Conference;
Harland, 1996, British Journal of Management 7 (special issue), 6380; Cooper et
al., 1997). This paper sets out not to review the supply chain literature per se, but
rather to contribute to a critical theory debate through the presentation and use of a
framework for the categorisation of literature linked to supply chain management.
The study is based on the analysis of a large number of publications on supply chain
management (books, journal articles, and conference papers) using a
Procite database from which the literature has been classified according to two
criteria: a content- and a methodology-oriented criterion.
Croom, Simon, Pietro Romano, and Mihalis Giannakis(2000):

(1997)This article surveys the recently emerged field of

reverse logistics. The management of return flows induced by the various forms of
reuse of products and materials in industrial production processes has received
Fleischmann, Moritz, et al

growing attention throughout this decade. Many authors have proposed quantitative
models taking those changes in the logistics environment into account. However, no
general framework has been suggested yet. Therefore the time seems right for a
systematic overview of the issues arising in the context of reverse logistics. In this
paper we subdivide the field into three main areas, namely distribution planning,
inventory control, and production planning. For each of these we discuss the
implications of the emerging reuse efforts, review the mathematical models proposed
in the literature, and point out the areas in need of further research. Special attention
is paid to differences and/or similarities with classical forward logistics methods.

(2007)Order picking has long been

identified as the most labour-intensive and costly activity for almost every
warehouse; the cost of order picking is estimated to be as much as 55% of the total
warehouse operating expense. Any underperformance in order picking can lead to
unsatisfactory service and high operational cost for the warehouse, and
consequently for the whole supply chain. In order to operate efficiently, the orderpicking process needs to be robustly designed and optimally controlled. This paper
gives a literature overview on typical decision problems in design and control of
manual order-picking processes. We focus on optimal (internal) layout design,
storage assignment methods, routing methods, order batching and zoning. The
research in this area has grown rapidly recently. Still, combinations of the above
areas have hardly been explored. Order-picking system developments in practice
lead to promising new research directions.
De Koster, Ren, Tho Le-Duc, and Kees Jan Roodbergen

(2005)The build-to-order supply chain

management (BOSC) strategy has recently attracted the attention of both
researchers and practitioners, given its successful implementation in many
companies including Dell computers, Compaq, and BMW. The growing number of
articles on BOSC in the literature is an indication of the importance of the strategy
and of its role in improving the competitiveness of an organization. The objective of a
BOSC strategy is to meet the requirements of individual customers by leveraging the
advantages of outsourcing and information technology. There are not many research
articles that provide an overview of BOSC, despite the fact that this strategy is being
promoted as the operations paradigm of the future. The main objective of this
research is to (i) review the concepts of BOSC, (ii) develop definitions of BOSC, (iii)
classify the literature based on a suitable classification scheme, leading to some
useful insights into BOSC and some future research directions, (iv) review the
Gunasekaran, Angappa, and Eric WT Ngai

selected articles on BOSC for their contribution to the development and operations of
BOSC, (v) develop a framework for BOSC, and (vi) suggest some future research
directions. The literature has been reviewed based on the following four major areas
of decision-making: organizational competitiveness, the development and
implementation of BOSC, the operations of BOSC, and information technology in
BOSC. Some of the important observations are: (a) there is a lack of adequate
research on the design and control of BOSC, (b) there is a need for further research
on the implementation of BOSC, (c) human resource issues in BOSC have been
ignored, (d) issues of product commonality and modularity from the perspective of
partnership or supplier development require further attention and (e) the trade-off
between responsiveness and the cost of logistics needs further study. The paper
ends with concluding remarks.

(1999)The single-period problem (SPP), also known as the newsboy or

news-vendor problem, is to find the order quantity which maximizes the expected
profit in a single period probabilistic demand framework. Interest in the SPP remains
unabated and many extensions to it have been proposed in the last decade. These
extensions include dealing with different objectives and utility functions, different
supplier pricing policies, different news-vendor pricing policies and discounting
structures, different states of information about demand, constrained multi-products,
multiple-products with substitution, random yields, and multi-location models. This
paper builds a taxonomy of the SPP literature and delineates the contribution of the
different SPP exte
Khouja, Moutaz

Sarac, Aysegul, Nabil Absi, and Stphane Dauzre-Prs Sarac, Aysegul, Nabil Absi, and Stphane

(2010)RFID technologies may improve the potential benefits of supply

chain management through reduction of inventory losses, increase of the efficiency
and speed of processes and improvement of information accuracy. Various RFID
systems can be obtained by combining different tags, readers, frequencies and
levels of tagging, etc. The cost and potential profit of each system change in a wide
range. In this paper, a state-of-the-art on RFID technology deployments in supply
chains is given to analyze the impact on the supply chain performance. Potential
benefits, particularly against inventory inaccuracy problems, the bullwhip effect and
replenishment policies, are briefly surveyed. Various works addressing analytic
Dauzre-Prs

modeling, simulations, case studies and experiments as well as ROI analyses are
reviewed. Finally, conclusions and future research perspectives are presented.

