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The unpredictable nature of a current business environment has underlined the organisational performance optimisation as a major issue (Muthuveloo and Teoh, 2020). Successful performance optimisation strategies require the ability to adapt quickly to an uncertain and changing environment (Christopher and Peck, 2004, Tang and Tomlin, 2008). Hence organisations are continually seeking new opportunities for the cost reduction, enhancement of the product and service quality, and increase of employee and organisational satisfaction (Freitas and Costa, 2017). However, key to effective response is to ensure performance is not compromised and therefore the need to focus on optimisation strategies is vital (Singh and Singh, 2015). Hence exploring lean six sigma (LSS) as dynamic capability (DC) is essential (Anand et al., 2009; Gutierrez-Gutierrez et al., 2020; Alsyouf et al., (2020) reinforcing the strategic orientation of LSS beyond its operational application as a performance optimisation practice (Sunder and Ganesh, 2020).

In recent years, public procurement become more complicated (The Future generation Report, 2020; UK Government Green Paper Report, 2022). The complexity and dynamic environment have created additional pressures on the delivery of the public sector organisations (PSOs) with limited resources (UK Uyarra and Flanagan, 2010; Uyarra, 2010; 2013; Sönnichsen and Clement, 2020; Vecchi et al., 2020). In such a dynamic environment, public management need to focus on short-term opportunities to gain bargaining power to maximise cost reduction and organisational performance (Cox, 2001; 2004; Murray, 2009; Staples and Dalrymple; 2011; Uyarra et al., 2013; Deasy et al., 2014; Uyarra et al., 2014; Vecchi, et al., 2020). Similarly, Loader (2007; 2013) claimed that due to the uncertain economic environment, saving on public spending has become the overriding focus of the PSP.

The purpose of this paper is to review the current status and barriers to the development of the marine renewable energy supply chain in Welsh waters. Results of a literature review will be discussed. UK waters are host to a rapidly expanding offshore renewable energy industry. The UK Government’s Energy Security Strategy (UK Government, 2022[i]) has set a UK renewable energy generation target of 50 GW representing a fivefold increase compared to installed capacity in 2021. It is suggested that Welsh waters could provide approximately one seventh of the wave energy resource, one quarter of the tidal range resource and one third of the tidal stream resource requirements for the UK (DECC, 2011[ii]; Lewis, 2015[iii]). [i] HM Government 2022 British energy security strategy. Downloaded from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1069969/british-energy-security-strategy-web-accessible.pdf on 8th December 2022. [ii] Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), 2011. The carbon plan: delivering our low carbon future. UK Government. [iii] Lewis, M., Neill, S., Robins, P., Hashemi, M. (2015) Resource assessment for future generations of tidal-stream energy arrays. Energy. Volume 83, 2015, Pages 403-415.

According to recent data published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the cumulative installed capacity of the renewable energy sources remained almost the same between Q1 of 2010 and 2022 in the UK (BEIS 2022). This is with the exception of offshore wind, solar photovoltaics and plant biomass. Evidence suggests that although numerous projects are being implemented in the UK to harness marine renewable energy (MRE), they are often subjected to various challenges resulting in a small fraction of the energy being captured compared to its capacity. In particular, the supply chain (SC) of relatively new and technologically advanced products, such as marine renewable energy technologies, is deemed to be more complex and vulnerable to challenges, risks and disruptions. Several factors could contribute to increasing the probability of exposure to risks and their associated impacts on the supply chain, including the quality of the processes designed throughout the supply chain life-cycle stages and disruptive natural or manmade events.

This paper seeks to better understand power and its impact on relational interactions within the supply chain. Power is a long-established concept within supply chain literature but often adopts a power-over position; where there is an imbalance in the relationship. The study is derived from a qualitative analysis of Organic food companies identifying varied aspect of power dynamics within supply chain relationships.

The paper seeks to provide an in-depth exploration and understanding of two approaches associated with continuous improvement: Dynamic Capabilities (DC) and Lean Six Sigma (LSS). We argue that effective integration of DC and LSS offers a potential competitive advantage to organisations due to the complementary features of the two concepts.

AMI Conference programme 2020

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current technical and operational supply chain issues surrounding the development of tidal and marine energy production in the UK. The paper outlines the market and growth potential of tidal energy production in the UK before identifying the key supply chain themes surrounding tidal energy production including an analysis of the portability and transferability of current supply chain thinking and development from other renewable energy systems such as wind turbine technology towards the development of tidal energy supply chain systems. The paper closes by identifying the major challenges that the UK supply chain must overcome in order to develop a comprehensive and robust supply chain system.