Sustainable Demand Chain Management: An Alternative Perspective for Sustainability in the Supply Chain

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has gained significant attention during the last years due to the increased attention paid to sustainable development targets both at the macro policy levels and at the individual organization levels. However there is a gap in the current SSCM literature that misses the link between demand chain management (DCM) and incorporating sustainability to the supply chain organization. This paper aims to contribute to the literature by offering an alternative perspective to SSCM that takes customer demand into consideration when designing, developing and producing sustainable value propositions which consequently result in competitive advantage. The paper builds up a conceptual framework for sustainable demand chain management (SDCM) and calls for further research on the integration between marketing and SSCM both at the theoretical and empirical levels. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.