# Support of Advanced Technologies in Supply Chain Processes and Sustainability Impact
## 2 Background
### Supply Chain Sustainability Performance Dimensions  
This section, grounded in the literature review, aims to review a set of performance indicators to analyze the impact of using advanced technologies, in supporting SC processes, on their sustainability. [PERSON] et al. [35] have defined a performance measure as \"a metric used to quantify the efficiency and/or effectiveness of an action\". [PERSON] and [PERSON] [36] have defined indicators as \"pieces of information that summarize the characteristics of a system or highlight what is happening in a dynamic system\" to assess the current state of the system. There are different ways of categorizing indicators such as quantitative and qualitative [37], financial and non-financial [38], absolute and relative [39], or based on their hierarchical focus (strategic, tactical, operational levels) [40]. The sustainability impacts of Industry 4.0 deserve the attention of researchers considering that the previous industrial revolutions resulted in dramatic and somewhat unexpected economic, environmental, and social changes. Despite being at its beginning, the consequences of Industry 4.0 and digital SCs on triple bottom line sustainability (economic, social, and environmental) are expected to be substantial [41]. Moreover, sustainability metrics are directly impacted by technologies' operationalization in processes [42], consequently influencing directly the KPI (Key Performance Indicators) metrics [43]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**SCOR Processes** & **Characterization** \\ \hline Plan & Balances the demand and supply to meet the sourcing, manufacturing and delivering requirements. \\ Source & Includes the procurement activities to acquire goods/services aligning \\  & planned and actual demand. \\ Make & Related to the transformation of products and services to meet planned \\  & and actual orders. \\ Deliver & Comprises the fulfilment of customers’ demand as requested in the \\ Return & Is associated with all reverse movements of goods and services from \\  & customers for any reason. \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Main Processes of supply chain operations reference (SCOR) Model [34]. Sustainability has a rich literature, and academia has made a significant contribution to the conceptualization of its three dimensions: environmental, economic, and social [44]. Environmental sustainability is related to the efforts made to preserve and protect natural resources [45], maintaining the earth's environmental system's equilibrium, the balance of natural resource consumption and replenishment, and ecological integrity [46]. In this context, environmental sustainability performance measures are concerned mainly with the environment, but preserving long-term economic growth and the social resources. Thus, economic growth should not ignore the balance in natural resources, ecosystems, social welfare, and distribution of wealth [47]. Environmental sustainability performance measures essentially expand our common perception of human activity. This makes the connection with the ecological concept of interdependence more clearly, thus defining the limits of use of sustainability to match the overlap of human activities with ecosystem functioning support [48]. Social sustainability of an organization is the way in which it manages its responsibilities towards its social and human capital [49], being concerned with the creation of healthy and livable communities where everyone is protected from discrimination and has access to universal human rights and basic amenities such as security or healthcare [50]. The economic sustainability of an organization outlines the distribution and flow of financial resources among the organization's stakeholders and its impact on the environment and the society [51]. The economic dimension of sustainability performance is quantitative in nature, being focused on the efficient use of resources to achieve a return on investment.