Integrated chain management and supply chain management comparative analysis and illustrative cases

Within industrial ecology, the life cycle or chain of activities forms an important basis for analysing and reducing environmental impacts. This has led to the development of integrated chain management. A comprehensive analysis must take the actors and their interaction in chain management into account. By assessing integrated and supply chain management, this paper is designed to contribute to future development of industrial ecology, in that it addresses the importance of actors along the chain as well as their interaction. Five case studies from the textile industry are used to illustrate the differences between the objectives of the single actors in the chain and the overall chain. This illustrates that co-operation is the only way for companies to improve the competitiveness of the chain while reducing environmental burdens.