Theory Building Within Sustainable Operations Management (SOM): An Introduction to Part II

Abstract

This part of the book concerns theoretical developments in the sustainable operations management (SOM) research field. Sustainable operations management is a growing research field with clear and distinctive roots in organizational and managerial practice, linking to mainstream research on operations management (Angell & Klassen, 1999; Pagell & Shevchenko, 2014). It has also a strong emphasis on pragmatism, predominantly touting technical papers and best-case examples (Min & Kim, 2012; Seuring & Müller, 2008). For this reason, it has been heralded by managers and other practitioners (Joas, Theobald, McGuinness, Garzillo, & Kuhn, 2013). The route from research results to the practical implementation of concepts in business seen in examples such as the use of life-cycle assessments and cradle-to-cradle principles in public purchasing policies is relatively fast.