The Role of Trust and Culture in the Lebanese Supply Chain Food Industry

Aline Al

doi:10.11648/j.jbed.20190403.14

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the role of trust and culture in buyer-supplier relationships by exploring the drivers behind the ethical practices in the Lebanese food industry. Based on the literature review, supply chain management, business ethics, trust, culture and link between them and ethics, were identified as key elements in building a deep literature to be compared with what is found in Lebanon. A theoretical structure is shown, representing the role of trust and culture as a moderator between the drivers that are identified and the ethical practices. The research sample included four managers from four different companies distributed across all Lebanon. The data analysis showed that ethics in Lebanon started to play a vital role in the success of the four companies leading as well to customers’ loyalty. The findings provided support and new results in implementing ethics in the Lebanese food industry.

Highlights

Latest food crises throughout the world have raised some important ethical and legal concerns for nations and health organizations
The main question in this research was to investigate the drivers that can be found in the Lebanese food industry along with their influences in applying ethics whether inside or outside the companies, and to study the role of trust and culture in implementing ethical practices within different companies
The context of the present research aimed to enrich the understanding of different drivers behind ethical practices in the Lebanese food industry

Summary

Introduction

Latest food crises throughout the world have raised some important ethical and legal concerns for nations and health organizations. While studying the implementation of ethics in SCM and in the Buyer/Supplier Relationship, we notice that moral concerns are grown to be a basic area in business behavior and research acts in the subject of organizational and supply chain management. The individualist buyer might consider implementing a balanced performance/trust-oriented strategy with this collectivist supplier in order to achieve the desired price performance It may be more important for buying firms to understand cultural differences when obtaining from suppliers with differing cultural values; buyers frequently find that global sourcing opportunities need seeking the best suppliers consistent with the objectives of the purchasing strategy, many with different cultural values. Source Ganessan [10] Noordewier and al [11] Ganessan [10] Ganessan [10] Doney and al [12] Ganessan [10] Doney and al [12] (Lui, 1998)Lui [13]

Link Between Trust and Ethic

Link Between Culture and Ethical Practices in Supply Chain Management

Application in the Lebanese Food Sector

Conclusion