Overcoming Barriers to Sustainable Supply Chain Management in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach

Abstract

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) integrates economic, social, and environmental goals within the supply chain to enhance long-term performance. It assists organizations in monitoring their performance concerning social, environmental, and economic factors to bolster sustainability. Yet, implementing SSCM poses significant challenges for most organizations, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study aims to identify key barriers and strategies for overcoming them in SMEs. A thorough literature review revealed 80 barriers across nine categories: technological, economic and financial, supplier, information, market and networking, human resources, social and cultural, regulatory and institutional, and organizational barriers. Eight experts from SMEs in focus group discussions considered 55 relevant barriers and prioritized them using the best–worst method. Then, based on the top 15 barriers they deemed key, they adapted and improved 24 strategies based on the literature that, in their opinion, could support the implementation of and improve the SSCM in SMEs. The findings from this study highlight economic and financial barriers as the foremost challenges to the implementation of SSCM, mainly due to the lack of funding and capital to make changes in activities to include sustainability. The findings are valuable for SMEs seeking to implement SSCM, offering insights into potential barriers and strategies for surmounting them. Moreover, this study provides a structured approach that can be replicated to identify the most pressing barriers to overcoming and improving long-term sustainability.