Evaluation of green supply chain performance using balanced scorecard and data envelopment analysis

Environmental pollution and the deterioration of natural resources are now considered significant challenges in human societies. In fact, environmental pollution is mainly caused by manufacturing industries. Most industries (e.g., the cement industry) employ the green supply chain to overcome ecological problems, a goal that requires various techniques for quantifying the environmental impacts on the supply chain to improve processes. This study aimed to evaluate the green supply chain performance at 11 cement manufacturing factories through the hybrid BSC–DEA approach within the 2018–2020 period. After the principal indices were identified and placed in each perspective of the balanced scorecard (BSC), the DEMATEL technique was adopted to determine the relationships of perspectives. The multistage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model was then employed to measure the efficiency of each BSC perspective and the total network efficiency. Finally, reference units were introduced to improve the inefficient units. According to the results, managers focus mainly on the financial section and customers but pay less attention to growth and learning. The organization yielded the best efficiency in 2020 by following an upward trend. The energy consumption rate, clinker–cement ratio, and CO2 emission rate were analyzed in this study to better investigate the environmental problems in the cement industry. Most of the units followed upward trends in both CO2 emission and energy consumption but experienced a downward trend in clinker production.