۱- Introduction

۲- Background and literature review

۳- Proposed two-step hybrid approach

۴- A case study and results

۵- Conclusion and discussion

References

Abstract

Sustainability of agro-food supply chains has recently become the subject of greater interest from consumers, firms, governmental organizations and academia as the environment continues to deteriorate. One of the most critical factors influencing the sustainability of an agro-food supply chain is its network design. A particularly challenging aspect in this context is the broad range of influencing indicators associated with the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) of sustainability that need to be considered. However, many of these indicators could not be fully integrated or measured by single-step optimization problems. This paper presents a critical literature review of operational research methods for the design of sustainable supply chains. A novel two-stage hybrid solution methodology is proposed. In the first stage, a partner selection is performed using a hybrid multi criteria decision making based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and the Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) aggregation method. The result obtained in the first stage is used in the second stage to develop a multi-objective mathematical model to optimize the design of the supply chain network. This approach allows the simultaneous consideration of all three dimensions of sustainability including carbon footprint, water footprint, number of jobs created and the total cost of the supply chain design. The proposed approach generates a Pareto frontier to aid users in making decisions. Numerical experiments are completed utilizing data from an agro-food company to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed solution methodology. The analyzes of the numerical results provide important organizational, practical and policy insights on (1) the impact of financial and environmental sustainability on supply chain network design (2) the tradeoff analysis between environmental emission, water footprint, societal implications and associated cost for making informed decision on supply chain investment.

Introduction

Growing environmental, social, and ethical concerns and increased awareness of the effects of food production and consumption on the natural environment have led to increased pressure from consumer organizations, environmental advocacy groups and policy makers on agro-food companies to deal with the sustainability of their supply chains. Interest in sustainability of supply chains has grown over the last decade. Achieving sustainability entails reaching a balance between economic growth, environmental protection and social conditions. A sustainable supply chain refers to the ways in which organizational innovations and policies in supply chain management are considered in the context of sustainable development [1,49]. It is imperative to consider sustainability in agro-food supply chain, since it relates to marked environmental and social impacts. In 2010, the International Resource Panel of the United Nations Environment Programme found that agriculture and food consumption are two of the most important drivers of environmental pressures including habitat change, climate change, water use and toxic emissions [34]. Most of the current research focuses on the improvement of individual firms or processes rather than the design of an entire supply chain. Although considerable effort has been put into researching efficiency and economic performance measures, there is very little research available concerning the influence of all three dimensions of sustainability and decisions on agro-food supply, which could, in turn, offer managers the prescriptive models required to create a sustainable agro-food supply chain.