Exploring and Mapping the Role of Supply Chain 4.0 Technologies in Promoting Sustainability: A Conceptual Framework

Aligning industrial operations with sustainable development has become a pressing need for organizations, as they recognize the mounting environmental challenges, social inequalities and resources scarcity. The transformations brought by the industry 4.0 have revolutionized supply chain operations to achieve sustainability and circularity. The aim of this chapter is to explore and map the supply chain 4.0 opportunities for sustainability. An extensive literature review of theoretical and empirical studies linking the supply chain 4.0 technologies and sustainability is conducted. Descriptive and content analysis are employed to scrutinize and categorize the knowledge extracted from the literature. Then, a conceptual framework is developed to highlight the role that each technology plays in promoting sustainability and circularity in the context of supply chain. This study provides new perspectives for theoretical researches and guide decision-makers to implement sustainability-based technologies in the supply chain 4.0. Future research can investigate the opportunities of supply chain 5.0 for social sustainability and circular business model.