Climate Change Impacts and Sustainable Supply Management in the Natural Latex Mattress Industry: A Case Study of a Sri Lankan Export Manufacturer

In particular, since they are extremely sensitive to higher temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and changing seasons. The present study sample is a Sri Lankan organic latex foam mattress manufacturer which exports to the United States and considers climate change impacts as a systematic shock while supply management challenges as competitive challenge. Climate change is also fully integrated into long-term value creation and integrated into competitiveness in sustainable business planning of the natural rubber industry. We reported the aim assessed in this paper to understand the need for climate-induced disruption in supply management (the factors disallowing organizations to achieve effective supplies for a healthy thin-supply-chain) and announced how we can solve these problems for sustaining a climate-resilient supply chain. Research Design — A qualitative case study design has been implemented. In order to have the data required for analysis, primary and secondary data are collected from seven semi-structured interviews conducted with management, production workers and rubber suppliers sampled random according to the accessibility convenience sampling, secondary by previous studies, the company’s website and industry papers. Data were analysed through thematic analysis. Overall, the figures show that while climate-dependent companies rely heavily on climate circumstances and encounters serious issues in terms of material supply, production technology and labour productivity. Rainfall and drought influence the quality and quantity of latex, while methods used by manufacturers such as Dunlop restrict the amount of production that can be achieved and how dense it is to be formed into foam; poor working conditions, low levels of training and labour shortages limit productivity. The climate change debacle does not present a new entrance risk-profile the research again finds that climate change exacerbates legacy operational risks. Also recommended are diversifying the GOLS-certified supply base, implementing climate-smart practices and monitoring, transitioning to air micro-bubbling technology for washing organic guidelines fibres along with R&D investments and opportunities to enhance working conditions & training. This research contributes to the sustainable supply chain management literature by illustrating the use of climate-change risk information in strategic business planning and anticipatory adaptation actions in established agricultural manufacturing firms, but also presents several implications for practice regarding how international production can be organized while achieving goals for sustainable development through exports.