Exploring the Role of Life Cycle Thinking in Developing Supply Chains Aligned With Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) principles and practices contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). However, the role of Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) tools and how they can strengthen the achievement of SSCM-oriented SDG has been little explored. This study aims to review the literature that intersects the themes of SSCM, SDG, and LCT to investigate the role of LCT tools in SSCM-oriented SDG. The dynamic capabilities (DC) perspective is the theoretical lens to understand how organizations can sense, seize, and reconfigure resources to address challenges in dynamic and changeable environments as sustainable supply chains require. A systematic literature review supported by PRISMA protocol and structured content analysis was conducted. The results show that LCT tools can be used to evaluate environmental, social, and economic aspects of just one SDG, or impact categories of each LCT tool can be linked to different SDG. The evaluation of the contribution of SSCM practices to the SDG using LCT tools occurs in two ways: (i) using the results of environmental, social, and economic assessments to analyze the contribution to the SDG qualitatively; (ii) linking impact categories (midpoint and endpoint) and indicators from LCT tools directly to specific indicators, goals, and SDG, which makes the assessment of the contribution clearer. LCT tools provide information to improve the 17 DC that help achieve SSCM-oriented SDG. The role of LCT as an analytical tool for SSCM-oriented SDG requires further investigation. To this end, a research agenda is proposed.