Public Intelligence Blog

EXTRACT:

The article, “Supply Chain Management and Sustainability: Procrastinating Integration in Mainstream Research” presents the results of a study conducted by several university researchers in The Netherlands. The researchers noted that “procrastination can be viewed as the result of several processes, determined not only by individual personality, but also by the following factors:

– availability of information;
– availability of opportunities and resources;
– skills and abilities;
– dependence on cooperation with others.”

In addition, in a review of more than 100 additional studies on procrastination, the following additional items were found to likely to influence procrastination:

– the nature of the task, and

– the context of the issue.

It is these last two issues that the authors raised as primary reasons for procrastination, especially regarding embedding sustainability research and practices in supply chain operations and management. The authors found that “the nature of the task”, because it’s often complex and requires many internal and external stakeholders, and therefore tends to “generate conflicts”.  Also, the roots of supply chain management and related research are generally grounded in operations management and operations/logistics.  Therefore, the researchers noted that environmental and social aspects of supply chain management are foreign,  “out of context” and not wholly integrated into supply chain management and research.  I would also argue that dependence on others is a key issue as well given the widespread, outward facing challenges associated with supply chain coordination.

Phi Beta Iota: Public Intelligence addresses this in two ways.  First, it harnesses cognitive surplus while also integrating education, intelligence, and research to MAKE the information available to BOTH the public and the enterprises in question.  Second, when the public sees an enterprise that is NOT making use of the information, the public begins to buycott (Jim Turner's term) that enterprise.  Public Intelligence is going to shape markets starting in 2012 and starting with Health.  See Summit '11.