Unlocking the power duo: Exploring the interplay of supply chain sustainability and resilience through a composite indicator

Abstract

Supply chain sustainability and resilience have gained the interest of academic and industrial communities, and increasingly represent top priorities in organizations’ agendas. This article aims to measure the key dimensions driving sustainability and resilience in supply chains and their interrelationships. We propose a new composite indicator for their joint assessment through the application of a robust composite indicator development framework, and the integration of secondary data with primary data gathered from a survey in the Italian industry. Results show no evidence of a trade-off between supply chain sustainability and resilience and instead highlight a potentially important cross-fertilization from sustainability to resilience through supply chain collaboration when these transcend the internal boundaries of the firm. This is a significant contribution to the existing debate in the literature on the relationship between sustainability and resilience in the supply chain, thanks to the development of an integrative composite indicator and a quantitative approach to the explanation of this relationship. By fostering a deeper understanding of supply chain sustainability and resilience, this investigation informs decision-makers on potential avenues to concurrently build and sustain their firms’ supply chain sustainability and resilience.