Abstract
Much of the existing literature on the social aspects of sustainability in the supply chain has focused on dyadic buyer-supplier relationships. However, supply chains are much more extensive, featuring multi-tiered systems consisting of many interconnected sequential and parallel dyadic relationships; therefore, a more expansive and holistic approach to exploring the management and integration of social sustainability standards across the extended supply chain is desirable. This research attempts to help fill this void and considers the extent to which a series of sequential upstream and downstream supply chain partners, rather than only a focal organization’s immediate suppliers and buyers, influence the formulation process of the social aspects of a sustainability strategy and the deployment of associated practices across the extended supply chain. Findings in the literature indicate that, inter alia, sustainability efforts in the supply chain are likely to be guided by stakeholders’ sustainability desires/requirements, the geographical location of buyers and suppliers and the associated sustainability enforcement regulations and cultural norms, and the volume of trade between the buyer and supplier. This paper uses the results gleaned from a review of the literature to propose a conceptual framework for selection of sustainability strategy across the multi-tiered supply chain. Finally, we introduce a conceptual approach to the process of implementing and deploying the social aspects of sustainability strategies and practices across the supply chain using an integrated social-sustainability information management system (ISIMS).
Highlights
Sustainability has become a major focus of businesses as they seek to prolong the lives of their organizations
The social dimension of sustainability in this research is primarily concerned with ensuring that organizations and their partners across the supply chain manage their operations in a way that promotes: health and safety, a supportive working environment, human rights standards, labor rights, and measures aimed at improving ethical practices at the workplace [4,5,6,7], while having a positive impact on the surrounding community along the supply chain
The social dimension of sustainability across the supply chain is primarily concerned with ensuring that supply chain partners manage their operations in a way that promotes: health and safety, a supportive working environment, human rights standards, labor rights, and measures aimed at improving ethical practices at the workplace [4,5,6,7], while having a positive impact on the surrounding community along the supply chain
Summary
Sustainability has become a major focus of businesses as they seek to prolong the lives of their organizations. Factors such as the geographical dispersion of suppliers, the location of suppliers and customers (in developing or developed countries), the influential power of buyers, and the pressure exerted by different stakeholder groups [2,3,6,8,9,20,22,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41] are considered to be important These factors must be taken into account when organizations seek to implement successful and effective sustainability strategies and to promote the social aspects across the operations of their supply chain partners. Most research on extending the social aspects of sustainability across the supply chain has attempted to focus on the different practices adopted by business organizations to ensure their immediate suppliers’ and customers’ compliance. We introduce a conceptual approach to implementing and deploying the social aspects of sustainability across the supply chain using an integrated social-sustainability information management system (ISIMS)
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