Environmentally Sustainable Supply Chain Management: An Evolutionary Framework

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to give an up-to-date and structured insight into the literature published during the past decade on sustainable green supply chain management. It also suggests trends for future research based on the research issues identified through systematic and comprehensive analysis of previous studies in the area of green and sustainable supply chain management.Design/methodology/approachA state-of-the-art literature review is carried out by systematically collecting the existing literature over a period of 10 years (2005-2014) and categorizing it on the basis of attributes such as stages in supply chain, methodology and the industries/sectors under consideration. The classification of literature is also done according to the geographic region and year of publication.FindingsThere has been an increased interest among researchers and practitioners in the area of sustainable green supply chain management in the past decade. A need for achieving sustainability through adoption of greener practices has been universally felt, owing to an increasing environmental and ecological complexity. The review reveals that there exists a need to address behavioural issues like human resource management and supply chain partner relationship management. Moreover, reverse logistics, closed-loop supply chain management and waste management are areas that need special focus to achieve environmental sustainability.Research limitations/implicationsThe current review focuses on research trends in the past 10 years only. Moreover, papers from only good quality, peer-reviewed journals are considered in the study.Originality/valueMost of the previous reviews have either focused on specific issues related to sustainable supply chains only or green supply chains. The present study collectively takes into consideration papers both from green supply chain management as well as from sustainable supply chain literature that have a prime focus on environmental sustainability.

Sustainable procurement and supply chain management are crucial for advancing geothermal energy and environmental projects, given their role in mitigating climate change and promoting resource efficiency. This review explores the integration of sustainability practices into the procurement and supply chain processes specific to geothermal energy projects and environmental initiatives. Geothermal energy, recognized for its low carbon footprint and renewable nature, requires a sustainable approach to procurement to maximize its environmental benefits. Key strategies include selecting suppliers with strong sustainability credentials and implementing green procurement policies that prioritize eco-friendly materials and technologies. Moreover, lifecycle assessment plays a critical role in evaluating the environmental impacts of equipment and materials used in geothermal projects, ensuring that all components contribute to the overall sustainability goals. In the context of environmental projects, sustainable supply chain management involves reducing waste, optimizing resource use, and enhancing the overall efficiency of project execution. Technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly utilized to enhance transparency and traceability in supply chains, allowing for real-time monitoring of environmental impacts and ensuring compliance with sustainability standards. These technologies facilitate the management of complex supply chains by providing accurate data on supplier practices and environmental performance. Challenges in implementing sustainable procurement and supply chain practices include balancing cost with sustainability objectives and managing the complexities of global supply chains. However, companies that successfully integrate these practices benefit from enhanced corporate reputation, improved stakeholder relations, and long-term operational resilience. Sustainable procurement and supply chain management not only support the achievement of environmental goals but also contribute to the economic viability of geothermal energy and environmental projects. The paper concludes that adopting sustainable practices in these sectors is essential for advancing global sustainability objectives and ensuring the long-term success of energy and environmental initiatives.

Background – The importance of sustainability in supply chain management has grown significantly, drawing global attention to sustainable practices across various industries. The halal logistics sector must also consider how to incorporate sustainability into its operations. Effective integration of sustainability into halal logistics and supply chain management (HLSCM) is vital to meet global sustainability objectives and to maintain practices that are environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. Purpose – This research aims to address the key themes and gaps in integrating sustainability practices that encompass environmental, economic, and social dimensions by systematically reviewing the literature on sustainability in HLSCM Design/methodology/approach – This research utilizes a systematic literature review approach. Articles were sourced from the Scopus database, focusing on research published in the Journal of Islamic Marketing (JIMA) from 2011 to 2024. Keywords used included 'halal logistics' and 'halal supply chain.' The data collection involved indexing relevant publications and analyzing 41 articles. Thematic analysis was employed to quantify key themes, while content analysis was used to synthesize the information and identify research gaps. Findings – The review reveals a notable increase in publications focusing on sustainability in HLSCM, particularly emphasizing sustainable production, cost optimization, and promoting ethical practices. However, it highlights several key gaps that form the research purpose: a fragmented approach where studies often address sustainability dimensions (environmental, economic, and social) in isolation and the underexplored role of emerging technologies such as blockchain and IoT in enhancing sustainability within HLSCM. These gaps indicate a need for more integrated and holistic approaches to sustainability in halal logistics and supply chain management. Research limitations – The study is limited by the scope of articles reviewed, such as database and publication period restrictions may not cover all aspects of HLSCM. Furthermore, the rapidly evolving nature of technologies such as blockchain and IoT means their potential impacts may not be fully captured in the existing literature. Originality/value – The originality of this research lies in identifying the fragmented approach to sustainability in HLSCM and the underexplored potential of emerging technologies like blockchain and IoT. This study provides valuable insights for future research and practical applications in integrating comprehensive sustainability practices in halal supply chains by addressing these gaps.

