Sustainable supply chain management practices in Indian automotive industry: A multi-stakeholder view

As one of the largest manufacturing sectors, the automotive industry has a deep impact on the society and environment. Automotive products provide mobility to millions and create jobs, but also threaten the environment. Consumer pressure, government regulations, and stakeholder demands for a competitive edge have forced the automotive industry to consider their environmental and social impacts in addition to their economic status. These pressures have led many automotive industry businesses to adopt Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) practices. Specific practices that are adopted into the traditional supply chain and that help an industry shift towards a sustainable supply chain are called SSCM practices. Firms have difficulty identifying the most useful practices and learning how these practices impact each other. Unfortunately, no existing research has studied the interrelated influences among these practices in the automotive industry, nor from an Indian perspective. The current study aims to give a better understanding of the interrelated influences among SSCM practices with a particular look at the automotive industry. Our research presents views from multiple stakeholders, including managerial, environmental, societal, and governmental associations. We propose a framework model, using the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory method, to evaluate automotive industry SSCM practices specifically situated in the emerging economy of India. Through a questionnaire survey with the above-mentioned stakeholders, we find interinfluences and the prominence of the identified practices. A prominence causal relationship diagram is obtained depicting the cause groups and the effect groups of the practices. The differences and similarities between individual perspectives and combined stakeholder perspectives are identified. The results reveal that management commitment towards sustainability and incorporating the triple bottom line approach in strategic decision making are the most influential practices for implementing the sustainable supply chain management. This study provides a foundation for industrial managers to understand the inter influences among the practices and increases the probability of successful implementation of SSCM practices within the automotive industry. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.