Sustainable Supply Management (SSM) in emerging economies like India is in the adoption phase. Government, NGOs and other stakeholders are driving sustainable development goals through regulations, pressure and policies. Organizations have started realizing the significance of triple bottom line approach of sustainability which thrusts importance of 3Ps - Profit, People and Planet. Nowadays, suppliers act as the strategic partners for any firm, and they are one of the crucial players to ensure firms success. Buying firms are equally responsible for their suppliers operation in addition to their own operations. Either social or environmental misconduct at any stage of the supply chain will result in reputational loss to the focal firms brand image as well as revenue loss, even though the focal firms are directly not responsible for the breach of socio-environmental factors. Going forward, supplier evaluation is going to be based on not only conventional economic criteria, but will be inclusive of social and environmental factors also. SSM literature lacks empirical evidence of sustainability assessment and its outcomes in an emerging economy like India. In addition to theoretical aspects, managers are keen to know how sustainability assessment more than a compliance agenda, is going to play a long role in the supply management arena and like to understand its outcomes
In this study, we contribute to the existing line of literature based on the research objectives as follows. 1. To operationalize different constructs identified through literature and exploratory research as per Indian context, 2. To develop the conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between the social and environmental sustainability assessment of suppliers on the buying firms purchasing performance along with the buyer supplier relationship and to empirically validate the same, 3. To examine the mediation cause by sourcing analytics between the sustainability practices assessment and the firms purchasing performance and relationship aspects in India.
Regression analysis is used to analyze the relationship between the identified variables. Our study explored the facets of buyer supplier relationship and purchasing performance when sustainable practices are implemented through empirical methods in India and the significant role of analytics in line with sustainable supply management.