Indeed Cousins,
Lamming, Lawson, and Squire (2008) suggest that, in terms of competitive
priorities, environmental or ethical considerations can be an order
qualifier in both efficient and responsive supply chains, and order winners,
decisive selection criteria, are most likely to remain as cost, quality
or flexibility (Hill, 1993) respectively. Within SSCM the cost imperative
should be reflected through lean thinking or waste minimisation, rather
than exploitative cost reduction (Chan et al., 2012).