# Support of Advanced Technologies in Supply Chain Processes and Sustainability Impact
## 5 Analysis and Discussion of Results
### Key Performance Indicators to Assess the Level of Sustainability of SC4.0  
The key performance indicators (KPIs) used in this study, by sustainability dimensions, are:  
Economic sustainability:  
EC1--\"Total annual amount of wages and benefits given to employees by an organization\"; EC2--\"Total annual operating costs of an organization\"; EC3--\"Percentage of procurement budget spent on local suppliers\"; EC4--\"Total annual sustainability expenditure by an organization\"; EC5--\"Total annual sales/revenues of the organization\"; Social sustainability:  
S1--\"Total annual number of employees in an organization\"; S2--\"Total annual number of female employees in an organization\"; S3--\"Total number of employees' turnover\"; S4--\"Total number of employees given training in an organization\"; S5--\"Total number of incidents of consumer complaints\"; Environmental sustainability:  
E1--\"Total annual renewable energy consumption of an organization\"; E2--\"Total annual volume of water recycled/reused by organization\"; E3--\"Total annual amount of direct GHGs emissions by an organization\"; E4--\"Total annual amount of ozone--depleting substances by an organization\"; E5--\"Waste reduction\"; E6--\"Total annual amount of hazardous waste generated by an organization\"; E7--\"Percentage of supplier's subject to sustainability assessment\"; E8--\"Percentage of local/national/provincial suppliers of an organization\".  
Figure 6: Conceptual model updated with the results achieved.  
As can be seen in the Figure 7, for the research companies the performance indicators considered as more suitable to assess the performance of a Supply Chain 4.0 in terms of economic sustainability are the following two: \"Total annual operating costs of an organization\" (EC2) and \"Total annual sales/revenues of the organization\" (EC5). Less suitable is the \"Percentage of procurement budget spent on local suppliers\" (EC3).  
Regarding social sustainability, the indicator identified by a higher number of companies as extremely suitable for assessing the performance of a sustainable SC 4.0 is the \"Total number of incidents of consumer complaints\" (S5). The indicator considered not suitable for assessing the social sustainability of SC 4.0 is the \"Total number of employees' turnover\" (S3), but it was only identified by one company, and therefore without much reliability.  
Concerning the environmental indicators, the two identified as extremely suitable to assess the environmental sustainability of SC 4.0 by four of our sample companies are the \"Total annual renewable energy consumption of an organization\" (E1) and \"Waste reduction\" (E5). Contrary, two of the indicators were considered as slightly suitable by two sample companies: \"Total annual amount of hazardous waste generated by an organization\" (E6) and \"Percentage of supplier's subject to sustainability assessment\" (E7).  
From all the indicators, there are four considered by most of the companies as moderately suitable for assessing the sustainability performance of SC 4.0.: \"Total annual amount of wages and benefits given to employees by an organization\" (EC1); \"Total annual number of employees in an organization.\" (S1); \"Total number of incidents of consumer complaints\" (S5); and \"Total annual renewable energy consumption of an organization\" (E1).  
Figure 7: Key performance indicators to assess the sustainability of SC4.0.