Evaluating barriers and strategies to sustainable supply chain risk management in the context of an emerging economy

Abstract

With increasing awareness about society and the environment, industries are urged to develop and implement sustainable supply chain (SSC) processes. However, the risk of non-compliance against these SSC processes to manage overall business risks, namely, avoiding reputational damage and managing financial losses, is increasingly receiving senior management attention. Given these shortcomings, the objective of this research is twofold, namely, (i) to identify and evaluate barriers adopting sustainable supply chain risk management (SSCRM) processes and (ii) to prioritize SSCRM strategies to overcome these barriers in an emerging economy, namely, Bangladesh. To achieve the objectives, this study develops a framework by integrating the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and VIsekriterijumska optimizacija i KOmpromisno Resenje (VIKOR). The results show that the “information-related barriers” are most prevalent among the categories of barriers, and “lack of coordination and collaboration” has been identified as the most significant barrier. Evaluating the strategies, “top management commitment” is the best strategy. These findings can help managers develop strategies to overcome the most significant barriers to adopting SSCRM. The proposed framework, which integrates quantitative and qualitative approaches, can be used by decision-makers to make accurate, prompt, and systematic decisions compliant with SSCRM business processes.