Description : |
Reusing waste materials of other industries, a practice known as industrial symbiosis, attracts growing attention by industry. However, the waste materials are often of lower quality than the virgin materials they substitute. When production processes are intolerant for lower quality materials, production issues may occur. This paper sets out to explore how firms can manage the waste quality through supplier integration with the waste supplier. As suppliers have to learn new knowledge, the construct of absorptive capacity is used as an interpretive lens. An in-depth longitudinal exploratory case study approach is used to examine the involvement of different individuals and departments in the supplier integration activities in the context of the waste-based fuel supply chain of a global cement producer. Qualitative and quantitative data was gathered at both the buyer and the supplier. The data show that buyers can increase the absorptive capacity of the suppliers by aligning their own knowledge bases with the scope of the supplier integration. The increased absorptive capacity enables the suppliers to align waste quality with production requirements. Managing waste quality is an important capability of industrial symbiosis, especially when firms want to go beyond the low-hanging fruits and increase the effectiveness of their industrial symbiosis activities. The research concludes with theoretical and managerial insights into how firms can organize the supplier integration to manage waste quality in the context of industrial symbiosis.
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