Lean–agile–resilience–green practices adoption challenges in sustainable agri‐food supply chains

Abstract

Abstract Supply chain practitioners are striving to improve the performance of agri‐food supply chains (AFSC) due to the lack of understanding of the mutual impacts of lean, agile, resilience, and green (LARG) practices in improving the performance of AFSC. There is a lack of specific methods to assess the power of their subsequent attributes. This paper identifies 12 unique challenges related to the implementation of LARG practices under the context of AFSC. The identification of challenges and the interdependency relationships among the LARG challenges are developed using a multistage approach. The multistage approach is composed of the generalized interval‐valued trapezoidal fuzzy numbers (GIVTFNs), the degree of similarity method, and the decision‐making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The finding of the study indicates that “Lack of understanding between the customer and other stakeholder requirements” and “Lack of transparency and trust” are the most significant challenges in the cause group and are the driving elements for implementing LARG practices. Furthermore, “Lack of competitive advantages” and “Lack of monitoring and auditing the ongoing supply chain activities” fall under the effect category, which are influenced by the cause groups' challenges. The identified challenges can be controlled and handled strategically on a priority basis for successfully implementing LARG practices in the agri‐food industry. The finding of study will help practitioners to overcome the LARG challenges and to improve the overall performance of AFSC.