Supply webs: conclusions

If SSCM is able to engage with the ecological agenda, it could play a leading role in the broader transition to a more sustainable economic system, as promoted by more sustainability-aware disciplines and sub-disciplines such as industrial ecology, sustainable consumption and production (SCP), de-growth, and others. In the short and medium term there are perhaps more practical implications for SSCM, such as the need to think of the organization and supply chain as integral parts of ecosystems. It will also require a re-think on a number of other issues, such as the current focus on waste - as waste is not a concept that is relevant from an ecological perspective (waste from one organic process always provides an input for other organic processes) - and also growth and productivity, which are not always in line with a sustainability perspective. Other issues to rethink include profit-maximising, the focus on cost minimization and the search for efficiency. Instead, aim to replicate the principles of a living system and prioritise resilience.