Journal of Cleaner Production 83 (2014) 391e403

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Analysis of enablers for implementation of sustainable supply chain

management e A textile case
Ali Diabat a, *, Devika Kannan b, K. Mathiyazhagan c
a

Department of Engineering Systems and Management, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Department of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark
c
Mechanical Engineering, ITM University, Gurgaon, India
b

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 28 April 2014
Received in revised form
13 June 2014
Accepted 13 June 2014
Available online 9 July 2014

Industries currently face pressure on environmental initiatives from both government regulations and
global competition in addition to customer pressure. Hence, organizations are forced to implement
sustainable practices to improve their environmental performance over economic performance. The
Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) system is a concept which ensures environmentally
friendly practices in traditional supply chains. Industries in developing countries such as India face
pressure from various perspectives to adopt SSCM in Traditional SCM. In this regard, the objective of this
study has been xed to analyze the enablers for implementing SSCM into Indian industries. This study is
essential for Indian industries, and especially for textile industries, to market products in the World Trade
Organization and huge market opportunities. There are many enablers for adopting SSCM into TSCM, but
these enablers do not ensure similar impact in all industries and countries; in fact, where SSCM is
adopted the system varies according to culture and the country's regulations. Hence, industries essentially need to identify inuential enablers to adopt SSCM. This study aims to identify inuential enablers
for SSCM by using Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) from 13 recommended enablers in ve Indian
textile units located in south India. ISM results reveal that ve enablers dominate an industry's practices,
and those ve enablers include Adoption of safety standards, Adoption of green practices, Community
economic welfare, Health and safety issues, and Employment stability. The result of this study shows that
safety perspective enablers provide additional motivation when compared to the other enablers for
SSCM adoption.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Enabler analysis
Interpretive Structural Modelling

1. Introduction
Pagell and Shevchenko (2014) state that over the past two
decades, the topic of sustainability has received substantial
attention in supply chain management and has been the subject of
much research. Current researchers and practitioners give special
attention to environmental issues to achieve environmental and
business needs (Caniato et al., 2011). Businesses certainly do face
new challenges and opportunities for adopting good environmental practices (Sezen and Turkkantos, 2013). Globally, sustainability has unique issues related to market competition, global
limitations of energy, the availability of raw and virgin material,
environmental protection crises, and increasing global population
(Bajaj et al., 2013). In this view, Hart and Milstein (2003) analyzed

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: adiabat@masdar.ac.ae (A. Diabat), mdevi89@rediffmail.com
(D. Kannan).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.06.081
0959-6526/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

the global challenges associated with sustainable development;

they sought to identify the strategies and practices that contribute
to a more sustainable world while simultaneously driving shareholder values. According to Veleva and Ellenbecker's (2001)
statement, many industries started to adopt differing practices
towards sustainable development, which they dened as the
creation of goods and services using processes and systems that
are non-polluting, conserve energy and natural resources, are
economically viable, safe and healthy for employees, communities
and consumers, socially and creatively rewarding for all working
people. Sustainable development is one solution for reducing
waste by effective resource utilization. In this view, Sustainable
Supply Chain Management (SSCM) is an activity that helps to
ensure Sustainable Development (SD). Hart and Milstein (2003)
point out that a truly sustainable development enterprise is one
that simultaneously achieves social, economic, and environmental
benets. These three achievements are called the triple bottom
line.

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A. Diabat et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 83 (2014) 391e403

Kuik et al. (2010) demonstrate that traditional supply chains

should develop into Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM)
regarding social, economic, and environmental benets. More
specically, SSCM can be dened as the integration of social,
economic, and environmental practices within a global supply
chain that provides green products, excellent services and accurate
information (Xie and Allen, 2013), sharing those benets with all
employees, shareholders, business partners and the wider community (Kuik et al., 2010). In India, the concept of SSCM focuses on
industries through integrating sustainability in supply chain management. Aslan et al. (2012) said that many industries began to
consider sustainable development due to India's entry into the
World Trade Organization (WTO).
SSCM implementation results in motivational activities called
enablers which industries must consider. Grzybowska (2012)
denes an enabler as one that enables another to achieve an
end where the word enable means to make able; to give power,
means, competence, or ability. An enabler is considered a variable
that motivates the attainment of SSCM. But in practice, all enablers
do not ensure a similar impact for sustainable adoption in industries. Industries have to identify the best initial enabler to be
considered for SSCM adoption. Only then can they adopt fulledged sustainable practices in traditional activities (Santos et al.,
2013). For this reason, it is essential to analyse enablers for SSCM
adoption to ensure an industry's sustainable development. Many
researchers have analysed enablers for SSCM implementation from
their country's perspective. For instance, Faisal (2010) analysed 16
enablers for SSCM adoption from a Qatar perspective; Hussain
(2011) analysed 21 enablers for SSCM from a Canadian perspective, and Walker and Jones (2012) investigated enablers and barriers for SSCM from a United Kingdom perspective. Analysing
enablers for SSCM adoption is important and should be pursued
globally from each country's unique perspective. Based on this, this
research aims to analyse and to identify inuential enablers for
adoption of SSCM in Indian textile industries.
Specially, the identication of inuential enablers for SSCM in
the textile sector is important because India has a current population of over 1 billion, and it is anticipated that India will likely
overtake China as the most populous country with around 1.6
billion population by 2050 (Hubacek et al., 2007). Due to the high
population, textile industries have a tremendous opportunity to
produce a large quantity of materials to meet customer needs.
Generally, textile industries use hazardous materials and dispose
untreated waste into the surrounding environment. Based on
pressures from government regulations, recently textile industries
have increased their awareness of environmental issues and have
started to incorporate sustainable concepts in their TSCM by
adopting SSCM practices. Supply chain management has operational activities starting from the procurement of raw materials to
the delivery of nished products (forward supply chain) (Datta
et al., 2013; Dweiri, and Khan, 2012; Jaggi and Verma, 2009;
Maleki and CruzeMachado, 2013; Tewari and Misra, 2013). Collecting used products from customers is also a part of SCM (Reverse
supply chain management) (Charkha and Jaju, 2014; Topcu et al.,
2013). There is limited research in Indian textile industries from a
perspective of sustainability (as explained in the Research Gap
section). Inuential enablers are identied from a set of 13 recommended enablers for SSCM adoption with the help of Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) in ve textile units, based on their
interest, in Tamilnadu, South India. The results impact environmental adoption, making it easier for the adoption of SSCM in Indian textile industries which then can be extended to all industries
in India. This study also helps industries to improve overall sustainable performance, from procurement of raw material to nal
product, by identifying leading or dominant enablers to adopt

