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The topic of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) implementation in a supply chain context is an emerging research stream comprising of diverse objectives and complex processes thereby presenting opportunities for further exploration and organizational process improvement. Thus, this study proposes an integrated multi-criteria decision-making methodology to determine what can facilitate the successful implementation of LSS as an organizational change strategy in the manufacturing supply chain.

The proposed methodology based on Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory and hierarchical Evaluation Based on Distance to Average Solution is employed to ascertain the relative importance and priorities of an identified framework of factors with the aid of opinions of managers in the Nigerian plastics industry.

The results show a high significance of institution-based factors (e.g. government regulations) and present relevant implications to the policymakers as well as the managers and practitioners of the plastics manufacturing industry.

This study indicates a possible pathway to accurately evaluate a framework of critical factors to integrate and institutionalize LSS in the manufacturing supply chain for organizational performance improvement.

Sustainability trends have changed the modus operandi in businesses even as the market environment becomes more socially conscious. However, relatively little research has been conducted on integrating social sustainability aspects with a focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR) into the selection of suppliers in the service sector, particularly the banking industry. In this paper, this study aims to propose a CSR decision support methodology to evaluate and prioritize socially responsible suppliers.

A novel integrated decision support methodology composed of Shannon Entropy and TOmada de Decisão Interativa e Multicritério (TODIM) methods is introduced. The Shannon-Entropy approach is used to estimate CSR factor weights, and TODIM is used to rank the suppliers, with the process completed in a group decision setting.

A Nigerian bank was used as a case study to test and show the usefulness of the CSR-based decision framework in evaluating and selecting socially responsible suppliers. The results show the topmost ranked suppliers that are recommended for future negotiations by the case (bank). The study will enable banks to select socially responsible suppliers, which could accelerate the attainment of sustainability objectives, protect their reputations and improve competitiveness.

This study pioneers the application of a novel decision methodology based on Shannon Entropy and TODIM in selecting socially sustainable suppliers in the Banking sector of an African emerging economy-Nigeria.

Globally, supply chains compete in a complex and rapidly changing environment. Hence, sustainable supplier selection has become a decisive variable in the firm’s financial success. This requires reliable tools and techniques to enhance understanding on how supplier behavior evolves with time and to select the best sustainable supplier. System dynamics (SD) is an approach to investigate the dynamic behavior in which the system alterations correspond to the system variable changes. Fuzzy logic usually solves the challenges of imprecise data and ambiguous human judgment. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This work presents a novel modeling approach for integrating information on supplier behavior in fuzzy environment with SD simulation modeling technique. This results in a more reliable and responsible decision-support system. Supplier behavior with respect to relevant sustainability criteria were sourced through expert interviews and simulated in Vensim to select the best possible sustainable supplier. The simulation runs were carried out in four scenarios, namely, past, current, future and average time horizon for four different suppliers. A multi-criteria decision-making model was presented to compare results from the systems dynamics model.

An increase in the rate of investment in sustainability by the different suppliers causes an exponential increase in total sustainability performance of the suppliers. The growth rate of the total performance of suppliers outruns their rate of investment in sustainability after about 12 months.

While a significant work exists regarding supplier selection, little work has been found that investigates how to insure sustainable suppliers maintain their status for a long period of time.