18 Int. J. Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2017 Copyright © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Comparisons of sustainable supply chain management practices in the automotive sector Deepak Mathivathanan* and A. Noorul Haq Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli – 620015, India Email: deepakmathi86@gmail.com Email: anhaq@nitt.edu *Corresponding author Abstract: Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has gained huge attractions in the past decade in both academia and industries. Many developing countries have difficulty in adapting to emerging market trends and realise the need to shift towards sustainable supply chains. Yet SSCM related issues have not been investigated enough regarding different geographical areas. This paper compares SSCM practices focusing on differences in their adoption in differently developed environments. This study attempts to find where differences occur and why they prevail using statistical tools with input from industrial experts in relevant fields. The statistical analysis proved that the geographies are a main reason behind the pattern of adoption of practices due to differences in the scale of industrial development between the compared landscapes. It is found that industries in developed geographical locations find it easier to adopt SSCM practices than those in the developing and under developed geographies. Keywords: sustainable supply chain management; SSCM; SSCM practices; empirical analysis; comparison. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Mathivathanan, D. and Haq, A.N. (2017) ‘Comparisons of sustainable supply chain management practices in the automotive sector’, Int. J. Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp.18–27. Biographical notes: Deepak Mathivathanan is a PhD student doing his research in the area of supply chain management with sustainability concepts in the department of Production engineering, NIT-Tiruchirappalli, India. He received his ME Industrial Engineering degree from National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli and BE Production Engineering degree from Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai. A. Noorul Haq is an Eminent Professor in the Department of Production engineering at National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India. He has served as Dean of Faculty Welfare and served as the Dean-Administration and the Head of the Department, and Deputy Controller of Examinations. He is also the Editor-in-Chief for International Journal of Materials, Manufacturing and Optimization. Currently, he serves as a technical research paper reviewer of over eight international journals. He obtained his PhD in Manufacturing Management at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. His current research interests are sustainable and green supply chain management, optimisation and lean-agile system.