The concept of postponement is increasingly drawing the attention

of researchers and practitioners. Postponement means delaying activities in the
supply chain until customer orders are received with the intention of customizing
products, as opposed to performing those activities in anticipation of future orders.
This paper reviews the literature on postponement dating back to 1965, and puts it in
a systematic framework. In light of the classification of the literature developed,
opportunities are identified for integration and cross-fertilization between research
papers in disciplines such as logistics and operations management and between the
variety of research methods used. Some directions for research (in terms of content
and methodology) are then formulated. For instance, the development of a more
integrated supply chain perspective on postponement, and the application of
triangulation rather than single methods. Specific research activities to meet these
challenges are suggested in the paper.
Van Hoek, Remko I

Williams, Brent D., and Travis Tokar.(2008)

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of inventory management articles published in major logistics
outlets, identify themes from the literature and provide future direction for inventory management research to be
published in logistics journals.
Design/methodology/approach
Articles published in major logistics articles, beginning in 1976, which contribute to the inventory management
literature are reviewed and cataloged. The articles are segmented based on major themes extracted from the
literature as well as key assumptions made by the particular inventory management model.
Findings
Two major themes are found to emerge from logistics research focused on inventory management. First,
logistics researchers have focused considerable attention on integrating traditional logistics decisions, such as
transportation and warehousing, with inventory management decisions, using traditional inventory control
models. Second, logistics researchers have more recently focused on examining inventory management through
collaborative models.
Originality/value
This paper catalogs the inventory management articles published in the major logistics journals, facilitates the
awareness and appreciation of such work, and stands to guide future inventory management research by
highlighting gaps and unexplored topics in the extant literature.

Gms, A. Taskin, and A. Fuat Gneri (2007)Historically, the echelons of the supply chain, warehouse,
distributors, retailers, etc., have been managed independently, buffered by large inventories. Increasing
competitive pressures and market globalization are forcing firms to develop supply chains that can quickly

respond to customer needs. To remain competitive and decrease inventory, these firms must use multiechelon inventory management interactively, while reducing operating costs and improving customer
service. The current paper reviews the literature, addressing multiechelon inventory management in supply
chains from 1996 to 2005. The behaviour of the papers against demand and lead-time uncertainty is the
key analysis point of the literature review presented here and it is conducted from an operational research
point of view. Finally, directions for future research are suggested.

Garg, Amik, and S. G. Deshmukh(2006)

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on maintenance management and suggest possible gaps
from the point of view of researchers and practitioners.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper systematically categorizes the published literature and then analyzes and reviews it methodically.
Findings
The paper finds that important issues in maintenance management range from various optimization models,
maintenance techniques, scheduling, and information systems etc. Within each category, gaps have been
identified. A new shift in maintenance paradigm is also highlighted.
Practical implications
Literature on classification of maintenance management has so far been very limited. This paper reviews a
large number of papers in this field and suggests a classification in to various areas and sub areas.
Subsequently, various emerging trends in the field of maintenance management are identified to help
researchers specifying gaps in the literature and direct research efforts suitably.
Originality/value
The paper contains a comprehensive listing of publications on the field in question and their classification
according to various attributes. The paper will be useful to researchers, maintenance professionals and others
concerned with maintenance to understand the importance of maintenance management

Golhar, Damodar Y., and Carol Lee Stamm. (1991) The

just-in-time (JIT) literature is

reviewed to identify 211 refereed articles. To examine the significance of JIT
implementation, global productivity comparison articles are summarized. The
JIT, MRP and OPT comparisons research is examined. Classification of the
JIT-practices-articles according to the topic areas is presented. Critical
variables, discussed in the JIT implementation in manufacturing articles, are
classified according to the four basic tenets of the JIT philosophy. Eleven
critical variables are identified for the elimination of waste tenet. For employee
involvement in decision-making, supplier participation and total quality control
tenets, five, ten, and eight critical variables, respectively, are listed. To ensure
a comprehensive review of the JIT literature, an extensive bibliography and
some reviews of books on the JIT philosophy are provided. Future research
directions are discussed.

