Development of a Sustainable Outsourcing Supply Chain Framework within the Food industry

Although 4PL and 5PL providers are getting more and more used to boosting the efficiency of food supply chains (FSCs), there is still no common framework for measuring their sustainability performance. The study fills in this gap by creating a set of performance indicators that consider several aspects at the same time and is specifically designed for food companies. By combining the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) with a multi-objective mathematical model built in Lingo, the study measures the essential compromises between the economic, environmental, and social aspects of outsourcing. Main findings not only point to the fact that mitigation of food wastage, health and safety accreditation as well as transport efficiency are ranked highest among sustainable logistics integration priorities, but they also show that decreases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, overall costs, and lead times can be realised while simultaneously addressing social risks, reducing worker fatigue and maximising end-to-end supply chain visibility. This thesis contributes to sustainable outsourcing discourse by changing the research lens from mere 3PL execution to strategic control of 4PL and 5PL integrators, giving an indicator of where top-level logistics stand in relation to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). On the other hand, for the supply chain decision makers, the Lingo-based tool is a very powerful model for supporting optimisation of provider selection decisions, which is comparable to an extension method for achieving a trade-off among environmental performance and lead-time on one hand and social responsibility and digital transparency on the other hand.