SSCM in traditional activities. The discussions and conclusions are

from an extensive survey, site visits, and interviews. This paper
brings to clear view about the essential needs to analyze the enablers for SSCM adoption in an Indian textile sector context which
has not been done previously. This original research helps managers of textile industries to improve their environmental
performance.
The paper is organized as follows: a literature review and the
research gaps are given in Section 2, and a description of the study
follows in Section 3. The methodology (ISM) of the study is
described in Section 4 and our research design is summarized in
Section 5. The results we obtained, along with a discussion, are
described in Section 6. Finally, our conclusions, recommendations,
limitations, and future scope of the study are given in Section 7.
2. Literature review
Today, environmental issues attract the concern of global supply
chain practitioners (Muduli et al., 2013). Ahi and Searcy (2013)
mention that due to increasing recognition of environmental issues in traditional activities, organizations need to address the
problem of sustainability in their operations. Seuring (2013) offered
a modeling technique for SSCM through 300 papers published in
the past fteen years on the topic of green or sustainability (forward) supply chains. Also, he summarized research on quantitative
models for forward supply chains in order to achieve the most
substantial review of the eld. Seuring and Gold (2013) summarized that effective integration of sustainability into industries that
required action beyond the organizational boundaries. Boundaryspanning activities are increasingly being taken up by corporate
action and are spurred, accompanied, and reected in a growing
body of academic literature. For this reason, recently, environmental issues have received special attention from researchers
globally. To offset these emerging environmental issues, industry
practitioners expressed keenness to explore a solution to reduce
waste generated from current supply chain practices (Kuik et al.,
2010). Govindan et al. (2014) mentioned that manufacturing industries started to implement environmental practices in their
existing supply chain management. Ahi and Searcy (2013) identied and analyzed denitions of Green Supply Chain Management
(GSCM) and SSCM. They show that researchers worldwide
expressed much interest about research in environmental practices
like GSCM (Salimifard and Raeesi, 2014) and SSCM. Sustainable
Development (SD) is one of the better solutions for waste reduction. It improves industries' environmental performance. The
concept of sustainability was dened in 1987 in the Brundtland
report and then adopted by the United Nations World Commission
on Environment and Development (WCED): sustainability means
being able to satisfy current needs without compromising the
possibility for future generations to satisfy their own needs (World
Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Alexandre
Torres Romiguer and Alexandre (2011) states that there are various
denitions for sustainable development favoring the user. For
instance, the Forum for the Future Organization denes sustainable development as a dynamic process, which enables all people to
realize their potential and improve their quality of life in ways
which simultaneously protect and enhance the Earth's life support
systems. Gladwin et al., 1995, p. 878, p. 897 and Carter and Rogers
(2008) inferred that Sustainable Development (SD) must encompass the concept of security, which demands safety from chronic
threats and protection from harmful disruption including biodiversity loss, climate change, freshwater scarcity, food insecurity
(KhalilieDamghani et al., 2012; Rajkumar, 2013), and population
growth. In recent years, researchers focused on a combination of
scientic research with supply chain management (SCM) through

A. Diabat et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 83 (2014) 391e403

Sustainable Development (SD). In modern industries, traditional

SCM is relevant not only from an economic perspective (Ramaa
et al., 2013), but also because of its social and environmental
impact (Kleindorfer et al., 2005; Elkington, 1994; Zhu et al., 2008;
Caniato et al., 2011). Crals and Vereeck (2005) inferred that terms
like corporate social responsibility, ethical funds, eco-efciency,
highlight these impacts. While these terms indicate different concepts, they point to various aspects of sustainable development.
Sikdar et al. (2012) mentions sustainability analysis as a system of
interest, to which products, or processes, or corporations, or even
ecosystems can relate.
Sustainability is a concept of the triple bottom line (Elkington,
1998; Kleindorfer et al., 2005) advanced to a leading area within
academic research. Govindan et al. (2013) analyzed the sustainable
supply chain initiatives and determined the problem of identifying
an effective model based on the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach
(economic, environmental, and social aspects) for supplier selection operations in the supply chain with the help of a fuzzy multi
criteria approach. Grimm et al. (2014) summarized the research on
the theory of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) by applying the theory
to sustainability and sub-supplier management perspectives in the
food industry. Tseng and Hung (2014) proposed a strategic
decision-making model for SSCM that accounts for both the operational costs and social costs caused by carbon dioxide emissions
from operating such a supply chain network. It shows that all over
the world, researchers have started to analyze sustainability issues
in all directions in order to promote Sustainable Development (SD).
Ugwua and Haupt (2007) state that Sustainable Development (SD)
attained international focus to reduce pollution globally; they note
that it is used to make decisions about various projects. Heilig
(1997) stated that the concept of sustainability involves procedures
that should not unbalance the ecosystem of which we are a part,
but that this is precisely what the human species has always been
doing. In industries, sustainability involves becoming aware of and
managing risks associated with scarcity in natural resources; these
risks are used as inputs to the supply chain and help to identify
uctuations in energy costs. In addition, proactive engagement in
sustainable practices lowers the risk of the introduction of new and
costly regulations (Shrivastava, (1995a, p. 955); Porter and van der
Linde, 1995; Carter and Rogers, 2008; Shen et al., 2013). White and
Lee (2009) and Sarkis (2012) state that when a sustainable supply
chain term is used, the default perspective is typically environmental or ecological sustainability.
Alexandre Torres Romiguer and Alexandre (2011) determines
that the seven most critical environmental requirements and economic aspects for sustainable practice are as follows: reduction in
waste and emissions; reduction in energy intensity of goods and
services; use of renewable and sustainable energy resources;
maximum use and re-use of recycled components and materials;
measurement and assessment of business impact on ecosystems;
standard measures for evaluating sustainability performance; and
environmental consciousness pervading the culture of an organization. Alexandre Torres Romiguer and Alexandre (2011) pleads for
including social requirements in Corporate Social Responsibilities
because it is rare for management literature to examine social and
economic responsibilities; most existing studies on organizational
sustainability focus on ecological sustainability. Van Hoof and Thiell
(2014) have tested a theoretical model of collaboration capacity as a
multi-dimensional organizational construct to gauge cleaner production adoption within supply chains from the perspective of
sustainable supply chains in Mexican small and medium-sized
enterprises. In this view, Wiengarten et al. (2013) has explored
the differences in Environmental Management System implementation and investments from North America and Western
Europe perspectives to achieve a greater understanding of

