An Application Of Analytic Network Process (ANP) To Evaluate Green Supply Chain Management Strategies: A Case Study

Abstract

Sustainable development has made remarkable progress in establishing environmental and social sustainability towards operations management and the supply chain. Sustainable development means “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations” Sustainability covers three aspects: economic, environmental and social responsibility. Green supply chain management (GSCM) is about making the entire supply chain more environmental sustainable. With the raising of awareness in environmental protection and sustainable development in enterprises, the green issue has become more and more critical in supply chain management. The green supply chain strategy selection is a multi-criterion problem which includes both qualitative and quantitative criteria. ANP is a multi-attribute, decision-making approach based on the reasoning, knowledge, and experience of the experts in the field. ANP can act as a valuable aid for decision making the best decision when both qualitative and quantitative aspects of decision are considered. ANP provides a general framework to deal with decisions without making assumptions about the independence of higher-level elements from lower level elements and about the independence of the elements within a level. The present work proposes a structured model for evaluating and selecting a Green Supply Chain Strategy by using Analytical Network Process (ANP) approach. The model is developed using evidence from empirical study in the industry. The model for selection of green supply chain strategy includes considers both the practicality in traditional SCM selection criteria, and also the green concept related to environmental protection and regulations. The proposed ANP model is used to evaluate the green supply chain strategy in Indian Automotive Company XYZ Ltd. The major advantages of this research are that it can be used for both qualitative and quantitative criteria. The results show that the model has the capability to be flexible and apply in different types of industries to choose their green supply chain strategy. The future research directions to this work include the design of more complex hierarchies and explore it. It may benefit the Indian industries to survive and serve better in Global Markets.