Evaluating Supply Chain Sustainability through Triple Bottom Line

Abstract

Avetta, a supply chain risk management & compliance firm, is introducing a new ESG (Environmental, Social, & Governance) offering to better support clients on their sustainability journeys, as they look to increase transparency and ensure compliance across the supply chain. In support of this new program, Avetta requires an understanding of the most critical sustainability policies and practices. This research identifies and ranks the key critical success factors (CSFs) that determine supply chain sustainability performance across five key industries (agriculture, construction, extraction, manufacturing, and retail). A Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach – encompassing environmental, social, and economic perspectives – provides a comprehensive evaluation of supply chain sustainability. A thorough literature review was conducted to collect and define common critical success factors within each of the TBL buckets: ten environmental CSFs with thirty-one subfactors, eleven social CSFs with twenty-eight subfactors, and five economic CSFs with eleven subfactors. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to rank the CSFs in terms of relative importance based on the results of an expert questionnaire. Results of the AHP analysis were further supported with findings and insights from Avetta’s supplier responses to detailed sustainability survey questions. By looking holistically at supply chain sustainability key criteria and success factors across a specific selection of industries, this research provides a baseline point of reference for managing supply chain sustainability.