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In today's world, industries are facing massive pressure to integrate sustainability issues for efficient and successful supply chain management (SCM). Hence, worldwide it has become critically important to make economic operational balance satisfying environment protection norms and social welfare perspectives. Consequently, the industries are investigating their SCM structures in association with a third party logistics (3PL) service provider adopting the triple bottom line framework for improving the overall supply chain performance. Therefore, selection of the right 3PL provider for the sustainable alliance is supremely important for broader perspective of greater business value. Thus, the main objective of this research work is the selection of most appropriate 3PL provider for a food manufacturing company (FMC) after systematic evaluation of six different feasible logistic providers serving over a decade in India. Selection of optimal alternative 3PL provider is very complex and challenging because of the qualitative description of service provider performances and the inherent uncertainty due to subjectivity. The concept of interval-valued fuzzy-rough number (IVFRN) offers perfect treatment of such uncertainty. In this paper, we develop a multi criteria decision making (MCDM) model combining the factor relationship (FARE) and multi-attributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC) models based on IVFRN. The proposed model is tested and validated on a case study where the optimal selection of 3PL providers is performed for an Indian FMC. Based on the results obtained in sensitivity analysis, it was shown that the proposed IVFRN based FARE-MABAC model produces stable/consistent solutions. Through the research presented in this paper, it is shown that the new hybrid MCDM method is a useful and reliable tool for rational decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study intends to identify, analyse, and evaluate sustainability assessment (SA) methods, along with the critical factors of sustainable manufacturing (SM) practice. Based on the opinion of experts and a literature review, 10 SA methods and 20 critical factors of SM practice were identified and analysed in relation to their optimal selection in sustainable operations. This research uses a fuzzy MULTIMOORA (Multi-Objective Optimisation on the basis of a Ratio Analysis plus the full multiplicative form) to rank SA methods based on the weights of the critical factors of SM practice obtained using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP). A case study of the leather processing industry in India describes the use of the technique in practice. The ranks obtained using the AHP-fuzzy MULTIMOORA is compared with those obtained using the best–worst method (BWM)-fuzzy MULTIMOORA. The results reveal that the Index of Social Progress and the Social Life Cycle Assessment are the top two reliable SA methods based on the identified critical factors of SM practice. Among the critical factors, the 'identification of alternative raw materials', 'methane mitigation', and 'opting for re-utilisation' are identified as the prominent critical factors of SM practices. In addition to the critical factors of SM, this study also evaluates SA methods as they help to monitor industrial progress towards sustainability. These findings provide useful insights to practitioners and can help them select optimal and robust SA methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is significant as SMEs contribute to GDP substantially in every economy. This research develops an innovative sustainable supply chain performance measurement model for SMEs. Prior researches predominantly use balanced score card (BSC) approach that presume causal relationship of criteria and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which derive efficiency of units from a few input and output criteria. While DEA is effective for policymakers, BSC is more suitable for individual SME. The proposed method that uses structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to derive the relationship of criteria and criteria weights formulates regression-type models for a specific region as well as for specific SME. The SEM-based supply chain sustainability performance measurement model is beneficial to policymakers as they can determine means for improvement at a regional level. The proposed method could also facilitate managers/owners of individual SMEs with measures for improving their supply chain sustainability performance. The method has been applied to three varied geographical locations in the UK, France and India in order to demonstrate its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]