Implementing sustainable and smart supply chain practices have a great impact on the performance of an organization. In today’s globalized and highly industrialized world, sustainability is recognized as one of the highest priorities of all organizations. Evolution of internet-based technologies, digital platforms and big data analytics have paved the way for redesigning supply chains to be smart, agile, and resilient. Therefore, the implementation of practices related to these two concepts is found to improve the supply chain related organizational performance. This research aims to investigate empirically the impact of these two practices on improving the supply chain organizational performance in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of India. This research considered the dimensions and the variables related to sustainable supply chain and smart supply chain practices in SMEs in India which were not considered in research contributions prior to this. Therefore, this research becomes a unique contribution to the existing body of knowledge. Empirical analysis was carried out on data from 92 SMEs from Telangana State in India, collected using a questionnaire. The directory of SMEs of Government of Telanagana, India was used to select the cluster sample of SMEs as respondents, based on a criterion using exploratory research methodology. SPSS software was used to test the model. Regression and ANOVA were used for this purpose. Findings of this research reveal significant influence of sustainable and smart supply chain (SC) practices on improving SC organizational performance. Additionally, individually each of these practices also have a direct influence on the performance of SMEs. Obtaining responses from the representatives of SMEs was a challenge and limitation of this research while expanding the scope of this research to different geographical regions and clusters will be a topic for further research. The outcomes and results of this research provide significant contribution to the existing body of knowledge by filling the gaps and value-adding to the researchers, academicians, students, policy makers and industry practitioners.

In the era of the digital world, supply chain systems and processes have changed in an unprecedented manner. Digital technologies and AI related applications have impacted the way in which supply chains are operated compared to traditional and linear supply chains in the previous era. Supply chains in this era are able to be agile, resilient and smarter. Some of the drawbacks of linear supply chains are addressed in the modern supply chains with the application of digital technologies. The future of supply chains now lies in focusing on achieving sustainability by leveraging the advantages provided by the technologies. Sustainability has gained increased focus both in the academic discipline as well as among industry practitioners especially after the development of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations. However, most of this development is limited to large scale enterprises and there is a need to improve it in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Startups. In Particular, startups require a lot of support in developing their ecosystem in the initial days of their existence. Two major practices of supply chain are found to impact the entrepreneurial ecosystem of startups. The first one is smart supply chain related practices and the second one is sustainable supply chain related practices. This article focuses on the influence of these practices on the entrepreneurial ecosystem of startups. Both these supply chain practices are found to positively influence the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. An empirical survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire as a survey instrument in 85 pharmaceutical companies in India. The director of SMEs of Telangana state government was used to qualify the startups and SMEs based on different criteria. A total of 220 responses were received from these companies. Convenient cluster sampling technique was used to select the sample size. The responses were analysed using regression and ANOVA through SPSS. It is found that the smart and sustainable supply chain practices can foster the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of startups. The outcomes of this study provide high value-addition to researchers, academicians, students, policy makers, budding entrepreneurs and startup owners and employees.