Developing managers’ mindset to lead more sustainable supply chains

Abstract

Supply chains’ broad operational capacity and their integrative potential are too relevant to be ignored. However, they are sometimes pursued with limited care for global sustainability concerns. This research paper argues how comprehensive the incorporation of sustainability in supply chain management is, discussing the importance of promoting supply chains rooted in a sustainability mindset, which employs a systems perspective to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. Using four cases from the electronics sector, the study proposes a framework that could be used to assess the sustainability within supply chain management as an alternative for the traditional TBL perspective, analyzing the sustainability mindset dimensions: “Knowing” and “Doing”. Also, the paper emphasizes the gap between what companies’ supply chains declare and what they actually would do towards sustainability, proposing that the “Being” dimension of the sustainability mindset is still missing.

Keywords

• Sustainable development goals
• Sustainability mindset
• Sustainable supply chain management
• Electronics