The impact of Barriers and Benefits of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) on its adoption decision: An empirical analysis

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of the barriers and benefits of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM)
practices on the adoption decision of sustainable supply chain management practices in Indian industries. An empirical analysis
is performed for a select manufacturing industries which operates in footwear and textile sector in India. Interpretive
Structural Modeling (ISM) technique is applied to the selected barriers and benefits to determine their contextual
relationships. Lack of public awareness in domestic market on sustainability, Market uncertainty due to economic slowdown ,
Competitive cost of sustainable product / SSCM practices implementation cost and Perceived lack of government support are
found to be the most important barriers in the adoption of sustainable supply chain management practices. On the other hand,
the most significant benefits are determined as Enhancement of corporate value by investment in firms people and
environment, Reduction in consumption in hazardous and toxic material and Product quality improvement The barriers and
benefits, which have high driving power and the capability to influence the other drivers, are then integrated into the
structural equation model.
The results denote that barriers and benefits of sustainable supply chain management practices have negative and positive effect
respectively on the sustainable supply chain management practices adoption decision for the company. In addition with the help
of hypothesis testing in structural equation modeling , it is found that the effect of benefits on the adoption decision is higher
than that of the barriers. Thus, based on this analysis, it would be beneficial for the company to adopt the SSCM practices.