SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN THE MEAT INDUSTRY IN POLAND

Every type of business is closely related to the flow processes of various types of goods. The flow process begins at the source of raw materials until it reaches the final customer. A corollary to the newly emerging challenges of both social and environmental management of increasingly complex supply chains is the issue of sustainable supply chain management. The meat industry, along with its entire supply chain, is subject to cyclical crises, with different foundations and negative effects on individual links. One of the reasons for the crises in the meat industry is the management of supply chains based primarily on economic objectives to the exclusion of social and environmental aspects. The purpose of the article is to assess the level of sustainable supply chain management in the meat industry. The research problem is to determine the involvement of meat industry companies in the various dimensions of sustainability: economic, social and environmental. Therefore, a special online survey questionnaire was created, where potential respondents representing 93 meat companies were identified and purposely selected. After receiving and verifying the completed questionnaires, 85 completely completed questionnaires were qualified for further analysis and a coding process was carried out using Excel software, then the data was imported into Statistica statistical software, where the main statistical analyses were carried out.