Sustainable Supplier Evaluation practices across the Supply Chain

Abstract

In the last decade, academic research on sustainability has evolved rapidly in the supply chain literature, so there has been scant opportunity thus far for the research community to complete a global assessment of sustainable supplier evaluation activities. This paper seeks to address this need by exploring sustainable supplier evaluation practices and developing a multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) model based on the combination of the triple bottom line (TBL) and the TOPSIS methodologies to help managers evaluate external providers all along the supply chain. In order to create a robust framework for sustainable supplier evaluation, two case studies were selected and compared. Both case studies were also useful to refine the framework and illustrate how to use it. Identifying best practices for integrating corporate social responsibility involves the evaluation of external providers’ certification according to the ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001 and ISO 45001 standards. Accepting the firm’s code of conduct and monitoring it throughout the whole supply chain phases are relevant factors to be considered in order to ensure procurement sustainability. The proposed model can be used as a guideline to provide managers, practitioners and academics with a practical solution to resolve external provider evaluation decisions and determine the ranking order of preferred external providers in a more structured and consistent manner.