Sustainable supply chains in a turbulent world: Challenges and opportunities

Abstract

The burgeoning field of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has captured considerable attention among scholars and practitioners. As global uncertainty continues to rise and increases the risk of supply chain disruption, the influence of such uncertainty on SSCM and firm performance requires urgent examination. But the topic is understudied. To address the gap, we organ-ized a special issue in the Australian Journal of Management that explicitly focuses on SSCM in the context of a turbulent world. This editorial summarizes and extends the 10 articles published in the special issue. We identified five research themes from the 10 articles, including “green supply chain development and innovation,” “sustainable supplier management considering supply chain disruption,” “supply chain resilience strategies and performance,” “SSCM, uncertainty, and financial performance,” and “supply chain finance and performance.” We propose that a focus on external uncertainty will extend our understanding of the antecedents and outcomes of SSCM. The special issue, titled “Sustainable Supply Chains in a Turbulent World: Challenges and Opportunities” in the Australian Journal of Management , aims at tackling the challenges posed by the ongoing uncertainty around the world on SSCM. While extant research on SSCM has primarily focused on examining the adoption, diffusion, and outcomes of SSCM under normal conditions (Feng et al., 2017; Seuring and Müller, 2008; Yawar and Seuring, 2017), this special issue aims to expand the scope of SSCM research by addressing research gaps related to the impact of turbulence and unpredictability in the world.