Examining sustainability performance in the supply chain: The case of the Greek dairy sector

a r t i c l e i n f o This paper evaluates the sustainability performance of the Greek dairy chain and the performance of its individual members by using key indicators in relation to efficiency, flexibility, responsiveness and product quality. We assessed the importance of these indicators based on the relevant perceptions of key members of this chain. A struc-tured questionnaire was developed where nineteen sustainability-related issues were examined. Two hundred and fifty three members of the Greek dairy supply chain responded including breeders, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and catering companies. Our findings illustrate the immediate need for improvement in many key sustainability performance indicators. They also show the critical role of large dairy manufacturers who are the " sustainability performance champions " in this chain and are the driving force for the implementation of many sustainability initiatives. According to Karmarkar (1996), business and management researchers tend to only examine their principal domain/function, such as marketing, operations, or finance and tend to ignore research inter-dependencies and synergies between their domain/function and others. However, to examine contemporary business and management issues such as business sustainability performance, a cross domain approach is required where separate domains are cross-examined in an integrated and holistic fashion (Chabowski, Mena, & Gonzalez-Padron, 2011). In this work, we examine the integration between the marketing and operations domains. These domains are considered by Karmarkar (1996, p.125) to be a " natural pair " [of functions] due to the fact that operations deal with the production-supply frontier and marketing examines the consumer preference-demand frontier. Such recognition led Malhotra and Sharma (2002) to present a " marketing operations integration framework " noting various integration opportunities between the marketing and operation domains. One of these opportunities relates to firm/organisational performance where they recommend further research in general and with a focus on supply chain issues in particular (Malhotra & Sharma, 2002). Our paper addresses their recommendation by examining the Greek dairy supply chain (SC) which encompasses various industrial, business and end-to-end intermediaries such as breeders, manufacturers, wholesalers , retailers and catering firms. In general, supply chain management (SCM) is at the confluence of many disciplines and it is placed at the core interface between marketing, logistics and operations domains. This view is supported by most marketing, logistics, operations and SCM scholars To this end, SCM is defined as the " integration of key business processes from end user through original …