Learning from natural supply systems: towards ecological supply chain management

In Part 3, an attempt has been made to revisit previous efforts to link business academic thinking with that in ecology in the light, particularly, of advances in the latter, but also in the context of the increasing need for business to engage with the sustainability agenda. In this context, here we focus particularly on SSCM and thereby seek to advance the SSCM agenda, particularly, the need for SSCM theoreticians - and by extension academics in other business disciplines - to consider the extent to which they have long failed to engage with progress in thinking about business and sustainability. If SSCM is able to engage with this ecological agenda, it could be well positioned to play a leading role in the broader transition to a more sustainable economic system, as promoted by more sustainability-aware disciplines and sub-disciplines such as industrial ecology, sustainable consumption and production (SCP), de-growth, and others. If SSCM were able to make this shift towards what is suggested here could be described as ESCM, could it, as a field that permeates many business and economic activities, become a lever to moving a broader set of business disciplines towards greater sustainability?