Track: Operations Research

Abstract

The existing ecological imbalance along with the rising social disparities are driving companies towards consideration of adoption of sustainability driven supply chain (SC) strategies which aim at a holistic integration of the economic, ecological and social enhancement of the overall SC. However, the challenge lies in consideration of Triple Bottom Line (TBL). Further, increasing demand from stakeholders for accountability of the sustainability practices has put immense pressure on companies for assessment of their SC activities in terms of sustainability. However in few developing nations such as India, even though companies are required to examine the environmental as well as social ramifications of their SC activities, but most firms are still focused more on the economic productivity. This brings us to the motivation behind this research, in which a multi-criteria analytical framework is developed for a manufacturing firm for identifying the sustainability practices, which can aid the firm in simultaneously improving on TBL. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) is utilized for establishing relationships between sustainability strategies identified through extensive literature review and semi-structured interviews with decision makers. Through the analysis of the ISM model developed for the case-based study, it is validated that environmental and social sustainability enables economic sustainability in the long run.

Keywords

Supply chain strategies, electronics manufacturers, Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM), Triple Bottom Line.