Corporate sustainability standards in multi-tier supply chains – an institutional entrepreneurship perspective

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Jörg H. Grimm ◽  
Joerg S. Hofstetter ◽  
Joseph Sarkis
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Sustainability Standards

Sustainability in Business: Integrated Management of Value Creation and Disvalue Mitigation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Beckmann ◽  
Stefan Schaltegger
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Integrated Management ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Positive Contribution ◽  
Planetary Boundaries ◽  
Proactive Management ◽  
Business Cases ◽  
Sustainability Standards

Sustainable development is about meeting the needs of current and future generations while operating in the safe ecological space of planetary boundaries. Against this background, companies can contribute to sustainability in both positive and negative ways. In a world of scarce resources, the positive contribution of businesses is to create value for diverse stakeholders (i.e., goods in the actual sense of good services and things with value) without social shortfalls or ecological overshooting with regard to planetary boundaries. Yet, when value-creation processes cause negative social or ecological externalities, companies create disvalue for current or future stakeholders, thus undermining sustainable development. Sustainability in business therefore aims at the integrative management of value creation and disvalue mitigation. Various institutions, such as sustainability laws as well as quasi-regulatory and voluntary sustainability standards, aim at providing an enabling environment in this regard yet are often insufficient. Corporate sustainability therefore calls for proactive management. Neither value nor disvalue fall from heaven but are rather co-created or caused through the interaction with stakeholders. Transforming from unsustainability to sustainability thus requires transforming the underlying relational arrangements. Here, market and non-market stakeholder relations need to be distinguished. In markets, companies transact with customers, employees, suppliers, and financiers who typically have voluntary exchange relationships with the firm. As a result, stakeholders can use the exit option when the relationship causes them harm. Companies therefore need to know and respect their value-creation partners, their potential contributions, and above all their needs. Sustainability can influence these market relationships in two ways. First, as sustainability addresses environmental, social, and ethical issues that are otherwise often overlooked, sustainability can relate to specific goals and motivations that stakeholders pursue when they care about these matters. Second, sustainability can be linked to transaction-specific particularities. This can be the case when sustainability features lead to information asymmetries, higher transaction costs, or resource dependencies. Non-market relationships, however, can differ in that stakeholders are involuntarily affected by the firm. In many cases, such as environmental pollution, stakeholders like local communities experience disvalue but cannot simply walk away. From a sustainability perspective, giving voice to non-market stakeholders through dialogue and participation is therefore crucial to identify early-on potential issues where companies cause disvalue. Such a proactive dialogue does not necessarily present a constraint that limits value creation in the market. Giving a voice to non-market stakeholders can also help create innovations and mobilize valuable resources such as knowledge, legitimacy, and partnership. The key idea is to find solutions that create value not only for market stakeholders but also for a larger circle, including non-market stakeholders as well. Such stakeholder business cases for sustainability aim at the synergistic integration of value creation and disvalue mitigation.

Exploring the roles of lead organisations in spreading sustainability standards throughout food supply chains in an emerging economy

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Minelle E. Silva ◽  
Gustavo Picanço Dias ◽  
Stefan Gold
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Technical Information ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Cashew Nut ◽  
Sustainability Standards

PurposeThis paper investigates how food supply chains (SCs) introduce sustainability standards (i.e. organic and/or Fair Trade labels). The authors combined the concepts of power and dependence with types of governance mechanisms to analyse for-profit and cooperative organisations. The authors explored nuances of how lead organisations are spreading sustainability standards.Design/methodology/approachFour cashew nut and honey SCs were investigated as case studies in Brazil, with data gathered through 15 interviews, secondary data and field visits. Data were examined through a content analysis process following a combined deductive and inductive approach.FindingsSustainability is spread driven by market pressure, mainly through the diffusion of technical information, either by lead organisations enablers or inter-organisational relations. The authors found that the type and structure of organisations impact the source of power (mediated or non-mediated) and level of mutual dependence between buyer and supplier. For instance, suppliers that hold a strategic position use direct governance mechanisms, which, in turn, lessens the power imbalance in regard to the lead organisation. The authors found in the analysis, a close relation between governance mechanisms and the spread of sustainability, which is ultimately based on strong SC relationships.Practical implicationsBy recognising their role and the contingencies in spreading sustainability standards along the SC, managers of lead organisations can better design their relationships as well as create strategies to increase their supply chain sustainability (SCS) performance.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the underexplored issue of how sustainability standards are spread throughout SCs in Latin America. Also, it shows how different types of SC rely on governance mechanisms that foster SCS.

