Dr Ekaterina (Katya) Yatskovskaya

Ekaterina's research focus is on multidisciplinary approaches to sustainable resource scarcity mitigation for global manufacturing organisations in the automotive and aerospace, food and beverage, apparel, and pharmaceutical industries. Her experience includes using qualitative and quantitative methodologies and managing inter-industrial engagements. She has collaborated with a number of academic and industrial partners in the UK, India, Bangladesh, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, and the USA. Her broader research area is in sustainable supply chains, with a background in resource scarcity mitigation, sustainable development, management, and economics.

Ekaterina's research interests are in sustainable supply chain configuration with a focus on sustainable resource scarcity mitigation for global manufacturing organisations.

Her research interests include sustainable consumer behaviour analysis driving sustainable supply chain design. Additionally, Ekaterina's research interests involve sustainable technology management and information technology analysis facilitating sustainable corporate and state strategy formulation.

Key funded projects

Ekaterina's PhD research is entitled, "Exploring Natural Resource Scarcity Mitigation Approaches in Supply Networks". Her research adopts a supply network perspective, integrating recent advancements in supply network configuration design with resource dependency theory to develop a framework for sustainable supply network configuration and capability within a water scarcity context. The framework was applied across multiple case studies spanning four sectors, each case demonstrating water scarcity dependencies. Results from content analysis of case study interviews, using descriptive and structural coding, suggest that sustainable supply network configuration and capability interventions underpin water scarcity management through three archetypal strategic responses. Theoretical contributions are made in terms of identification of sustainable supply network configuration and capability dimensions and typologies. Capability typologies are classified as static, dynamic, and transformational. The identification of three water scarcity archetype interventions provides: 1) supply network insights to resource dependency theory; 2) new industry categorisations based on water scarcity mitigation; and 3) an extension on previous work on supply network configuration design by integrating natural resource scarcity perspectives. Practical implications of the work include specific firm and supply network level interventions to mitigate against water scarcity, that collectively can also contribute to a strategic approach for sustainable development

At the University of Cambridge Ekaterina was involved in the following projects:

- EIT FOOD GLAD (Green Last Mile Delivery) – a project aiming to identify the factors influencing sustainable consumer behaviour supported by sustainable supply chain practices.

- TIGR2ESS (£7.2m) (Transforming India's Green Revolution by Research and Empowerment for Sustainable food) – a project aiming at water availability assessment and sustainable technologies identification.

- REMEDIES  (£23m) (Reconfiguring MEDicines End-to end Supply Chains) – a project focusing on supply network configuration from a resource scarcity perspective, specifically water.

Areas of Ekaterina's potential research interest include:

• Sustainable supply chain design in the context of natural disasters and pandemics

The research aims at identification of the mitigation strategies responding to natural disasters and pandemics through supply chain configuration. The study's objectives are engagement with industrial partners from multiple sectors, mapping sector mitigation capabilities, and identification of mitigation solutions. n

• Consumer driven sustainable supply networks
Companies increasingly experience issues related to climate change, resource scarcity, waste management, biodiversity change, and local community wellbeing at their operational locations. Conventionally, in order to mitigate such issues, the firm would adopt sustainable supply chain (SC) strategies, including environmentally sustainable production, inventory decisions, sourcing methods, or resource avoidance and substitution. Understanding that sustainability problems are very complex, and consumers are increasingly becoming critical about their sustainable purchasing options, organisations are motivated to go beyond their direct operations. Firms engage with their end-to-end SCs, including consumers. Recent studies have demonstrated that organisations can empower their consumers to become more sustainable in their daily choices through more informed decisions. This study aims to explore sustainable strategies that organisations develop in their end-to-end, and particularly consumer-end, supply chains in order to achieve high levels of sustainable performance.

• Yatskovskaya, E., Tsolakis, N., & Srai, J. S. (2020). "Sustainable Supply Chain Design in Resource Constrained Environment: Food and Beverage industry perspective", Paper in progress, International Journal of Operations & Production Management.

• Yatskovskaya, E. Srai, J. S., Tsolakis, N., & Kumar, M. (2020). "A conceptual Framework for Sustainable Supply Chain Design. Water Scarcity Context", Paper in progress, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal.

• Yatskovskaya, E., Tsolakis, N., & Srai, J. S. (2020). "Consumer behaviour influenced sustainable supply network configuration", Paper in progress, Journal of Cleaner Production.

• Yatskovskaya, E. Srai, J. S., & Kumar, M. (2018). "Integrated Supply Network Maturity Model: Water Scarcity Perspective", Sustainability Journal, Vol.10, Iss.3, pp. 1-26.

• Yatskovskaya, E., Srai, J. S., & Kumar, M. (2016). "Local water stress impacts on global supply chains: Network configuration and natural capital perspectives". Journal of Advances in Management Research, 13 (3), 368-391.

• Sodhi, M. M., Yatskovskaya, E. (2014). "Measuring the Sustainable Use of Water by Companies Using Formative Indicators". International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 63 Iss: 7, pp. 800 – 821.