Sustainability metrics for real case applications of the supply chain network design problem: A systematic literature review

Increasing pressure from governments and stakeholders has motivated the study of sustainability assessment in the supply chain context at operational, tactical, and strategic levels. Several papers have been published during the last two decades, and the number is still rising. Although several authors present complex models that include environmental and social assessment, the applicability and usefulness of these works is often limited by lack of data availability and lack of consensus in what is to be measured on implementations of sustainable practices and strategies. This paper presents a systematic literature review of works addressing the supply chain network design (SCND) problem, in which at least two of the three dimensions of sustainability are assessed. This paper aims to identify indicators that are used when sustainability is evaluated in real applied cases. A total of 113 papers from 2015 to 2018 were selected, including documents studying forward, reverse, and closed loop supply chains (CLSC). Indicators in the economic, environmental, and social dimensions were classified according to an existing framework in the sustainable supply chain literature. The review finds a highlighted emphasis on environmental considerations; social criteria are still hardly studied. The study country origin analysis also shows an increasing concern for sustainable practices in developing economies, mainly in Asia. Finally, this paper presents a brief description of the areas where research opportunities exist, including sectors, measures, and methodologies to assess sustainability in the SCND problem. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.