393

industries' environmental motivations. Also, this study analysed

differences in ISO 14000 certication and environmental supply
chain investment levels between Western European and North
American industries. Besk et al. (2014) describe how SSCM practices allow companies to maintain control over their supply chain
and to gain better benets with the adoption of dynamic capabilities from the perspective of Germany. Marshall et al. (2005) &
Chahal and Sharma (2006) identify both internal and external
drivers for SSCM implementation. External drivers include customers' demand for such products (Nilakantan, 2013); pressures
from investors, community groups, the public, and competitors;
and compliance with regulations. Internal drivers are normally
connected to managerial thoughts, employees' demands, organizational culture, internal pressure on business managers, and social
development activities (Haigh and Jones, 2006). From a nancial
perspective there are three major enablers (drivers), namely: cost
saving, greater efciency, and increased prots (Berry and
Rondinelli, 1998; Bhaskaran et al., 2006 and Porter and van der
Linde, 1995). Beske et al. (2014) investigate SSCM practices and
dynamic capabilities in the food industry.
Faisal (2010) describes the steps in SSCM implementation. The
supply chain considers the product from the initial processing of
raw material to delivery to the customer (Kongar and Gupta, 2009;
Kassem and Dawood, 2013; Patil and Kant, 2014). From Faisal's
research, one infers the effective adoption of sustainable practices
in a supply chain by understanding the dynamics connecting a
range of enablers aiding the conversion of a supply chain into a
truly sustainable entity. Bagheri and Hjorth (2007) and Faisal
(2010) state that sustainability is not a predetermined ideal, but
an evolutionary progression of developing the management of
systems through enhanced understanding and knowledge. Hussain
(2011) discovered 21 enablers for SSCM and found the interaction
between them through ISM from a Canadian perspective. Zheng
(2010) evaluated environmentally friendly conditions in
manufacturing supply chains by using the Fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach. Faisal (2010) also analyzed enablers
for SSCM, but only 10 enablers were considered; this study focused
on economic and environmental perspectives rather than on the
social perspective. Singh and Debnath (2012) analyse the benets
of sustainability through a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
relevant to India using ISM. Government regulations, competitive
advantages, and corporate responsibility emerged as important
drivers for initialization of sustainability in today's businesses
(Houda and Said, 2011). De Brito et al. (2008) concluded that
initially corporations get involved with sustainability due to pressures from legislation. Dehghanian et al. (2011) created a framework to determine an integrated index to assess sustainability of
the supply chain of a product of AHP. Vinodh (2010) indicated a
major improvement of agility and sustainability in the design and
development of knobs. Similarly, Berkes et al. (2000) discussed
comparative aspects of land-use sustainability in two areas, which
offer physical and ecological similarities and cultural and historical
contrasts between India and Canada. Aslan et al. (2012) stated that
textile industries started to adopt e-sustainability through group
activities.
Dehghanian et al. (2011) stated that industries started engaging
in various activities involving sustainable developments.
Ammenberg and Hjelm (2003) also pointed out that small and
medium enterprises (SME) globally contribute to more than half
the global economy and environmental impact, but are often
neglected in research as to how and to what extent they affect the
environment (Von Geibler et al., 2004; Preuss, 2005; Michelsen and
Fet, 2010). India has numerous SMEs producing various products
both for home use and for export. Many sectors also grew to the
next level to enter the WTO. The textile industry is a sector which

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A. Diabat et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 83 (2014) 391e403

started to improve its performance from the perspective of environmentally friendly practices with economic improvements. The
present study focuses on analysing enablers for SSCM adoption
from environmental, economic, and social perspectives. Initially,
sustainable supply chain management articles were collected from
various international publications such as Science direct, Taylors
and Francis, Emerald, Wiley, Springer, and other openly available
materials. We sought a t for sustainable adoption of traditional
supply chain by using the terms sustainable supply chain management; enablers for sustainable supply chain and sustainable
supply chain management in textile industry. Based on these
terms, more than 100 papers are downloaded which are then tted
to the sustainable supply introduction and enablers for SSCM
analysis based on the objective of our studies. From these papers,
initially 25 enablers were identied and shortlisted into 13 enablers
after a discussion with textile industry experts. A detailed
description about the selection of the 13 enablers from the 25 enablers for SSCM adoption is given in the Phase 1: Preliminary survey section; there we identify common enablers. Next, these 13
enablers were categorized based on the three perspectives essential to the triple bottom line of sustainability: environmental, economic, and social. In Table 1, we identify the enablers from the
literature and show both the sources and roles of each element of
the triple bottom line.
2.1. Research Gap
In the past two decades, researchers have published more than
100 papers about the operations and supply chain management
elds, dealing with special concerns related to Green Supply Chain
Management (GSCM) and sustainable supply chains topics
(Mathiyazhagan et al., 2014; Jayaraman et al., 2007; Linton et al.,
2007; Seuring et al., 2008; Sarkis, 2012; Xu et al., 2014; Kaliyan
et al., 2013; Govindan et al., 2013b). Generally, different industries
have differing opinions about a single factor based on their nature
of manufacturing activities, culture, and country. Specially, many
researchers pointed out that different industries have different
opinions about their environmental factors (Govindan et al., 2014;
Mathiyazhagan and Haq, 2013; Zhu and Sarkis, 2006). Following
this, from the initial survey (mail and face to face interview), we
observed that experts from different industries give varied opinions
for each enabler for SSCM adoption (described in the Phase 1:
Preliminary survey to identify common enablers sections).
From the literature review we see that industries (MNCs and
some SMEs) globally are aware about industrial pollution (Junior
et al., 2014) and have started to adopt SSCM in their TSCM. In this
regard, there are many enablers for SSCM adoption. Many researchers focused on SSCM performance and other perspectives

