Modelling for the Triple-Bottom Line: An investigation of Hybrid Simulation for sustainable development analysis

Addressing issues around sustainable development have become increasingly vital for industries and the initial pragmatic tactic is to devise a systematic approach for improving sustainability across the organization. Modeling & Simulation (M&S) studies have been extensively applied in industries to gain insights into existing or proposed systems of interest. Despite this, the application of M&S to evaluate the often competing metrics associated with sustainable operations management is likely to be a challenge. Our paper presents a comparative analysis of the characteristics of sustainable development against capabilities of M&S techniques in order to adopt the most appropriate technique to analyze sustainable development. Triple Bottom Line (TBL), which is a widely used concept in sustainability and includes environmental, social and economic aspects, is used as a benchmark for assessing this. This paper argues that the hybrid approach leverages the capabilities of individual M&S techniques for better understanding and analyzing complex TBL-based systems.