Sustainable Supply Chain Maturity Model: A Proposed Framework For Developing Countries

Abstract

Sustainability is institutionalized in many organizations which have their core business activities around supply chains (SC). The operationalization of sustainability in SC context brings its own set of complexities to gauge its performance sophistication levels and strategic actions to keep the progress on track. The purpose of this paper is to present and conceptualize the knowledge and information by reviewing the literature of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) maturity models. These conceptualizations are then transformed into a maturity model proposition. The literature review presented, explains maturity models (MMs) developed especially with inclusion of TBL (Triple Bottom Line) concentration. While SSCM maturity model research has evolved more theoretically, it is studied here that methodologically opportunities yet exist for valid, practical, and easy to implement SSCM maturity model framework. Addressing the gap identified, a “6Cs framework” is proposed in this study with six levels of sustainable SC maturity. The paper intends to present a framework easy to be adopted by management of an organization viz in a developing country, which either has just started to realize the significance of sustainability for their business or they are in mid-flight of their SC operations geared for sustainability processes implementation.