Title: Sustainable supply chain - a review of research fields and a proposition of future exploration

Authors: Agnieszka Leszczynska; Anna Maryniak

Addresses: Faculty of Economics, Maria Sklodowska Curie University, Poland ' Poznan University of Economics, Poland

Abstract: The fundamental aim of this article is the identification of research fields, concerning social, economic and environmental sustainability in a supply chain, which arouse the greatest interest in academic environment, the presentation of main research conclusions as well as the identification of methodological approaches and the avenues to guide future research. On the basis of the review of the most often used citations concerning sustainable supply chain (SSC), it has been determined that there are four fundamental modules of analyses, which can be distinguished. These are publications, having both reviewing and theoretical character, which focus on the analytical tools of sustainable supply chain and studies discussing the issue of SSC from the perspective of the whole supply chain or the relationship between the supplier and buyer. The numerous examples of research, discussed here, may be an inspiration for both theoreticians and practitioners of business, however, the articles searched according to other keywords may guide to other classifications.

Keywords: social sustainability; economic sustainability; environmental sustainability; sustainable supply chains; SSC; research fields; supply chain management; SCM; sustainable development; research review; buyer-supplier relationship; supply chain sustainability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSE.2017.083367

International Journal of Sustainable Economy, 2017 Vol.9 No.2, pp.159 - 179

Received: 07 May 2016
Accepted: 11 Aug 2016

Published online: 24 Mar 2017 *

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