Conceptual framework and procedure for measuring the sustainable performance of suppliers: Application in the Photovoltaic Technology Installation Market, Northeast-Brazil.
Sustainable performance, Performance measurement, Decision support system, Photovoltaic system suppliers, Structural equation modeling, Supplier selection methods.
Applying the concept of sustainable supply chains with a focus on the actors in the chain
requires considering, for decision making, a scenario that includes multiple factors. These can
be grouped through theoretical constructs applicable to the practices of suppliers and
stakeholders. Through the systematic review of the literature in the area, it is possible to notice
the lack of a model that can measure the sustainable performance of suppliers, which would
give greater support to the interrelationship of the chain actors. Therefore, this research aims to
propose a conceptual framework and procedure for measuring sustainable performance with a
focus on photovoltaic system suppliers, for installation services in the residential or corporate
sectors. For this, a group of companies certified by the Solar Portal Seal in the Northeast –
Brazil was considered, which determined the identification of 35 indicators distributed into 6
latent variables. This system of indicators and latent variables was exposed, through
questionnaires, to the qualifications of entrepreneurs and customers of these companies, which
allowed for modeling through structural equations. The theoretical model achieves statistical
significance in six of the eight hypotheses among the latent variables. From this result, a
supplier selection method was implemented through fuzzy sets – VIKOR. In view of this, the
ranking of evaluated suppliers was defined, which enabled the selection of the best alternative
for a photovoltaic system installation project based on sustainable performance criteria.