(Faisal, 2010; Vinodh, 2010; Dehghanian et al., 2011; Hussain, 2011;

Zheng, 2010) but there is not much work on the investigation of
enablers for adoption of SSCM from an Indian scenario. Similar
studies were undertaken in countries such as Poland and Canada
(Hussain, 2011; Grzybowska, 2012). There is a large research gap in
the identication of inuential enablers for adoption of SSCM in
Indian textile industries. The Indian textile sector is the second
largest employment provider; it ensures direct employment to over
35 million people in the country. Hence, it is essential to think of
environmental adoption in the textile sector compared to other
sectors. For these reasons, this issue was chosen for this study. This
paper addresses the gap in the identication of dominant enablers
to implement SSCM through a two-phase research approach. Phase
1 is an initial survey to identify the enablers for SSCM, and Phase 2
is the identication of the leading enabler by ISM approach.
3. Description of the study
As Pagell and Shevchenko (2014) state, all industries haven't
shown much interest to improve sustainability in supply chain
management without any external motivations. With sustainability
issues in the textiles sector, the main focus is often on social issues
such as child labor, working conditions (e.g. contract, payment,
representation), and workers' health and safety. But environmental
aspects of production are increasingly attracting attention. In a
global economy, an SME business sector's contribution is substantially large. Hence, it is necessary to adopt environmentally friendly
practices in SMEs also. Most textile units come under the SMEs
category. The textile industry, one of the largest global industries
after the oil industry, is also one of the most polluting. Caniato et al.
(2011) point out that many fashion, apparel, and textile companies
are SMEs. He also suggests that SMEs are able to reshape their
supply chain and to identify different practices that large companies were unable to pursue. Kruse and Storm Rasmussen (2012)
mention that fashion and textile industries are the most important
polluters of the environment, in supply chains, in production, in
manual labor, and nally to the consumer. The fashion industry is
global and it is one of the most polluting and socially challenged
industries in the world (Nordic Fashion Association, 2012). Specifically, the textile sector is responsible for signicant environmental
problems associated with the production process due to the use of
toxic chemicals, which adversely impact the natural environment
and human health (Pesticide Action Network, 2012).
The basic reasons for the analysis of enabler issues in SSCM are
summarized as follows:

Due to limited availability of resources and pollution, Indian
industries are under heavy stress to focus on waste reduction

Table 1
Enablers for the Sustainable Supply Chain Management adoption with references.
Sl. No

Enablers

Resources

1.

Employment stability (E1)

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

Health and safety issues (E2)

Community economic welfare (E3)
Adoption of safety standards (E4)
Adoption of green purchasing (E5)
Adoption of green practices (E6)
Eco-design (E7)
Government regulations (E8)
Hazard management (E9)
Customer satisfaction (E10)
Environmental cost (E11)
Economic input to infrastructural development (E12)
Improvement of product characteristics (E13)

Kuik et al., 2010; Gabzdylova et al., 2009;

Bhaskaran et al., 2006
Carter et al., 2007; Carter and Rogers, 2008
Gabzdylova et al., 2009
Carter et al., 2007; Carter and Rogers, 2008
Sarkis, 2012; Mudgal et al., 2009
Sarkis, 2012; Govindan et al., 2013a
Zhu et al., 2006; Vojdani and Lootz, 2012
Zhu et al., 2006
Waheed et al., 2009
Hussain, 2011; Faisal, 2010
Carter and Rogers, 2008
Kleindorfer et al., 2005; Elkington, 1994
Hussain, 2011

Environmental

Economic

Social

A. Diabat et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 83 (2014) 391e403

and consumption of less energy, thereby ensuring sustainable

supply chains.

Due to government regulations and customers' environmental
consciousness, Indian industries have started to adopt sustainability in supply chains to keep their customers and to sustain
their positions in the industrial environment.
So, adopting sustainable concepts in traditional supply chain
management serves as a strong motivation to reduce hazards in
industries and to work towards ensuring a pollution-free
environment.
Presently, environmental pollution in textile industries in
Tamilnadu, India is a very serious issue. Every day, the media,
including newspapers, social networks such as Facebook and
Twitter focus on this issue, and the result is that the government
issues stricter regulations. The public also has a heightened
awareness about the hazards of pollution. Due to these reasons,
industries face pressure to update their current environmental
technology (SSCM). Almost all Indian textile industries have started
to think about and adopt the new concept (SSCM) to reduce the use
of hazardous materials in their activities due to stricter government
regulations. This study was helpful for industries to improve their
sustainable performance by identifying leading or dominant enablers to adopt SSCM in traditional activities. This research was
carried out in ve textile units in Tamilnadu as described in the next
section.
4. Methodology of the study
The steps of the solution methodology followed in this study are
shown in Fig. 1.
5. Research design
Before mailing our survey to the industry, we visited more than
50 industries involved in spinning and other related textile

