Socially and Environmentally Responsible Value Chain Innovations: New Operations Management Research Opportunities

By examining the state of operations management (OM) research from 1980 to 2015 and by considering three new industry trends, we propose new OM research directions in socially and environmentally responsible value chains that fundamentally expand existing OM research in three dimensions: (a) contexts (emerging and developing economies); (b) objectives (economic, environmental, and social responsibility); and (c) stakeholders (producers, consumers, shareholders, for-profit/nonprofit/social enterprises, governments, and nongovernmental organizations). In this paper, we describe some examples of this new research direction that are intended to stimulate more exciting OM research, to contribute to the economic and social well-being of both developing and developed economies. This paper was accepted by Teck-Hua Ho, operations management.