Case Study

Trendy fashion company: Sustainability in supply chain operations

2 pages
July 2023
Reference: IMD-7-2481

The newly appointed Senior Vice President of Trendy needs to put its supply chain on a more sustainable footing for the future. Trendy is an imaginary fast fashion company with a market base in Europe and a global supply chain. Core themes and actions that improve both sustainability targets and/or operational performance are discussed in the case. For sustainability, these include waste reduction, sustainability accounting, and partnerships with suppliers and eco-labels. For operational improvements, these include changing the manufacturing footprint, digitalizing the supply chain, and reducing the product portfolio. The case examines improving sustainability on Scopes 1, 2, and 3. While the case setting is in the fast fashion industry, lessons provided by this case are applicable to many industries seeking to improve their operational sustainability. The case challenges students to bring together different elements of the supply chain course to meet the objective of having more sustainable practices and achieving better operational performance.

Learning Objective
  • Identify core themes that improve sustainability performance of a firm
  • Identify core themes that improve operational performance of a firm
  • Account for all firm emissions including those of Scope 3
  • Understand the roles of third parties (suppliers, partnerships, …) in the sustainability performance of a firm
Keywords
Operations, Sustainability, Green Operations, Accounting, Emission Reduction, Portfolio Analysis, Responsible Consumption, Responsible Production, Climate Action, Goal Partnerships
Settings
World/global
Trendy (fictional), Consumer Goods, Apparel and Fashion
Type
Generalized Experience
Copyright
© 2023
Available Languages
English
Related material
Teaching note
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