395

industries located in South India. Hence, we selected South India for

the current research. Coimbatore is a hub of textile and spinning
industries in Tamilnadu. After our initial visit, we shortlisted 15
industries for this research. These 15 industries were selected based
on their involvement in environmental practices through the
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). CII works to make and sustain an environment favorable for industrial growth in India
(Govindan et al., 2014). After this, we mailed 15 textile industries.
The mail contained the objectives and the necessity for research.
Following frequent phone calls and mails, we received a response
from eight industries after two weeks. Finally, we shortlisted ve
textile industries from those eight industries, based on the availability of experts. Experts in three industries were too busy with
production targets, so we eliminated those three industries from
our study. Finally, this research was carried out in ve textile units
located in Tamilnadu. These ve were nalized and identied after
direct visits to their plants. Based on their interest to improve their
environmental performance, the ve industries were allotted time
and expertise (those with more than ten years' experience on
environmental issues) from different departments of each industry.
The selected industries produce a variety of apparel for men,
women, and children. Of the ve industries, a particular unit was
selected based on interest. The chosen industry has more than 100
showrooms in Indian cities and exports to 17 countries. These ve
industries have more experience in this eld, and the managers of
these ve industries have more in-depth knowledge about employees, environmental issues, and recent technologies. Because of
these reasons and due to the availability of industry interests, we
xed ve experts from each of ve industries, giving a total database of 25 experts, a reasonable cross-section for this study. Hence,
this study does not attempt to validate a hypothesis with the help of
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). We conducted a one-day
workshop for data collection for this study. Data collection was
done through two phases: Phase 1: Preliminary survey to identify
common enablers, and Phase 2: Identication of inuential enablers for SSCM adoption.
5.1. Phase 1: preliminary survey to identify common enablers
Before this phase, we discussed which enabler was available
with experts and which enabler provided motivation for SSCM
adoption. From this, common acceptable enablers for SSCM adoption were deduced. At the end of this session, 15 experts from ve
industries were asked to give their opinion, rated on their selfinterest (1 e No enabler; 2 e Enabler; 3 e Moderate enabler; 4 e
Important enabler and 5 e Very important enabler) from the recommended list of the 25 enablers based on extensive literature.
From the recommended list of 25 enablers, 10 enablers received
less than 2.5 (average) and 2 obtained in between 2.6 and 3.5
(average). The remaining 13 enablers obtained more than 3.5
(average). Finally, the experts recommended the 13 enablers which
obtained more than 3.5 rating (average) for this research. More
than 3.5 rating denoted that 13 enablers are important and very
important as per experts' opinion. Enablers with lower than a 3.5
rating were ignored. For these reasons, we xed enablers with
more than 3.5 average rates, and these were proposed for the next
phase of the study. Of the 25 enablers 13 obtained more than 3.5
(average) ratings. Finally, the 13 enablers selected a common
acceptable enabler from the workshop.
5.2. Phase 2: identication of inuential enablers for SSCM
adoption

Fig. 1. Flowchart of study for ve textile units located in Tamilnadu.

In this phase, experts were asked for their opinions of the 13

enabler's interrelationship. This phase is described in Section 5.1.

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A. Diabat et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 83 (2014) 391e403

5.3. Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM)

This study used the ISM technique to identify the dominant
enabler for SSCM. ISM was primarily proposed as a group learning
process, but can also be used individually. ISM is a known technique to solve industrial decision-making problems. ISM transforms unclear, poorly articulated mental models of systems into
visible, well-dened models useful for many purposes (Sage, 1977;
Diabat and Govindan, 2011). ISM incorporates judgments of experts in a systematic manner and establishes causal relationships
among variables which improve upon the internal validity of the
results (Thakkar et al., 2008). ISM is a qualitative and interpretive
method which generates solutions for complex problems through
discourses based on structural mapping of complex interconnections of elements (Malone, 1975; Watson, 1978; Pfohl,
2011). The method supports identication and ordering of complex relations between elements of a system so that the inuence
can be analysed between elements. ISM has been applied to a
variety of problems (Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994; Jharkharia and
Shankar, 2005; Thakkar et al., 2005; Pfohl, 2011; Kannan et al.,
2009; Govindan et al., 2012).
Attri et al. (2013) mentions the many advantages of ISM methodology. Based on these many advantages, we selected the ISM
methodology because it suits the study and also because Indian
researchers have applied ISM to many problems to analyse their
dominant factors. These applications are summarized in Table 2.
There is no work to analyse enablers for sustainability adoption in
an Indian perspective with the help of ISM, but similar studies have
been conducted in Poland and Canada (Hussain, 2011; Grzybowska,
2012). Generally, every industry and every country has different
opinions about sustainable enablers based on their own culture and
environmental regulations (Zhu and Sarkis, 2006). For this reason,
we chose this problem from an Indian perspective. Recently authors analyzed sustainable indicators with a hybrid approach. For
example, Tseng (2013) proposed a novel approach where fuzzy set
theory and ISM were adopted to address the analytical objective.
The various steps involved in ISM methodology are as follows
(Kannan et al., 2009; Diabat and Govindan, 2011):

Table 2
Applications of ISM in India.
Application

Authors

Higher education program

planning
Energy conservation in the
Indian cement industry
Vendor selection criteria
Adoption of knowledge
management in Indian
industries
Strategic decision making
in managerial groups
Barriers for GSCM
Drivers for GSCM
Barriers of reverse logistics
Third party reverse logistic
provider
Project management analysis
Information sharing enablers
Flexible manufacturing system
enablers in Indian companies
Future objectives for waste
management in India
Selection of green suppliers
Selection of reverse logistics
provider
Analysis of barriers for adoption
of GSCM

Hawthorne and Sage (1975)

Step 1: The Enablers (criteria) examined for the system under

consideration are listed.
Step 2: From the enablers identied in Step 1, a contextual
relationship is established to identify which pairs of variables
should be examined.
Step 3: A Structural Self-Interaction Matrix (SSIM) is developed
for enablers, which indicates pair-wise relationships among
them to the system under consideration.
Step 4: Reachability matrix is developed from SSIM and it is
checked for transitivity. The transitivity of contextual relation is
a basic assumption in ISM. It states that if a variable A is related
to B and B is related to C, then A is necessarily related to C.
Step 5: The reachability matrix in Step 4 is partitioned to
different levels.
Step 6: Based on the above relationship, a directed graph is
drawn and transitive links removed.
Step 7: The resultant digraph is converted into an ISM, by
replacing variable nodes with statements.
Step 8: The ISM model developed in Step 7 is reviewed to check
for conceptual inconsistency and necessary modications. The
above steps are shown in Fig. 2.
5.4. Questionnaire development
5.4.1. Data collection
ISM methodology suggests the use of expert opinions based on
various management techniques like brainstorming, nominal technique, etc., to develop a contextual relationship among variables.
Thus, in this research to identify contextual relationships among
enablers, experts from ve textile units in Tamilnadu were consulted.
For analysing enablers, a contextual relationship of leads to type is
chosen. This means that one variable leads to another. Based on this, a
contextual relationship between variables was developed.
5.4.2. Structural Self-Interaction Matrix (SSIM)
Keeping in mind the contextual relationship for each variable,
the existence of a relation between any two barriers (i and j) and
the associated direction of the relation is questioned. Four symbols
are used to denote the direction of the relationship between enablers (i and j):
V: Enabler i inuence to enabler j;
A: Enabler j inuence to enabler i;
X: Enablers i and j will inuence each other; and
O: Enablers i and j are unrelated.

