Analysis of enablers of sustainable supply chain management in electronics industries: The Indian context

Globalization has led organizations to think beyond economic benefit goals and move towards sustainable supply chains to address their business's societal and environmental concerns. An increasing number of companies are now committing to the cause of sustainability in their supply chain due to external pressures and foreseeing the rewards sustainable supply chains can deliver. The process of changing to a sustainable supply chain is complex, and certain enablers assist in achieving this effectively. This research aims to study the factors that act as enablers of sustainability in the electronics industries. Among these enablers, some have high causing influence while others exhibit high effecting influence. In this study, seventeen important enablers affecting the sustainability of the electronics supply chain in the Indian context have been identified from literature review and experts' opinions. The research helps in finding the causal and the effect enablers for implementing sustainable supply chain management. The interrelationship among these enablers is analyzed using a combination of Grey-DEMATEL methodology, and a diagraph depicting the causal relationship between enablers is established. Further, these enablers are ranked based on their degree of prominence. Results indicate that Government policies & legislations are the primary causal factor for sustainability, followed by culture related factors and Top Management commitment. The policy category enablers are seen to have a major causal effect on other enablers. The factor Health & safety standards have the highest net effect value. Top management commitment is the enabler demonstrating the highest correlation with other factors. Sensitivity analysis is performed to check the robustness of the results. The originality of this study stems from deriving a framework by identifying the enablers and their relationship for the implementation of a sustainable supply chain in the Indian electronics industry. The findings can help organizations to build a strategy and promptly evaluate the enablers to implement sustainability in their supply chains. The paper concludes by giving managerial implications of this research with possibilities of further research directions.

Automated summary

Globalization has pushed organizations towards sustainable supply chains to address societal and environmental concerns. Government policies, culture factors, and top management commitment are identified as key enablers for sustainability in the electronics industry. The study presents a framework using Grey-DEMATEL methodology to analyze the interrelationship among these factors.