Evaluation of sustainable supply chain risk: evidence from the Iranian food industry

Abstract

Purpose The food industry is directly related to the health of humans and society and also that little attention has been paid to the assessment of sustainable supply chain risk management in this area, this will be qualified as an important research area. This study aims to develop a framework for assessing the sustainable supply chain risk management in the realm of the food industry (confectionery and chocolate) with a case study of three generic companies denotes as A1–A3. The proposed risk management was evaluated in three aforementioned manufacturing companies, and these three companies were ranked by the Fuzzy-Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (F-WASPAS) method in EXCEL. Design/methodology/approach The evaluation was carried out using integrated multi-criteria decision-making methods Best-Worst method (BWM)-WASPAS. Via an extensive literature review in the area of sustainable supply chain, sustainable food supply chain and risks in this, 9 risk criteria and 59 sub-criteria of risk were identified. Using expert opinion in the food industry, 8 risk criteria and 39 risk sub-criteria were identified for final evaluation. The final weight of the main and sub-criteria was obtained using the F-BWM method via LINGO software. Risk management in the sustainable supply chain has the role of identifying, analyzing and providing solutions to control risks. Findings The following criteria in each group gained more weight: loss of credibility and brand, dangerous and unhealthy working environment, unproductive use of energy, human error, supplier quality, quality risk, product perishability and security. Among the criteria, the economic risks have the highest weight and among the alternatives, A3 has obtained first ranking. Originality/value Modeling of risk for the food supply chain is the unique contribution of this work.