A conceptual framework for green supply chain design

The increasing importance of sustainability requires efforts in every field of research and application. Supply Chain Design (SCD) as the top level of supply chain planning offers great potentials for the improvement of ecological logistics performance. The respective strategic decisions comprise the structural and conceptual design of a supply chain network including its material and information flow processes. Classic approaches consider logistics costs and performance as primary objectives, whereas modern approaches integrate ecological objectives and, thus, are considered as Green Supply Chain Design (GSCD) approaches. The goal of this paper is to identify current scientific contributions to GSCD, discuss their applicability and to identify an outline of an ideal GSCD framework. Hence an extensive academic literature research has been conducted comprising drivers, objectives and measurement systems as well as the respective models, frameworks and instruments. On this basis, relevant GSCD elements have been derived and systematised in a conceptual GSCD framework. As a result, this paper does not only provide a systematic overview of GSCD elements, but also allows outlining further research requirements. Evidently, each field of GSCD already holds valuable individual approaches. However, the appropriate interrelation of these elements into one methodology is still lacking.