Prior studies in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) fail to address collaboration in the supply chain and lean management in conjunction with economic benefits. Collaboration in the supply chain and lean management have to integrate into SSCM, which involves social, economic and environmental aspects. This study aims to establish a framework to understand the seafood industry in Vietnam and to enhance its performance. This framework proposes 5 aspects and 21 criteria, and these aspects involve qualitative information. Fuzzy set theory is applied to deal with the complexity of and uncertainty in the linguistic preferences. The fuzzy Delphi method is employed to test the reliability and validity attributes. A decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory is to assess the interrelationships among the attributes. Sensitivity analysis is adopted to address subjective robustness and objective perceptions. The results show that the aspects of collaboration in the supply chain and lean management drive economic benefits.

This study examines the complicated relationships between sustainable supply chain practices, resilience, employee involvement, top management support, and sustainable textile performance in Pakistan. Purposive sampling selected 283 supply chain specialists for data collecting. This study investigated sustainable supply chain management dynamics in a given sector and area. The study's main value is confirming Sustainable Supply Chain Management's fundamentals. This study proves that sustainable supply chain methods improve performance. The Pakistani textile sector recognizes the growing importance of sustainability in supply chain operations to maintain competitiveness and address social challenges, following global trends. Additionally, supply chain resilience is a key intermediary variable in this study. Sustainable supply chain practices improve an organization’s resilience to disruptions and adaptability to changing environmental conditions, as shown in this statement. Supply chain resilience as a mediator improves sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) theory. It underlines that sustainability requires understanding mechanisms as well as consequences. Employee involvement moderates the debate, as shown in this study. This study found that engaged employees boost the favorable effects of sustainable supply chain strategies on overall sustainable performance. This supports the current trend of employee-led sustainability efforts, where motivated and engaged people drive organizational sustainability. The study found no indication that top management support moderates. This suggests that leadership's impact is contextual, requiring context-specific sustainable supply chain management strategies. This study challenges conventional wisdom and advocates for further research into top management support in sustainable supply chains. The study's practical findings are crucial for Pakistan's textile and related industries. The paper emphasizes the need of prioritizing sustainable supply chain practices, developing resilience, engaging employees at all levels in sustainability projects, and providing leadership support in the right context. The above practical principles reflect the changing sustainability landscape and provide a strategy for firms seeking economic success and environmental and social responsibility. A study in Pakistan's textile industry adds empirical evidence to Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) theory. This emphasizes the importance of industry-specific details and corporate cultures in sustainability initiatives. In conclusion, these results spur a greener future in textiles and global supply chain management.

In recent years, environmental sustainability has stimulated enterprises worldwide to not only develop green and sustainable innovations but also to move toward green and sustainable supply chain management. This study integrated the ideas of green supply chain management (GSCM) and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) to define sustainable green supply chain management (SGSCM). Previous studies on GSCM/SSCM have contributed to research and practice, but few have explored the antecedents and consequences of GSCM/SSCM simultaneously. To address this research gap, we linked ecological modernization (EM) theory with SGSCM and sustainability performance to build a comprehensive research model. A total of 300 valid questionnaires were collected from electrical and electronics firms in Taiwan. The empirical results demonstrated that awareness of and pressure to engage in EM significantly positively affected SGSCM. Moreover, SGSCM significantly positively influenced sustainability performance (i.e. environmental, economic, and social performance). These findings should convince enterprises to actively promote SGSCM.

This paper discusses the antecedences and consequences of supply chain transparency (SCT) in sustainable agrarian supply chain management using partial least squares regression in an empirical sample with 131 supply chains with lead firms in German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). We investigated the effect of such structural antecedences as disintermediation, as well as the effect of governance tools similar to intensive communication, the integration of third parties in supply chain governance or the use of formal specifications on SCT. We found that all these antecedences are helpful in increasing SCT, while low developed countries of origin significantly reduced SCT. Then, the effects of SCT on the four main performance dimensions in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), i.e. social, ecological, and operational performance and long-term relationship success, were verified. Higher SCT improves all four dimensions significantly, while the effect on operational performance is lowest. Supply chain transparency turns out to be a prerequisite or a basic indicator of good management in SSCM in agri-food supply chains.

