Sustainable Supply Chain Management in Urban Logistics - Sustainable Urban Logistics: Concepts, Methods and Information Systems - page 26

Fig. 2 The main principles of reverse logistics (Lambert and Riopel 2003 )

In conclusion, we retain the definition of Green SCM proposed by Srivastava
( 2007 ): the ''integration of the environmental thinking into supply-chain man-
agement, including product design, material sourcing and selection, manufac-
turing processes, delivery of the final product to the consumers as well as end-of-
life management of the product after its useful life''. It can then be consolidated by
three elements: (1) the consideration on the necessity and importance of GrSCM as
crucial by all directors, (2) the green design that includes the eco-conception
criteria, developing an 'understanding of how design decisions affect a product's
environmental compatibility' and (3) the green operations that symbolise all the
reflections about waste management or, in a more general way, the reverse
logistics management.
We have seen above the importance of the economic and environmental aspects
of supply chains. However, the human factor is central to the management of any
organization. If genuine attention is not paid to the role of individuals within the
organization and between organizations, the gains that arise from SuSCM may be
diminished. It is primordial to develop a Social/Societal SCM, in other words, to
incorporate social/societal issues (in terms of data, network, and interactions) into
the management methods and processes of a supply chain. To make it, we refer to
Gond' work (2006), who addresses the convergence between human resources and
sustainable development. Indeed, for this author, the sustainable development
needs to be based on the human resource management. In this way, it is important
to consider both the intra-organizational stakeholders (the employees of the
company or the trade unions, for instance) and the inter-organizational ones
(recognition made from all others stakeholders).
New trends on Human Resources Management have to be taken into account. In
literature, we find several works that analyse the expected competencies by the
logistical responsible figures (But following the thoughts made by Gond ( 2006 ),
the Social/Societal SCM needs to consider each actor in a sustainable development
approach. And, according to Morana et al. ( 2008 ), it becomes necessary to define a