Saxena et al. (1992)

Mandal and Deshmukh (1994)
Singh et al. (2003)

~ os and Nenclares (2005)

Bolan
Mudgal et al. (2010)
Diabat and Govindan (2011)
Ravi and Shankar (2005)
Govindan et al. (2013)
Ahuja et al. (2009)
Khurana et al. (2010)
Raj et al. (2008)
Sharma et al. (1995)
Kannan et al. (2008)
Kannan et al. (2009)
Mathiyazhagan et al. (2013)

The SSIM for enablers in adoption of SSCM is given in Table 3.

5.4.3. Initial reachability matrix
In this step, a reachability matrix is developed from SSIM. The
SSIM format is initially converted into an initial reachability matrix
format by transforming information of each SSIM cell into binary
digits (i.e., ones or zeros) in the initial reachability matrix. This
transformation is done with the following rules (Kannan et al.,
2009):

If an entry in the cell (i, j) in the SSIM is V, then cell (i, j) entry
becomes 1 and cell (j, i) entry becomes 0 in the initial reachability matrix.

If an entry in the cell (i, j) in SSIM is A, then cell (i, j) entry becomes
0 and cell (j, i) entry becomes 1 in the initial reachability matrix.

If an entry in the cell (i, j) in SSIM is X, then entries in both cells
[(i, j) and (j, i)] become 1 in the initial reachability matrix.

If an entry in the cell (i, j) in SSIM is O, then the entries in both
cells [(i, j) and (j, i)] become 0 in the initial reachability matrix.

A. Diabat et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 83 (2014) 391e403

397

Fig. 2. Flow diagram to prepare the ISM model for enabler analysis in ve textile industries.

Following these rules, the initial reachability matrix is given in

Table 4.

some entries from pair-wise comparisons and some inferred

entries.

The nal reachability matrix for enablers, shown in Table 5, is

obtained by incorporating transitivities as enumerated in Step 4 of
the ISM methodology. The nal reachability matrix then consists of

5.4.4. Level partitions

In the study, the 13 enablers, along with their reachability set,
antecedent set, intersection set and levels, are presented in Table 6.

Table 4
Initial reachability matrix.

Table 3
Structural Self-Interaction Matrix (SSIM).
Enablers

13

12

11

10

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

V
O
O
X
A
O
V
O
A
A
X
O

V
O
O
V
A
O
O
V
O
X
O

V
V
O
X
A
O
X
O
A
O

V
O
O
O
A
O
O
V
O

O
V
X
X
A
A
A
O

V
O
O
O
O
O
O

V
X
X
X
O
O

X
X
X
X
X

O
X
X
O

X
X
X

X
X

Enablers

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

1
1
1
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
0
0
0

1
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1

0
1
1
0
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
1

1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0

1
1
1
1
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0

1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0

0
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
1

1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
1

1
1
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
1

1
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0

1
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
1

398

A. Diabat et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 83 (2014) 391e403

Table 5
Final reachability matrix.
Enablers

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1

1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1

1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1

1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

1
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1

2. Dependent enablers: This category includes enablers which

have weak drive power, but strong dependence power and are
placed in Quadrant e II.
3. Linkage enablers: These have strong driving power and strong
dependence and are placed in Quadrant e III. They are unstable
and so action on them does not affect others. It also includes a
feedback effect on them.
4. Independent enablers: These have strong driving power but
weak dependence power. These are represented in Quadrant e
IV. It is observed that a variable with a very strong driving power, called a key variable, falls into the category of independent
or linkage criteria. The driver power and dependence power of
each of these barriers are shown in Table 7. More details of the
nal ISM model for the enabler are given in Fig. 4.

Level identication process of these enablers is completed in four

iterations. From Table 6, it shows that Adoption of green practices
(E5) is found in Level I. Thus, it would be positioned at the top of the
ISM model.
The iterations are continued till the levels of each variable are
obtained. The identied levels aid in building digraph and the nal
ISM model.

Subsequently, the diagram of driving power vs. dependence

power for the enablers is constructed as shown in Fig. 4. As illustrated, it is observed from Table 6 that there is one enabler, Government regulations (E8) in Quadrant - I. In Quadrant e II,
Customer satisfaction (E10) and Economic input to infrastructural
development (E12) are evident. Similarly, the remaining enablers
are positioned according to their driving and dependence power.

5.4.5. Formation of ISM based model

From the nal reachability matrix, a structural model is generated and given in Fig. 3. The relationship between enablers j and i is
shown by an arrow from i to j. The resulting graph is called a
digraph. After removing transitivities as described in ISM methodology, the digraph is nally converted into an ISM model for the
enabler.

6. Result and discussion

5.4.6. MICMAC Analysis

Matriced Impacts croises-multiplication applique and classment (cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classication)
is abbreviated to MICMAC. The MICMAC principle is based on the
multiplication properties of matrices (Sharma et al., 1995; Diabat
and Govindan, 2011; Kannan et al., 2009). It is a graphical representation of enablers into four clusters, namely: Independent,
Linkage, Autonomous, and Dependent. The purpose of MICMAC
analysis is to analyse the enablers' drive power and dependence
power. This is done to identify the key enablers that drive the
system in various categories. Based on their drive power and
dependence power, enablers, in the present case, were classied
into four categories as follows (Kannan et al., 2009):
1. Autonomous enablers: These have weak driving power and
weak dependence. They are relatively disconnected from the
system, with which they have few links, which may be very
strong. These enablers are represented in Quadrant e I.

