A stakeholders’ perspective on barriers to adopt sustainable practices in MSME supply chain

Abstract

PurposeEnterprises face the wrath of the government for taking part in environmental conservation and adoption of sustainable initiatives along with customer demands. Therefore, enterprises are forced to adopt sustainable supply chain practices (SSCPs), which leads to competitive advantage. Now, sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) is a management process that promotes the adoption of eco-friendly activities in conventional supply chains (SCs). Enterprises in India are under tremendous pressure to include SSCPs into their conventional SCs. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the barriers for the implementation of SSCPs into Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).Design/methodology/approachThis study aims to identify critical barriers for adoption of SSCPs in the textile MSME SCs located in Eastern India, Odisha with the help of interpretive structural modeling (ISM).FindingsThe paper develops a framework for the evaluation of barriers to the adoption of SSCP in the textile SC. This paper also provides appropriate suggestive measures to deal with the barriers and overcome the same to attain a sustainable textile SC.Research limitations/implicationsOpportunities exist for extension of this research on wider geographical area. In addition to this, some other quantitative modeling approaches can be applied, like analytical hierarchy process, to prioritize the barriers.Practical implicationsThe framework offers help to SC managers in their decision-making process by enabling them to analyze the barriers and ways to overcome them.Originality/valueThe paper deals with a particular geographical area where such kinds of studies are rare. The proposed framework provides a foundation for further research.