Implementing sustainability in multi-tier supply chains: Strategies and contingencies in managing sub-suppliers

Wilhelm, Miriam; Blome, Constantin; Wieck, Ellen; Xiao, Chengyong

doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2016.08.006

Cited by 225 publications

(261 citation statements)

References 72 publications

(88 reference statements)

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“…The concept of sustainability is gaining increased global attention in the supply chain of fashion and textiles like the other sectors. Many times it might happen that firms' stakeholders hold the firm as a responsible party for any non-sustainable supply chain activity [21]. Stricter international and local regulations, customer awareness and increased competition are the main driving force behind sustainability [22], [23].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Challenges for Sustainability Marketing Approach: An Empirical Study in Vietnamese Fashion SMEs

Nayak¹,

Nguyen²,

Nguyen³

et al. 2019

IJTEF

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Customers are becoming more concerned about sustainable products while making purchase decisions especially in fashion and textiles. Therefore, large fashion brands are focusing to integrate sustainability concepts, which includes environmental, social and economic aspects into their business strategy and management. Many of the earlier publications focused on large fashion brands and in developed countries. However, there have been limited empirical study to examine the challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in fashion and textiles to apply sustainability concept for their marketing activities. This study investigated the sustainability marketing approaches adopted by the SMEs particularly the fashion boutiques in Vietnam. We found that the fashion boutiques encounter limitations in the sustainable resources such as material and people with adequate knowledge. Furthermore, Vietnamese customers prefer to purchase clothes that are beautiful and wearable; and do not care about the sustainable approaches during the cloth manufacturing. It was also found that the fashion boutiques faced many challenges compared to large fashion brands to get certification on 100% ethical products.Index Terms-Sustainable fashion, sustainable marketing, boutique fashion, small and medium sized enterprise.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Challenges for Sustainability Marketing Approach: An Empirical Study in Vietnamese Fashion SMEs

Nayak¹,

Nguyen²,

Nguyen³

et al. 2019

IJTEF

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show abstract

“…Tachizawa and Wong (2014) proposed four strategies to manage sustainability in multi-tier supply chains-direct, indirect, work with third parties, and don't bother. Meinlschmidt et al (2018) provided evidence for three of these strategies and suggested that buyers use each one depending on the strengths of contextual factors (e.g., stakeholder salience), whereas Wilhelm et al (2016b) identified three factors-supply chain complexity, tier-one suppliers' sustainability capability, and sustainability dimension-that determine when and how buyers use such strategies on their sub-tier suppliers. Grimm et al (2014) identified 14 critical factors that influence the success of sub-suppliers' compliance with sustainability standards, whereas Hofmann et al (2018) revealed key enablers and barriers to implementing supply chain due diligence.…”

Section: Sustainable Supply Chainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the riskiness of lower‐tier suppliers: Managing sustainability in supply networks

Villena

Gioia

2018

J of Ops Management

207

213

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Although multinational companies (MNCs) have increasingly embraced a sustainability strategy for their own operations, fewer have tried to engage their (tier‐one) suppliers in their sustainability initiatives. It is even rarer that MNCs engage their suppliers' suppliers (lower‐tier suppliers), despite the latter having a higher incidence of violations with more acute environmental and social impacts that can jeopardize the MNCs’ operations and reputation. We conducted inductive research on three supply networks in the automotive, electronics, and consumer product/pharmaceutical industries. We collected data on three leading sustainable MNCs and a subset of 9 tier‐one suppliers and 22 lower‐tier suppliers and complemented that information with data on several NGOs and industry organizations. This study (1) reveals that many lower‐tier suppliers address their environmental and labor issues passively and constitute the riskiest suppliers in a supply network; (2) provides a grounded theoretical framework for managing a sustainable supply network that accounts for multiple network members as well as three sustainability dimensions (the 3Ps: profit, people, and planet); and (3) shows how processes MNCs use to manage their suppliers differ from processes these suppliers use with their own (lower‐tier) suppliers. The study reveals the practices that leading sustainable MNCs use to manage their supply networks and provides important future research directions.

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“…Horizontal complexity in particular is a main contingency for the LTSM strategy of focal buying firms (Wilhelm et al, 2016b). Therefore, the following is proposed: P2: The higher a buying firm's structural supply network complexity is, the higher its PSR.…”

Section: Environmental Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We would further like to express our gratitude for the priceless engagement of our colleague and dear friend Betty Bea Cage. lower tier supplier environment (exemptions are e.g., Grimm et al, 2016 andWilhelm et al, 2016b). Thus, this study seeks to develop testable propositions in answering the following research questions: (1) How do buying firms manage their lower tier suppliers for sustainability?…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tackling the sustainability iceberg

Meinlschmidt

Schleper

Foerstl

2018

IJOPM

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Purpose -This article investigates how buying firms manage their lower tier sustainability management (LTSM) in their supply networks and what contextual factors influence the choice of approaches. As most of the environmental and social burden is caused in lower tiers we use the iceberg analogy.Design/methodology/approach -Findings from 12 case studies and 53 interviews, publicly available and internal firm data are presented. In an abductive research approach, Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) conceptually guides the analytical iteration processes between theory and data.Findings -This study provides eight LTSM approaches grouped into three categories: direct (holistic, product-, region-, and event-specific) indirect (multiplier-, alliance-, and compliance-based) and neglect (tier-1-based). Focal firms choose between these approaches depending on the strength of observed contextual factors (stakeholder salience, structural supply network complexity, product and industry salience, past supply network incidents, socio-economic and cultural distance and lower tier supplier dependency), leading to perceived sustainability risk (PSR).Research limitations/implications -By depicting TCE's theoretical boundaries in predicting LTSM governance modes, the theory is elevated to the supply network level of analysis. Future research should investigate LTSM at the purchasing category level of analysis to compare and contrast PSR profiles for different purchase tasks and to validate and extend the framework.Practical implications -This study serves as a blueprint for the development of firms' LTSM capabilities that suit their unique PSR profiles. It offers knowledge regarding what factors influence these profiles and presents a model that links the effectiveness of different LTSM approaches to resource intensity.Originality/value -This study extends the application of TCE and adds empirically to the literature on multi-tier and sustainable supply chain management.

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Implementing sustainability in multi-tier supply chains: Strategies and contingencies in managing sub-suppliers

Cited by 225 publications

References 72 publications

The Challenges for Sustainability Marketing Approach: An Empirical Study in Vietnamese Fashion SMEs

The Challenges for Sustainability Marketing Approach: An Empirical Study in Vietnamese Fashion SMEs

On the riskiness of lower‐tier suppliers: Managing sustainability in supply networks

Tackling the sustainability iceberg

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