Sustainable supply chain management tools : a reference framework

Today´s consumption rate exceeds the world´s natural rate of regeneration, which sadly means that humankind and the urge to satisfy their needs is over killing the place where we all live. Tons of disposed products are starting to invade places nearby the cities, industries are polluting air, land and water sources; some companies are neglecting a fair minimum wage or avoiding to grant social conditions in remote places. And all these phenomena are turning our life in the earth barely sustainable in a couple of decades, at the most one century. Over the past decades scientists, engineers, businessmen, ecologists and governments along with non-governmental organizations are changing the mentality of production, the mentality of the new design trends and foremost are making the consumer aware of their buying and disposing behaviors. By acknowledging the importance and the impact of Sustainable Supply Chain Management philosophy; it is necessary to switch and evolve the actual business conception towards a sustainable income. Economic and financial controlling and optimization is not longer enough, but should turn complementary with an environmental and social control and improvement. Then, it is important that all actors within a Supply Chain have enough available tools and are able to understand them according their context in order to make possible more subtle implementations with high positive impacts towards the new business perspective: Sustainability.