Sustainable Solutions for SCM

the implementation of improvements or strategies is packed with difficulties. For example, the implementation is often done in waves with several partners with different organisational cultures and intensities of interactions at different times and is thus much more challenging than the implementation of concepts within one company [13]. To overcome this challenge and improve the extent and speed of the implementation, several success factors could be thought of: • Regard PMMS as change process and learning opportunity not as a punishment instrument. • Set up a communication platform and endorse exchange of best-practices for managers • Integrate an implementation plan as obligatory part in the definition of implementation measures. • Integrate a preparation and coaching phase to see the responsible managers through the implementation (maybe by using the potentials of agile management). 3.3 Approaches for Supply Chain PMMS and the Integration of Sustainability There are a number of different approaches in use today to support supply chain management in order to achieve a better performance. Some of the most commonly used ones are key performance indicators (KPIs), total cost of ownership and life cycle assessments (TCO/LCA), value driver systems, balanced scorecards (BSC) and maturity assessments. In the following paragraphs for each of the systems, the aim and the basic ideas as well as its elements, application examples along with its strengths and weaknesses are presented. Also the adaptations that have to be taken when using the mentioned system in a supply chain context and when focusing on sustainability are discussed. 3.3.1 Key Performance Indicators In addition to the above given definition of performance measures and performance elements, companies often use the term key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs are a few strategically important metrics that often represent a balanced set of aspects such as productivity, utilisation or performance in general. In companies, sometimes a distinction between key performance indicators, business performance indicators, process indicators or measures and metrics is made. Some authors regard metric as a more recent expression of measure. In that sense a measure is easily defined with no calculations such as (absolute) inventory. A metric needs a more sophisticated definition, involves calculations or is a combination of measurements such as inventory turns [11]. The difference between key performance indicators, business performance indicators, process indicators lies in the level of aggregation, the frequency and the hierarchical level of reporting. Whereas KPIs are a few metrics that are reported to the top management in a relatively low frequency, business performance indicators are used to control specific business units at a higher frequency. Process indicators are used to control operational processes on a daily basis and form the interface to the transaction system within the supply chain information system (SCIS) [9].

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