Sila, Ismail, and Maling Ebrahimpour (2002)There has been a plethora of published research related to total
quality management (TQM) in the last few decades. However, very few studies focused on cataloging critical
factors of TQM. One of the objectives of this literature review was to investigate the state of TQM by examining
and listing various TQM factors identified based on survey studies conducted in different countries and published
in a variety of journals over the past decade. An examination of 76 survey studies that used an integrated
approach to TQM showed that the TQM factors could be grouped under 25 categories. An analysis of the 347
survey based research articles published between 1989 and 2000 using these 25 factors as a framework
revealed the most frequently covered TQM factors in the literature. Another goal of the paper was to analyse the
objectives of these articles by year and type of journal they were published in to determine the trends in TQM
survey based studies and recommend future direction for research. The analysis showed that the objectives of
the 347 studies could be grouped under six categories.

(2005)In this paper, we review decision

support models for the design of global supply chains, and assess the fit between
the research literature in this area and the practical issues of global supply chain
design. The classification scheme for this review is based on ongoing and emerging
issues in global supply chain management and includes review dimensions for (1)
decisions addressed in the model, (2) performance metrics, (3) the degree to which
the model supports integrated decision processes, and (4) globalization
considerations. We conclude that although most models resolve a difficult feature
associated with globalization, few models address the practical global supply chain
design problem in its entirety. We close the paper with recommendations for future
research in global supply chain modeling that is both forward-looking and practically
oriented.
Meixell, Mary J., and Vidyaranya B. Gargeya

Cachon, Grard P., and Marshall Fisher. (2000)In

traditional supply chain inventory

management, orders are the only information firms exchange, but information
technology now allows firms to share demand and inventory data quickly and
inexpensively. We study the value of sharing these data in a model with one supplier,
N identical retailers, and stationary stochastic consumer demand. There are
inventory holding costs and back-order penalty costs. We compare a traditional
information policy that does not use shared information with a full information policy
that does exploit shared information. In a numerical study we find that supply chain
costs are 2.2% lower on average with the full information policy than with the
traditional information policy, and the maximum difference is 12.1%. We also develop
a simulation-based lower bound over all feasible policies. The cost difference
between the traditional information policy and the lower bound is an upper bound on
the value of information sharing: In the same study, that difference is 3.4% on
average, and no more than 13.8%. We contrast the value of information sharing with
two other benefits of information technology, faster and cheaper order processing,

which lead to shorter lead times and smaller batch sizes, respectively. In our sample,
cutting lead times nearly in half reduces costs by 21% on average, and cutting
batches in half reduces costs by 22% on average. For the settings we study, we
conclude that implementing information technology to accelerate and smooth the
physical flow of goods through a supply chain is significantly more valuable than
using information technology to expand the flow of information.

Dangayach, G. S., and S. G. Deshmukh. (2001)This

paper reports the results of a

comprehensive review and analysis of the assembly line balancing literature.
Quantitative developments and qualitative issues are addressed at both the
strategic and tactical levels. The numerous quantitative and qualitative factors
which the literature mentions could impact the design, balancing and
scheduling of assembly systems are organized into an eight-level hierarchical,
factor/decision taxomony. This comprehensive taxonomy is used to assess
our progress in assembly system design and operation. Finally, from the
results of the literature review and progress assessment, suggestions for
future research on socio-technical assembly systems are offered.

Andersson, Henrik,(2010) This

paper describes industrial aspects of combined inventory

management and routing in maritime and road-based transportation, and gives a
classification and comprehensive literature review of the current state of the
research.
The literature is contrasted with aspects of industrial applications from a constructive,
but critical, viewpoint. Based on the status and trends within the field, future research
is suggested with regard to both further development of the research area and
industrial needs. By highlighting the industrial aspects, practitioners will hopefully see
the benefit of using advanced decision support systems in complex situations related
to combined inventory management and routing in their business. In addition, a
classification and presentation of the research should help and motivate researchers
to further focus on inventory management and routing challenges

Huang, George Q., Jason SK Lau, and K. L. Mak. (2003) This

paper is a review of research

into the impacts of sharing production information on the supply chain
dynamics. The purpose of the review is to understand the needs to unravel
such impacts on the supply chain design and management, to identify the
current research frontier and to study the future trend in this field. The scope
of the review is somewhat broad in the sense that more than 100 relevant
publications resulting from major research projects and originating from some
leading research groups are selected for review. In order to maintain the
necessary coherence and consistency, this comprehensive review proposes a
loose reference framework to reflect major elements commonly involved in
this type of research, including the decision level investigated, supply chain
structure, research questions addressed, factors involved, supply chain
dynamics measured, modelling methodology adopted, data analysis technique
used, and findings and insights from the managerial perspective obtained. The
framework serves as a skeleton for categorizing literature and research areas
into these key elements. It is hoped that this review is valuable and beneficial
both to new researchers entering the field, in order to gain their interest,
references and focus, and to experienced researchers, in order, perhaps, to
identify new research opportunities and/or issues that intersect these
researchers' past and current interests.

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