What value can be added by implementing sustainable practices throughout the entire supply chain?« Back to Questions List

Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) can be defined as “the strategic, transparent integration and achievement of an organisation’s social, environmental and economic goals in the systemic coordination of key inter-organisational business processes for improving the long term economic performance of the individual company and its supply chains” SSCM allows companies to maintain control over their supply chain and potentially achieve competitive advantages through enhancing track and traceability from raw materials through to the customer. SSCM can be defined as the management of material, information and capital flows as well as cooperation among companies along the supply chain while addressing goals from all three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, environmental and social) which are derived from customer and stakeholder requirements. Companies can gain competitive advantage through sustainability, which in turn affects the whole supply chain. SSCM includes evaluation of the environmental impact, a multi-disciplinary perspective of the entire product life-cycle, and considerations for all stages across the entire value chain for each product. At the end Sustainability in Supply Chain brings in cost Optimisation, Resource Optimisation while giving the organisation an edge to make its Value Chain Agile, Adaptable and Accurate to be in the market place.