Indian researchers started analysing SSCM and GSCM practices

in the Indian industries (Mathiyazhagan et al., 2013; Mudgal et al.,
2010; Luthra et al., 2011; Govindan et al., 2014). The textile industry
is a sector which adopted SSCM practices due to pressures from
SSCM enablers. Enablers for SSCM, collected from literature, were
put into ISM to investigate interactions between them. The driverdependence power diagram obtained from MICMAC analysis gives
an insight into the relative importance and interdependencies between enablers. Fig. 4 indicates the dependence and driving power
of enablers. The present research with ISM shows the following
interpretations:

The driver and dependence power diagram shows four quadrants. In the rst quadrant (Quadrant I), Government regulations
(E8) enabler appears because it has a driving power of 4 and
dependence power of 6. It shows that government regulations
enabler has less driving and dependence power. Generally,
autonomous enablers are weak drivers and weak dependents
without much inuence on sustainable supply chain implementation in the textile industry. Guenther et al. (2011) states
that environmental legislation and regulations can hold back
innovation by prescribing best available techniques and setting
unreasonable deadlines. From this result, it can be inferred that
the government regulation enabler serves a minor role and does

Table 6
Level partitions for enablers.
Enabler

Reachability set

Antecedent set

Intersection set

Iteration no. & level

5
10
12
7
8
9
11
13
1
2
3
4
6

12345679
2 3 6 10
2 3 6 10
1 2 3 4 6 7 9 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
1 2 3 4 6 7 8 10 11 12 13
1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 11 13
123468
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 11 13
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 11 13
1 2 3 4 6 7 9 11 13
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 11 13
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 11 13
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 11 13
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13

12345679
2 3 6 10
2 3 6 10
1 2 3 4 6 7 9 11

I
II
II
III
III
III
III
III
IV
IV
IV
IV
IV

11
12
12
13
8
1 2 3 4 6 7 9 11 13
1 2 3 4 6 7 9 11 13
1 2 3 4 6 7 9 11 13
12346
12346
12346
12346
12346

11
12
12
13
8
1 2 3 4 6 7 9 11 13
1 2 3 4 6 7 9 11 13
1 2 3 4 6 7 9 11 13
12346
12346
12346
12346
12346

A. Diabat et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 83 (2014) 391e403

399

Fig. 3. ISM based Model for Enablers of sustainable management.

power (12) and less driving power, which shows that industries
have less interest in assigning money to develop their infrastructure for sustainability.

Ten enablers appear in Quadrant III. Enablers in this quadrant
have strong driving and strong dependence power. They are
unstable. Any action on them will affect others and will provide
a feedback effect on them. They can disturb the whole system. In
this quadrant, Adoption of green purchasing (E5) enabler has
lowest driving power (9) and high dependence power (12).
From this, it is inferred that implementing green practice provides reduced motivation for the adoption of SSCM as it depends
on other practices; meaning that the green practice enabler
needs the co-operation of other enablers, without which, E5 is
difcult to practice. Guenther et al. (2010) pointed out for the
whole environment in industries, green procurement activity
will ensure a tremendously effective way to develop the entire
environmental performance. The next lowest value enabler is
Hazard management (E9). It has a driving power of 11 and
dependence power of 10. Currently, every industry is involved in
reducing their usage of hazardous materials in their operations
and many have also started to nd alternatives for such materials. This enabler is important for textile industries because for

not provide a tremendous impact to the adoption of SSCM in

industries. But, Mathiyazhagan and Haq (2013) have identied
that automotive component sectors are facing more pressure
from central governmental environmental regulations and
regional environmental regulations due largely to their customers' pressure. In this view, we need more strict regulations
for the textile industries to adopt the environmental practices
which are available at present.

The second quadrant (Quadrant II), is also called a dependent
quadrant with low driving power and high dependence power.
As per our research, Customer satisfaction (E10) and Economic
input to infrastructural development (E12) enablers appear in
this Quadrant. Enabler E10 has a dependence power of 11 and
driving power of 6 showing that customers provide limited
pressure or motivation for implementation of SSCM in textile
industries. Still, from the customer's side, there is a need to
provide more motivation towards improving sustainability
practices in the textile industries. Customers also need to enact
more pressure for environmentally friendly products (Zhu and
Sarkis, 2006). But, Ellen et al. (2006) say that organizations
need to attract their customers by means of engaging in sustainable behaviors. Similarly, Enabler E12 has high dependence

Table 7
Dependence power and driving power.
Enablers

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

Driving power

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Dependence power

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
10

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
12

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
12

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
10

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
13

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
12

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
10

1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
6

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
10

1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
11

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
10

1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
12

1
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
9

13
13
13
13
9
13
12
4
11
6
12
6
12

400

A. Diabat et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 83 (2014) 391e403

Fig. 4. Driving power and dependence power diagram.

color coating and other fabric related purposes, color agents are
needed. These color agents are harmful to human health and
surroundings. The Hazard management (E9) ISM value shows
that textile industries have started to reduce hazardous materials used in their industry through special attention.
Improvement of product characteristics (E13) enabler appears in
the next position in Quadrant III. Compared to previous enablers
(E8; E10; E12; E5; E9) E13 enabler has a high driving power (12) and
less dependence power (9). This shows that textile industries have
started to improve their products by reducing the use of hazardous
substances in clothes and by improving apparel characteristics. But
this step needs the co-operation of other enablers such as Hazard
management (E9); Government regulations (E8); Economic input
to infrastructural development (E12); and Adoption of green purchasing (E5). Two enablers appear in the next position of this region, namely, Eco-design (E7) and Environmental cost (E11). These
two enablers have equal driving power and dependence power (12,
10). For adoption of any system in the industry, it should alter
existing methodological activities by design. The design department has a notable role in every organization. We need to re-design
industrial activities towards ecological activities, especially for
environmental issues. Past researchers have observed that it is
essential for industries to design the process and products related
to environmentally friendly activities to sustain their performance
(Bhaskaran et al., 2006; Mudgal et al., 2010; Hussain, 2011;
Grzybowska, 2012; Houda and Said, 2011; Singh and Debnath,
2012).
Employment stability (E1) and Adoption of safety standards (E4)
enablers appear in the same position. It shows that these two enablers strongly inuence other enablers. Employment is a major
concern for every organization because without labor cooperation,
an industry cannot achieve its goals (Kuik et al., 2010). The adoption
of safety standards will improve environmental performance by
means of placing standardized norms on the environmental issues.

