Flexibility and Sustainability of Supply Chains: Are They Together?

Sustainability of supply chains has caught attention of researchers worldwide in the wake of problems like global warming and climate change. A revisit to various strategies of supply chains is warranted to assess their impacts on environment and society. Flexibility in supply chains has enabled responsiveness of chains to achieve higher service level, faster delivery and customization of products but cost of achieving these flexibilities has not been generally accounted for and their implication on the environment has been overlooked mostly. In this study, an attempt has been made to investigate flexibility of supply chains in the light of sustainability and to find whether flexibility incorporation adversely affects or collaborates with sustainability. A three dimensional composite index based on suitability, scalability and sustainability is proposed to evaluate various flexibility options in the supply chains. A typology of supply chains is also proposed based on flexibility and sustainability.