Dr. Stephen Arthur LeMay

The circular economy (CE) seeks to eliminate waste and pollution by keeping goods and materials in use as long as possible. In this chapter, we introduce the moral supply chain (TMSC) and put it into the context of a CE, circular supply chains (CSCs) and corporate social responsibility (CSR). When supply chains cross national borders, they often cross cultural, moral and ethical borders too. Circularity does not eliminate these conditions, nor does it eliminate ethical and moral problems. A CE and CSCs focus on sustainability but often omit labour, corruption and broader social issues. CSR remains important; however, it is limited in covering issues raised by a CE and CSCs. Corporations are held responsible in restricted ways, sometimes subjected to unfair judgements or permitted to escape responsibility. Other supply chain actors, overlooked by CSR, also have social responsibilities. Without the cooperation of these other actors, a CE and CSCs will fail on economic and ethical grounds. This chapter stresses the ethical issues, using TMSC to expose the barriers to circularity in supply chains and the economy. It also covers the ethical and moral issues that should be addressed as we move towards CSCs and a CE.

Excerpt: The process of developing a sophisticated economy, with the ensuing benefits that accrue to the people who dwell within it, begins with infrastructure. That the Delta counties lack much of that critical infrastructure is transparent. Much, in this sense, can be gained from a glance at a road map of the region. But to describe that lack of infrastructure and spell out its significance to the social and economic well-being of a region is another matter. Infrastructure is significant in an economy, but it is also difficult to separate its economic effects from those of other major areas of development education, for example. One factor that may give infrastructure some precedence over education is that a highly educated person without a job to go to will simply leave the area. As Mississippi begins to do a better job of educating its citizens, it must also provide them with work that is commensurate with that education. Otherwise, the state and local money spent on education becomes a supplement to the tax base in those areas that do provide jobs for those workers. In economic development, the starting place must be infrastructure.
The perspective taken in this chapter is that of the corporation looking at the Delta as a potential location for one of its plants or offices. The fundamental aspect of infrastructure is described in the broad category of transportation. Each of the counties is discussed in some detail as far as the potential for short- and long-term developments is concerned.