Sustainable Supplier Selection Model - A quantitative decision-making framework

The research presents a decision-support framework, based on environmental performance and sustainable development commitment, to select suppliers in the textile industry. The framework is to be applied during the preliminary onboarding process of new suppliers. The framework is addressed at multi-tier supply chains and is aimed at preventing sustainability-related risks in supply chains, while promoting beneficial collaboration with suppliers. For this purpose, a multi-step evaluation process was developed, based on a quantitative evaluation of suppliers’ environmental performance. The supplier selection model finds an operative application in the textile industry, and a case study analysis was performed on behalf of Benetton Group, a multinational fashion brand. However, the environmental performance methodology and the decision-support framework developed in the research aims at being applicable across the textile industry. The environmental performance assessment is based both on global best practices and industry-specific frameworks. In particular, the suppliers’ environmental performance and sustainability commitment data are gathered from the Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM). The quantitative evaluation of the Higg FEM contents is based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) risk assessment framework, with the support of globally recognized practices and relevant scientific literature. The quantitative evaluation methodology also adopts indicators which are specific to the focal firm, and therefore is able to evaluate suppliers’ alignment with the long-term sustainability policies of the brand. Finally, the framework presents a multi-step decisional framework to support the internal supplier selection process. The model presents multiple aggregation methodologies to allocate sub-suppliers’ results to the vendors with whom the brand has direct contact, and therefore is suited to be applied in multi-tier supply chains according to an indirect multi-tier approach. The manuscript reports the results of the application of the supplier selection model in the context of Benetton Group’s supply chain. First, suppliers’ results are analysed. Then, an applicative study is performed on Benetton Group’s active suppliers, and the results are discussed. Finally, the potential benefits of flexible applications of the model are presented and the future research directions are proposed.