Sustainable supplier selection: an international comparative literature review for future investigation

Abstract

Supplier selection is a wide research area which has been explored conceptually and empirically. The criteria and decision-making methods of supplier selection have been investigated by a series of surveys dating back to the 1960s, and both of these issues are the focus of this study. Sustainable supply chain management is a forward-thinking idea which considers the environmental effects and the efficiency of resource utilization in the whole supply chain. Thus, this part will review the supplier selection literature with special focus on the background of sustainable supply chain. And then based on the literature review, the research gaps will be conducted for more in depth research in this study.