Challenges in implementing sustainable supply chain within a collaborative manufacturing network

Collaborative manufacturing networks (CMN) are being adopted by numerous manufacturers as a strategy to reduce production cost, be proactive in satisfying customer demands, increase effectiveness and efficiency and gain worldwide distribution. In this paper, practical limitations and issues associated with current practice in a global supply chain that is involved with collaborative manufacturing activities in sharing their core competence is critically analysed and summarised within six key characteristics. As there is still limited research on addressing inter- or intra-organisational activities within a CMN in promoting economic and environmental practices in supply chain management, a framework of sustainable supply chain management for a CMN is proposed in this paper. Further, this paper aims to address these gaps by introducing this integrated framework for a CMN and help overcome these practical limitations in managing a global supply chain. Finally, this research paper discusses the practical implications and research limitations about this proposed framework.