Since ecological deterioration and social discrepancy are intensifying, multiple stakeholders are driving companies to incorporate sustainability in their supply chains. Thus, integrating non-traditional supply chain stakeholders, such as non-governmental organizations and competitors, in supply chain practices is essential for achieving a more sustainable supply chain. Hence, this research aims to show how stakeholders and their roles are related to sustainable supply chain management practices. A systematic literature review including 78 peer-reviewed English journal articles published between 2000 and 2020 was conducted. The results suggest that multiple supply chain external and internal stakeholders drive, facilitate, or inspect the implementation of sustainable supply chain management practices. While governmental and non-governmental organizations are key drivers for implementing sustainable supply chain management practices, they can also support their implementation. Moreover, proactive engagement with external supply chain stakeholders facilitates the organizational learning process through capability development, increasing understanding and awareness of sustainability, and creating knowledge. This study strengthens the value of proactive and collaborative measurements to deal with stakeholder issues before putting pressure on a company, which can result in reputation and legitimacy loss. These insights enrich the theoretical debate while explaining stakeholders’ relevance and roles in the sustainable supply chain management context. However, the study has some limitations regarding the chosen sustainable supply chain management and stakeholder constructs and potential within-study bias, offering possibilities for further research.

In Jordan, the pharmaceutical sector has been a driving force in recent economic growth. So, new supply chain management and information technology is likely to have a strong impact on managing sustainability in the supply chain management with all its aspects; environmentally, socially and economically in pharmaceutical sector in Jordan. However, there is a lack of studies aimed at recognizing how supply chain practices (SCP) can affect sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) conceptualized as environmental, social and economic aspects. So, this study aims to find out how supply chain practices conceptualized by (strategic supplier partnership and customer relationship) can affect SSCM conceptualized as (environmental, social and economic) with the mediating role of the information and communication technology (ICT) in the pharmaceutical sector in Jordan. A total of 313 questionnaires selected by simple random sampling disseminated to the respondents who were chosen from the population list of 1568 the managers of pharmacies working in Amman the capital of Jordan. The study used SEM with SMART-PLS 4 to analyze the data collected, measurement model used to analyze the validity and reliability of the model and the path coefficient in the structural equation model used to test the study hypotheses. The results of this study support all of five direct effect hypotheses and the two indirect hypotheses. The result of the study finds that SCP (strategic supplier partnership and customer relationship) have a significant impact in the ICT and SSCM, and ICT has significant impact on SSCM, also the result of the study found that ICT mediate the impact of the SCP (strategic supplier partnership and customer relationship) and SSCM in the Jordanian pharmaceutical sector.

The use of sustainable supply chain management practices allows companies to increase their revenues, while still balancing the triple bottom line of sustainability, which covers economic, environmental, and social concerns. Companies are looking to enhance their environmental performance by using sustainable supply chain management practices. The effect of supply chains on the environment cannot be understated. Numerous studies have been conducted investigating different facets of supply chain practices. However, research on sustainable supply chain management frameworks is fragmented, providing little or no guidance to practitioners. Thus, there is still a need for the provision of a comprehensive framework for optimizing the environmental impact of production and distribution processes. The overall objective of this study was to identify existing frameworks and propose a framework to guide practitioners and academics. A systematic literature review and meta-analytical methodology were applied. The analysis considered 92 articles. The study specifically used content analysis. A comprehensive sustainable supply chain management framework was developed from the eight practices that were derived and categorized. Emerging sustainable supply chain management practices such as green procurement, reverse logistics and cooperative with customers have been included in the framework. This sustainable supply chain management framework provides a guide to supply chain managers about which practices to focus on. Future research should study the barriers of implementing sustainable supply chain management practices.

This paper conducts a structured review on the topic of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in the supply chain management context to define research trends on the topic and identify research gaps. The review is carried out using the largest databases of peer-reviewed literature (Scopus and Web of Science). A sample of 122 papers focusing on the topic of energy-efficient and sustainable supply chain management was selected and analyzed through descriptive and content analysis. The review highlights that despite there is a growing research trend on the topic, different research gaps remain to be covered. These gaps concern the factors influencing energy efficiency and environmental sustainability initiatives, the classification of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability initiatives, the impact of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability on supply chain performance, the customer perspective in sustainable and energy-efficient supply chain, and the different technologies supporting the energy efficiency and environmental sustainability initiatives. The research gaps and the research questions identified offer the opportunity to identify areas of investigation to design future research directions and propose guidelines in the field of supply chain management.

