Self-assessment for SMEs to address operational and environmental performance. : Combining SCOR, SustainableSCOR, and LCA methodologies in the food industry

Sammanfattning: As world population grows, so does the demand for resources exploitation and transformation. This, in turn, has an effect in the increase of the related wastes. Facing these challenges by designing and developing sustainable products and supply chains, processes, operations, and management is becoming increasingly important. From a business point of view, optimization of operational processes and resource management is expected to provide sustainability from economic and environmental perspectives. Often, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) do not have enough knowledge or resources to measure their performance. This thesis investigates which are the most common measurement performance systems to assess separate operational and environmental assessments seeking to develop a combined approach for SMEs. Literature review revealed that SCOR model from an operational perspective, and LCA from an environmental point of view, are the most accepted methodologies for performance measurement.  The aim of this research is to understand the complementariness, benefits, limitations, and challenges of a combined methodology that includes also SustainableSCOR. SustainableSCOR is an application of SCOR model that integrates the efficiency of resources and emissions management. A combined methodology is developed and explained with a qualitative case study for the food industry. As outcome, a structured and flexible approach is presented. This combined approach allows a company to measure the efficiency of its operations and resources managements and wastes throughout a product lifecycle in a sequential manner. Moreover, the company can understand the potential environmental impact of the operational and resources management from a cradle-to-gate approach, breaking down all operations involved into different levels of detail. Although some limitations arise, the combined methodology is of benefit for many types of supply chains and triggers further research to include Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Social Life Cycle (S- LCA) for a more comprehensive analysis of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL).