Sustainable supply chain management modelling study in Turkey textile sector

Following the increase of the industrialization, the production and the consumption rates, the demand for the raw material and the related environmental damage are increasing. This increase is accompanied by environmental problems such as air pollution, global climate change, and water problems. Along with increasing of environmental problems, it has created a debate on whether all these increases in production and consumption can be sustained on national and international platforms. As a result, the importance of sustainability is being emphasized more and more. The emergence of the concept of sustainability in the global sense has been made possible by the report named "Our Common Future" published by the World Commission on Environment and Development in the United Nations in 1987. According to this report, in order to ensure sustainability, it is mentioned that mankind has the ability to be able to sustain development by providing daily necessities without jeopardizing the ability of nature to meet the needs of future generations. The meaning of sustainability in the dictionary is to maintain the ability to be permanent while ensuring the continuity of diversity and productivity. This concept has gained importance in the last decade, especially when the environmental damage in the world has increased too much. Sustainability is one of the most controversial issues in recent years and is in the middle of the triangle of energy, economy and environment. That is why it is an interdisciplinary concept, and this concept is being discussed by a very large community like governments, social scientists, science and natural sciences. The concept of corporate sustainability is; can be defined as the implementation of sustainability activities at the enterprise level. If we adapt the concept of sustainability accepted in the literature to business life. We can define "a firm's ability to meet the needs of its direct and indirect stakeholders without compromising the ability to meet the needs of future direct and indirect stakeholders" (Dyllick and Hockerts, 2002). Today, corporate sustainable development takes its place in the vision of many companies. When we analyse sustainable development's implementation at the institutional level, the concept of supply chain management seems to be important. Supply chain management is the most important point of corporate activities, especially in terms of production companies (Burritt et al., 2011). With the establishment of institutional sustainability in the supply chains, it can be predicted that all layers from local to international will invite them to fulfill their functions by adopting the concept of sustainability. When this understanding starting at the institutions level is set in the global supply chains, it is expected that every country where the chain passes will meet these applications at its own level and adopt a common sense of sustainability at a transnational dimension. Sustainable supply chain management has a multidimensional structure compared to classical supply chain management and is not only profit-focussed. In addition to managing the material, information, and capital flows in the classical supply chain, sustainable supply chain management aims to achieve sustainable development by setting goals for three different dimensions of sustainable development. Within global supply chain competition, supply chains that want to protect their power need to adapt quickly to changes in the marketplace, to the growing sensitivity of consumers, to internationally accepted new policies and changing forms of work (Chopra and Meindl, 2004). Flexible supply chains, green supply chains, agile supply chains and similar concepts have emerged as the result of these changes. It is not possible for institutions to achieve sustainability goals without including suppliers in the process. Consumers and customers now buy products not only by thinking about the brand that is written on them, but also by considering the supply chains that produce and present them (Mahler, 2007). One of the most important sectors in Turkey is textile sector. It's very important ensure the realization of Turkey's economic growth. The textile industry is one of the largest and most important industries in the world in terms of production and labor. The development of textile production, which started with the production of artificial and synthetic fibers in Europe, North America and countries that are considered industrialized, following the first World War, Taiwan, South Korea, has shifted to developing countries, including China and Turkey (Shepherd and Root, 2005). Today, textile and garment industry are considered to be one of the oldest, largest and most globalized industries in the world. This industry is one of the important employment source for Turkey. While this sector is expected to increase its competitive power in international markets, it is demanded that this goal be carried out while minimizing the adverse impacts on the environment and gathering and considering the needs of future generations. In this context, institutional firms have integrated with various regulations such as the recognized environmental management system (ISO 14001), the occupational health and safety management system (OHSAS 18001) and the social responsibility standard (SA8000), and have begun to train their suppliers on these regulations. This research aims to create a holistic structure of Sustainable Supply Chain Management by making use of the information in the Green Supply Chain Management and Social Responsibility literature. A survey made with 233 employees textile manufacturing and retail companies operating in Turkey. For this purpose, explanatory factor analysis was performed for 37 items determined by the questionnaire, and a small number of meaningful and independent factors were obtained. As a result of this analysis, the scale was reduced to a structure consisting of 33 items and 6 factors. After the factors were identified by exploratory factor analysis, the correctness of the determined model was tested by applying a confirmatory factor analysis. As a result, a third order model is determined for sustainable supply chain management in the textile sector in Turkey. The literature sections of the study are as follows: in the first part evaluations were made on the purpose and scope of working, in the second part historical development process of the concept of supply chain management and the differences in the textile sector are evaluated, in the third part, sub-dimensions of sustainable supply chain management are defined by using different studies in the literature.