The application of the triple bottom line approach to sustainability assessment: The case study of the UK automotive supply chain
Abstract: The objective of
this paper is to assess the level of sustainability of the UK automotive supply
chain considering simultaneously the three dimensions of sustainability
(economic, social and environmental) representing the Triple Bottom Line (TBL)
approach.
Design/methodology/approach: The assessment of the automotive SC’
sustainability is based on the framework proposed by Salvado, Azevedo, Matias
and Ferreira (2011) and uses the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method to
aggregate economic, environmental and social indicators into a unique index. A
case study on the UK automotive industry is used and the data do perform this
study is collected from the sustainability reports of the UK’ automotive
companies.
Findings and Originality/value: The proposed framework represents an
important benchmarking tool, offering managers the possibility for assessing
the sustainability behaviour of its supply chain and compare it with other
supply chains. Once identified the dimension of sustainability where the
company or the supply chain is worst performer managers can work closer to
their supply chain’ partners in order to improve the performance of those
dimension of sustainability.
Research limitations/implications: One limitation of the suggested
approach is related to the ambiguity of the sustainability’ indicators
selection and the definition of weights for each sustainability dimension.
Practical implications: The assessment of the SC sustainability by using
the suggested framework to compute a SC sustainability index offers managers an
opportunity for assessing the level of sustainability of each individual company
and the corresponding SC in a very easy way. It also represents an opportunity
for improving company performance. In this way managers can use the information
on the sustainability index to help adjust their company's behaviour and
improve their economic, social and environmental performance.
Originality/value: The proposed framework represents a contribution in
the area of index construction and a valuable component of organizational
management systems and monitoring programs.
Keywords: Sustainability,
framework, composite index, supply chain, automotive industry
Author: Susana Azevedo, Miguel
Barros
Journal Code: jptindustrigg170003
