Supply Chain Management in Industrial Symbiosis Networks

Sustainable supply chain management deals with the design and operation of
profitable supply chains that also respect limitations on natural resources, do
no harm to the environment, and consider the social systems they operate in.
In academic research on sustainable supply chain management, as well as in
policy documents from e.g. the European Union, the concepts of circular econ-
omy and closed-loop supply chains have received significant attention. One of
the manifestations of these developments are industrial symbiosis networks.
These networks are a collaborative effort to more sustainable production op-
erations, and are characterized by a supply chain reconfiguration that uses
one company’s wastes or by-products as a raw material for another company,
avoiding waste disposal while also reducing material requirements. The re-
sulting networks of relationships contribute to regional sustainable develop-
ment efforts, and emphasize synergistic relations, community, and collabora-
tion.
This thesis takes an operations and supply chain management perspec-
tive on industrial symbiosis networks. More specifically, the thesis elaborates
on the collaborative and competitive characteristics of industrial symbiosis.
First, it discusses the supply chain integration and coordination challenges
that appear in industrial symbiosis, on both an organizational and operational
level. Secondly, the thesis discusses the organizational capabilities and re-
sources relevant for the competitiveness of industrial symbiosis networks on
three dimensions: the level of the firm, the network, and the business envi-
ronment. Finally, the thesis elaborates on supply chain resiliency based on a
formal model with multiple concurrent suppliers. The model includes fair-
ness considerations in different by-product allocation strategies, which turn
out to have different requirements and consequences for the organization and
facilitation of the collaborative efforts.
Overall, this thesis aims to ground industrial symbiosis in operations and
supply chain management theory. The thesis thereby provides a basis for
the improved organization and operation of industrial symbiosis networks,
and supports the development towards resource-efficient closed-loop mate-
rial flows.