Paper Title
A Sustainable Approach to Supply Chain Management in the Pharmaceutical Industry in India
Abstract
The last couple of decades have seen us worrying about Climate change and Global warming. The societies have faced all sorts of unsteadiness and upheavals, Economies have faced storms and disturbances. To achieve a balance between these three is the crux of the concept of sustainable development. The modern-day concept of sustainability was first introduced by the United Nations and World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) headed by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The commission defined sustainable development as “the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs” in their report ‘Our Common Future’. In order to achieve the goals as laid down by the UN, governments alone will be in a position of shortfall, in terms of both resources and manpower. Hence, the corporates need to step in to achieve a sustainable future. Supply chain management is defined as‘the active management of supply chain activities to maximize customer value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.’ Supply chain management consists of all the activities that are involved in the supply of raw materials, resources and services to the manufacturers form the vendors. In the pharmaceutical sector in India, supply chain also consists of the third-party manufacturers who supply the finished products to the companies that then market them under their own brands. Pharmaceutical companies are responsible for the healthcare of the society and also play an important part in the social and economic well-being of the country. The companies in the pharmaceutical sector have realised the importance of adopting sustainable practices in all their business functions and have taken various measures to ensure sustainable supply chain management. This research work takes an account of the sustainable supply chain practices as adopted by five pharmaceutical giants operating in India. Qualitative research through use of semi structured interviews was adopted and the paper is design in the form of case study.
Keywords - Sustainable Development, Sustainable Supply Chain, Pharmaceutical supply chain.