This study investigates the integration of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) principles and supply chain resilience (SCR) strategies in the context of the construction industry in Beijing. Sustainable practices in supply chains are increasingly recognized as critical for enhancing resilience against disruptions and improving overall performance. The research synthesizes existing literature on SSCM and SCR, highlighting theoretical foundations, empirical evidence, and frameworks. Key findings underscore the interplay between sustainability initiatives, such as resource management and environmental stewardship, and resilience factors like flexibility and redundancy. Case studies from Beijing illustrate practical applications, demonstrating how sustainable practices mitigate risks and enhance adaptability in construction supply chains. The study concludes with recommendations for future research directions and practical implications for industry stakeholders aiming to foster resilient and sustainable supply chain practices.

Studies linking environmental sustainability to firm performance have been increasing as more companies are contemplating the implementation of sustainable practices internally and in coordination with other firms along their supply chains. However, findings from these studies have found positive and negative associations, leaving practitioners perplexed as to what actions would be beneficial to pursue. With hypotheses grounded in the natural resource–based view of the firm, the current study examines over 20 years of research on environmental supply chain practices using a meta‐analysis to determine whether the overall effect of these specific practices on firm performance is, in fact, positive. The results show that the link between environmental supply chain practices and market‐based, operational‐based and accounting‐based forms of firm performance is positive and significant, providing support for the business case that sustainable supply chain management results in increased firm performance. Different operationalizations of supply chain practices — upstream, design, production and downstream — along with industry, sample region, firm size and time are examined as moderators of this relationship with nuanced results that help to extend the discipline's understanding of the relationship between environmentally sustainable supply chain management and firm performance.

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to investigate systematically the discipline of supply chain management (SCM) within the context of sustainability. The two concepts are increasingly aligned, and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) represents an evolving field where they explicitly interact. Given their complex and holistic nature, breaking down the literature to understand its structures, processes, connections and limitations can provide an objective view of the status of research in these highly important fields, identifying key areas for future research/theory development.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review of current SCM literature is carried out, specifically in relation to the social and environmental dimensions of sustainability.FindingsSSCM and the integration of sustainability into supply chains is a significant but evolving field evidenced by a current bias in the literature towards theory development and highly qualitative research methods. The environmental dimension is significantly better represented in the literature through specific processes at all stages of the supply chain. The social dimension is recognised, but receives less emphasis than expected given SCM's focus on interaction, relationships and communication. These two dimensions are treated separately in the literature with limited insight on how to integrate them and current SCM and sustainability research provides limited practical outputs.Research limitations/implicationsThe review focuses on environmental and social sustainability within supply chains without explicit consideration of the economic dimension.Practical implicationsThe review highlights the key themes and issues for supply chain managers faced with implementing sustainability. It also illustrates a number of areas for future research, along with the need for researchers to develop more practical tools for implementing SSCM.Originality/valueIndicates the extent to which sustainability is integrated within SCM and where the research emphasis currently lies. The environmental dimension is significantly more defined and developed in the literature. SCM literature emphasises the importance of long‐term supplier relationships, but this “people‐focused” approach does not appear to translate into socially responsible supply chains. It suggests that the more process‐driven nature of environmental sustainability makes it easier to put into supply chain practice. There is also limited research or evidence on how the two dimensions can be integrated despite recognition of their inter‐relationship.

Sustainable construction and supply chain management (SCM) have, in recent years, become two of the most important performance-related issues within the construction industry. To achieve corporate sustainability within any organisation, it is essential that sustainability issues are addressed throughout the organisation's whole supply chain, a process referred to as sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). The implementation of SCM and sustainability is, however, an extremely complex undertaking. Through an extensive literature review and detailed interviews, this research has identified the conditions and strategies for achieving SSCM within construction organisations. The research also investigated the meaning, barriers and enablers, issues, tools and techniques for achieving successful SCM and SSCM. The study was based on the perspectives of senior managers of exemplar organisations with a proven track record in sustainability and SCM. It has been possible to identify best practice from which other organisations can learn, thus supporting the industry in the move towards more sustainable construction practices.