Providing a model of resource management in sustainable supply chain in the selected industries with a comparative approach of K-mean methods, principal component analysis and random forests

Resource management is one of the most important practices in sustainability. Resource management, due to the scarcity of resources, requires attention and scientific-based organizing. Manufacturing industries are among the largest centers of resource consumption, especially natural resources. Therefore, different industries need to be committed to the principles of sustainable development in meeting their needs. Hence, the purpose of this study is to provide a model of resource management in sustainable supply chain in the selected industries. To do so, first, resource management indicators in the sustainable supply chain have been identified based on the previous studies and the experts’ opinions, and then, a model of indicators have provided in order to show their importance in the different industry by applying three methods of K-average, principal component analysis and random forests. In order to gather data, a survey-based questionnaire is used. The results demonstrate that environmental management and cross-functional cooperation indicators in the automotive industry are the most important indicators. In ceramic tile industry, social issues and human resource management indicators are important but, in the steel industry, social issues and environmental management indicators were important. In the foodstuffs industry, quality management, cross-functional cooperation indicators and human resource management have great importance. In addition, in the textile industry, the quality management indicator was the most important one. The results obtained from the various industries provide practical suggestions for prioritizing improvement practices for resource utilization for having sustainable supply chain.