Pan-Pacific Conference XXXIV. Designing New Business Models in Developing Economies

The role of suppliers in promoting sustainable mining
S. Mphahlele
University of Johannesburg
W. Xaba
University of Johannesburg
David Pooe
University of Johannesburg
dpooe@uj.ac.za
INTRODUCTION AND BACKROUND
The large part of mining operations relies heavily on
suppliers for their smooth running. Since suppliers
potentially influence mines economically, socially
and environmentally, companies increasily demand
high performance from these suppliers and in some
cases have put systems in place to monitor their
performance (Kumar & Chandrakar, 2012). It is not
until recently that supply chains have been put under
the same degree of scrutiny as the company’s main
units (Pereseina, Jensen & Hertz, 2014). Thus supply
chain management (SCM) was mainly concerned
with the efficient and responsive system of
production and delivery from raw material stage to
final consumer. This paper focuses on the mining
industry in South Africa.
The establishment of a mine is almost certainly
accompanied by distresses such as site exploitation,
mine-waste residuals contamination of the
environment which happen on a greater scale than in
many industries (Pattanayak et.al, 2013). Mining
contributes to global warming and causes health
hazards resulting from the carbon dioxide and
methane which are greenhouse gasses released during
mining activities. Sulphur dioxide, oxide of nitrogen
and carbon monoxide are harmful gases that severely
cause air pollution and acid rain (Muduli & Barve,
2011). The emissions of carbon and the conservation
of water are huge concerns for mines. Being huge
consumers of energy and resources, mines have
occassionally found themselves on a collission course
with government and civil society (Lam, Ho & Choy,
2014).
With the growing concern of environmental issues
and the associated regulation, supply chains have
now become part of the broader debate on how
industry meets the challenges of sustainability (Seitz
& Wells, 2006). The attempt to address the
conception of sustainability in supply chain has led to
the development of variouus concepts such as
sustainable supply chain management (Carter &
Rogers, 2008), green supply chain (Kumar &
Chandrakar, 2012), sustainable supply chain
collaboration (Vachon & Klassen, 2006) and
sustainable procurement (Leppelt, 2014). The
implementation of sustainable supply chains is not
without challenges. Thus the aim of the paper is to
explore the role that suppliers play in promoting
sustainability in supply chains. The paper is
organised as follows: The next section is a literature
review, followed by research methodology and the
results sections. Finally, the paper concludes with
some recommendations and directions for future
research.
LITERATURE REVIEW
In the past, supply chain managers faced the
challenge of integrating sustainable practices in
managing supply chains mainly due to pressures from
several stakeholders. Today, practices such as
environmentally friendly packaging, return of end-oflife
and used products to the producer as well as the
eco-friendly handling of these returns, recycling,
remanufacturing and adequate waste disposal have
assumed more importance (Barve & Muduli, 2013).
Further, issues like product design, manufacturing
by-products, by-products produced during product
use, product life extension, product end-of-life, and
recovery processes at end-of-life that may not form
the core activities of the supply chain management
but still have a considerable impact on overall
sustainability of a supply chain should be managed
utilising an integrated approach. Part of the challenge
which created a barrier for manufacturing companies
to implement SSCM practices remains the lack of a
clear relationship between improved performance and
sustainable supply chain management, has (Zhu,
Sarkis & Lai, 2012).
Sustainable supply chain management requires the
development of ethics and values throughout the
company, a flexible and efficient "green”
environment and also the alignment of the firm’s
strategy that focus on the development of
sustainability. By doing so, the network will be
protected against social and environmental risks and
threats (Zailani, Jeyaraman, Vengadasan &
Premkumar, 2012). Companies that have a
sustainable supply chain are able to plan for, mitigate,
detect, respond to, and recover from any potential
international risks (Closs, Speier, Meacham, 2010).
The mines are no exception in this regard.
The idea that having limited resources with
continuous consumption putting increasing pressure
on available resources, sustainable mining was
considered a myth and far-fetched (Lins & Horwitz,
2007). Yet, sustainability of mineral resources is a
considerably more multifaceted picture and involves
exploration, technology, economics, social and
environmental issues. According to Bonn and Fisher,
(2011) more progressive scientific knowledge is able
to predict future sustainability needs is required,
though it will not always be easy. Sustainable mining
has meant mining activities are increasingly
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