Applying the science of animal welfare to build more responsible food supply chains: reflections from a corporate sustainability professional.

2021 ◽  
pp. 97-112
Author(s):  
Priya Motupalli
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Animal Production ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Food Company ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Professional Title

Abstract This chapter describes the animal production, welfare conditions, challenges and management improvements of the IKEA Food company in the USA, and the experiences and duties of the author Priya Motupalli while working for the company.

Supply chain corruption practices circumventing sustainability standards: wolves in sheep's clothing

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 1873-1907
Author(s):  
Bruno S. Silvestre ◽  
Fernando Luiz E. Viana ◽  
Marcelo de Sousa Monteiro
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Management ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Sustainable Supply Chain ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sustainability Standards ◽  
Business Corruption

PurposeA growing number of private, voluntary and mandatory sustainability standards have recently emerged. However, supply chain corruption practices as mechanisms to circumvent sustainability standards have also grown and occur regularly. This paper strives to elaborate theory on the intersection of institutional theory, business corruption and the sustainability standards literature by investigating factors that influence the emergence of supply chain corruption practices.Design/methodology/approachBased on secondary data, four in-depth case studies of supply chain corruption practices are investigated through the use of adaptive theory and the method of constant comparisons to elaborate theory on this important phenomenon.FindingsThe paper suggests that although sustainability standards can improve supply chain sustainability performance, if they are adopted only symbolically and not substantively, unanticipated outcomes such as supply chain corruption may occur. The study proposes a typology of supply chain corruption practices, further explores the symbolic adoption of sustainability standards in supply chains and proposes the novel construct of “social isomorphism for corruption.” Since focal companies play central roles in leading supply chain corruption practices, we reason that they can also play a pivotal role in preventing supply chain corruption practices by promoting the substantive adoption of sustainability standards across their supply chains.Originality/valueThis paper elaborates theory on the challenging phenomenon of corruption in supply chains by linking the supply chain management literature to the corruption and the sustainability discourses and offers important insights to aid our understanding on the topic. It generates six propositions and four contributions to the sustainable supply chain management theory, practice and policy.

scholarly journals Sustainability Standards and the Reorganization of Private Label Supply Chains: A Transaction Cost Perspective

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 5272-5288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Banterle ◽  
Stefanella Stranieri
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Transaction Cost ◽  
Private Label ◽  
Sustainability Standards

Institutionalizing Proactive Sustainability Standards in Supply Chains

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg H. Grimm ◽  
Joerg S. Hofstetter ◽  
Martina Müggler ◽  
Nils J. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Sustainability Standards

Axel Springer's sustainability entrepreneurialism in Russian wood supply: just a CSR fad or real change in the makings?

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Nils Peters
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
List Type ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Supply Chain Strategy ◽  
Network Position ◽  
Csr Strategies

Subject area Entrepreneurship, Corporate sustainability, CSR, Supply chain. Study level/applicability Master's courses: Entrepreneurship, Strategic management. Case overview In 2002, potential risks deriving from emerging normative demands in the CSR debate prompted Axel Springer (AS) to rethink their supply chain strategy for Russian wood. Being one of the first movers in CSR in the publishing business, AS realized that current practices could spark future public discussion that might put pressure on AS, a key player in these supply chains. In early 2002, AS and one of their main suppliers, Stora Enso, started a joint initiative to redesign the supply chain processes in two of the major Russian logging regions to improve their social and ecological performance. Sometime later, other major players in the publishing sector as well as critical reviewers from several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were invited to participate in the design of the new voluntary sustainability initiative called “Tikhvin Chalna project”, the second phase of which was accomplished by the end of 2006. Expected learning outcomes Learn that organizations (specifically high-brand owners) are responsible for practices within their entire supply chains (social as well as environmental performance). Explore proactive corporate sustainability, CSR strategies are market but also institutional driven; Strategizing involves forming and transforming the rules, norms and standard models of customers as well as institutions such as NGOs or governmental bodies. Whether the initiator of such strategy is successful in increasing or manipulating demands is dependent on its resources and capabilities as well as on its network position. The case supports students in understanding resources being used to successfully transform or create institutional arrangements. Discover that the value of a business' relationships and its network position. Supplementary materials Teaching note, Video files

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document