ISO 14001 certication provides safety standards for industries

(Carter et al., 2007; Carter and Rogers, 2008). This result shows that
the textile industry feels that these two enablers provide good
motivation for SSCM adoption.
In this quadrant, three enablers appear in the same position,
namely: Health and safety issues (E2), Community economic welfare (E3), and Adoption of green purchasing (E6). In the dependence
power and the driving power diagram, these enablers have high
dependence and driving power (12, 13). Also, this result proves that
enablers E2, E3 and E6 have mutual interactions. Health and safety
are serious issues in every industry, because workers want a safe
working environment. Organizations also consider this enabler
important as without workers' involvement, industry cannot
benet. Thus, this enabler is important to motivate SSCM adoption.
The Health and safety issues (E2) enabler has a dependence power
of 12 and a driving power of 13. Community economic welfare (E3)
is placed next. This enabler gives economic support to employees
and increases worker involvement. In this quadrant, Adoption of
green purchasing (E6) is the nal enabler. It also has same driving
and dependence power as E2 and E3. All production starts from
procurement of raw materials. Clearly, industries need to adopt
sustainability concepts in their procurement. Green purchasing is
the best concept to make an industry sustainable (Zhu et al., 2006;
Mudgal et al., 2010).

In the fourth Quadrant (IV), no enabler appears. Of these 13
enablers, none has an independent character, which proves that
all enablers are dependent in textile industries for SSCM
adoption.

7. Conclusion
Sustainable development has grown to be a generally used term
that goes beyond uncomplicated economic security to include

A. Diabat et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 83 (2014) 391e403

issues of environmental impact and resource use, together with

social effects (Konstantinos et al., 2011). Moving towards sustainability in the TSCM requires more motivation (enablers). Customers
also expect more environmental friendliness than traditional operations. As the present Indian scenario demonstrates, industries
need more motivations (enablers) for SSCM adoption to improve
their environmental performance. From this study, we observed
that textile organizations have notable environmental awareness
and also are interested in retaining their customers by improving
environmental performance (adopting SSCM). Identifying leading
enablers for SSCM creates considerable challenges for researchers
and industrial experts. Based on the inputs from experts in ve
textile industries and an academician, a Structural Self-Interaction
Matrix (SSIM) the basis for ISM was formed.
From the ISM framework, we inferred that adoption of green
purchasing (E5) enabler occupies the top level (iteration I). For the
textile industry, this enabler (E5) provides less impact compared to
the other recommended enablers as almost all industries have
started adopting green purchasing. For this reason, green purchasing practice enabler gets less weight. In iteration II, two enablers appear: namely, Customer satisfaction (E10) and Economic
input to infrastructural development (E12). These enablers occupy
the next position to the E5 enabler. Similarly, in iteration III, ve
enablers are placed: namely, Improvement of product characteristics (E13); Environmental cost (E11); Hazard management (E9);
Government regulations (E8), and Eco-design (E7). From iteration
III, we infer that these motivations occur from different directions.
For example, Government regulations are external enablers, but
Eco-design is an internal enabler for industries. These ve enablers
are more important than the previous iterations' (I and II) enablers.
Similarly, another ve enablers appear in the lower level (iteration
IV). These ve enablers deal with the involvement of employees to
SSCM: namely, Employment stability (E1); Health and safety issues
(E2); Community economic welfare (E3); Adoption of safety standards (E4), and Adoption of green practices (E6). These enablers
play a dominant role in implementing SSCM in textile industries.
This result shows that textile industries feel that employees'
involvement, stability and community economic enablers are more
important than the other enablers, because without employees'
involvement, industry cannot achieve its goals. There is a need for
more interest from the employees' side, especially in SSCM
implementation.

7.1. Recommendation
It is evident from the results that identication of the leading
enablers in textile industries is helpful for easy implementation
of an effective SSCM.
It also improves environmental performance and creates a green
environmental zone. The result of this study shows that ve
enablers play a dominant role. Textile industries need to focus
more on other recommended enablers.
The conclusion of this study is useful to implement SSCM in a
textile industry in an Indian scenario. Industries nd it difcult
to identify dominant enablers, but this study provides an
improved solution for this problem by using ISM.
Industries need to identify the enablers with important roles
and those with less important roles during SSCM adoption. As
summarized above; this study is one of the better research tasks
to identify the principal enabler for SSCM adoption.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a solid framework for
enabling SSCM in textile industries, because it is vital for such
industries to offer accountability when it comes to environmental consciousness.

401

7.2. Limitations and future scope

This study was conducted only in the textile sector where ve
units were selected. Involving more industries might provide more
insight into enablers. More sectors can also be considered for
similar analysis. Only 13 enablers were considered in this research,
but in reality more enablers exist and their identication is
possible. This study identies the most dominant enabler through
the use of the ISM methodology. In future studies, fuzzy theory
(Bansal et al., 2014; Patil and Kant, 2014) can be utilized in the
traditional ISM. In addition, Decision Making Trial and Evaluation
Laboratory (DEMATEL) can be used to identify the dominant
enabler (Patil and Kant, 2014), and AHP can be utilized to prioritize
the enablers.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Prof. Kannan Govindan, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark for providing an opportunity to work on the network project Sustainable supply chain
management: A step towards Environmental and Social Initiatives
(2211916) between partner countries from China, India & Denmark
which is supported by a grant from Forsknings e og Innovationsstyrelsen, Denmark.
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