Supply chains are the backbone of the global economy and a key driver of competitiveness among nations. Thus, governments and businesses are becoming increasingly concerned about minimizing supply chain disruptions, managing its risks, and achieving lasting sustainability. Moreover, the need for investing in advanced technologies for supporting supply chain network satisfying the diverse global demands is constantly increasing due to changing marketplace. That becomes more complicated when the supply side of industries’ supply chains are frequently and increasingly disrupted and are becoming difficult if it is not impossible to achieve sustainability.

In this study, a survey instrument is used to evaluate the supply base sustainability efforts of business organizations in different industries. Supply chain and functional managers in the selected industries were asked to rate the level of control in achieving sustainability when the number of 1st and lower tier suppliers increased for the given list of sustainability elements: Environmental, Economic, Social, and Operational, using a one to ten scale. Overall findings indicate that the higher the number of supply chain partners in Tier 1 and lower tiers, the lower the level of the sustainability scores and hence, the higher the difficulties of maintaining sustainability of the supply chain. Also, Environmental and Social sustainability elements had the lowest score for suppliers in Tier 2 and below. Despite the small sample size of respondents, it is argued that the application of supply base optimization in reducing the number of lower-tier suppliers has a major impact on sustainability initiatives.