AI-based decision-making for sustainable supplier selection

Due to a higher sensitivity towards environmental protection and social responsibility, concepts such as CSR and sustainability are occupying a central role in business strategy. However, in the supply chain management (SCM) field of study, sustainable supplier selection (SSS) remains an understudied subject. SSS goes beyond traditional supplier selection by not only focusing on increasing an organisation's performance through supplier selection from an economic point of view, but also taking into account how supplier selection impacts the organisation's environmental and social outcomes. Furthermore, where with traditional supplier selection there is a vast availability of decision-making (DM) techniques, including numerous artificial intelligence techniques, the availability of DM techniques for sustainable supplier selection is limited. Moreover, to my knowledge, there is no mention in the existing literature of using AI-based DM techniques. The aim of this study is therefore to derive an AI-based DM model suited for sustainable supplier selection. Such a model has the potential to improve the profitability of the organization through supplier selection by simultaneously leveraging and improving all three tiers, namely the economic, social, and environmental outcomes.