Conference Agenda

Despite intensifying environmental sustainability pressures, industrial firms continue to face challenges in embedding sustainability-oriented practices within their supply chain and logistics operations and translating them into tangible competitive and performance gains. Although Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) is increasingly adopted as a strategic response, its operational effectiveness in generating sustained competitive advantage and improving organizational performance remains insufficiently understood within emerging economies. This study addresses this gap by examining the direct and mediated relationships between SSCM practices, competitive advantage, and organizational performance in Ethiopian manufacturing firms, with a focus on key sustainable supply chain mechanisms, including environmental conservation, supplier collaboration, logistics optimization, green product design ensured with green warehousing, and material reuse. A quantitative research design was employed using survey data collected from 221 managers and supervisors through structured questionnaires. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS 4.0 was applied to assess both measurement and structural models. The measurement model demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity, with all factor loadings exceeding 0.70, composite reliability values above 0.80, and average variance extracted (AVE) values above 0.50. The structural model results revealed that SSCM practices have a significant positive effect on competitive advantage (β = 0.702, p < 0.05) and organizational performance (β = 0.301, p < 0.05). Competitive advantage also exhibited a strong positive influence on organizational performance (β = 0.331, p < 0.05). Mediation analysis using bootstrapping confirmed that competitive advantage partially mediates the relationship between SSCM and organizational performance, indicating both direct and indirect effects of SSCM on performance outcomes. The model further demonstrated satisfactory explanatory power (R² = 0.493 for competitive advantage and R² = 0.536 for organizational performance). From a theoretical standpoint, the findings extend the Resource-Based View (RBV) by empirically validating SSCM practices (logistics optimization, supplier collaboration, material reuse, and green product design ensured with green warehousing) as eco-centric supply chain capabilities that serve as strategic drivers of competitive advantage within an underexplored emerging economy context. Practically, the study provides actionable insights for supply chain professionals, demonstrating how operationalizing logistics optimization, collaborative supplier management, green warehousing, and reuse of materials serves as a critical mechanism to drive superior competitive positioning and organizational outcomes.