Sustainable planning strategies in supply chain systems: proposal and applications with a real case study in fashion

Abstract

Pollution generated by the fashion industry drives people to pay attention to fashion companies’ sustainability practice. This increase in attention has induced vast literature studying the related area. Since the fashion apparel supply chain is complicated which involves a lot of interrelated steps and decisions, how fashion companies can identify the demand in sustainable fashion and make the right decision in resource allocation throughout the supply chain becomes a critical issue. As a result, this paper examines how a fashion company can develop a successful sustainable planning strategy throughout the sustainable fashion supply chain. The sustainability attributes and the sustainable planning strategy mechanism are also discussed. Based on the institutional theory and resource-based theory, we first analyse the external pressure and internal motivations for companies to adopt a sustainable planning strategy in the fashion supply chain. We then identify the core stakeholders related to the sustainable planning strategy and propose how the decision-making theory can help develop the sustainable supply chain management mechanism. Next, we establish a sustainable planning strategy framework. Finally, via a case study with public data on the fashion giant brand Nike, we explore the application of our proposed sustainable planning strategy framework. The finding suggests that the strategic planning of fashion companies on sustainability can improve the performance of the stakeholders throughout the whole sustainable fashion supply chain.     

社会责任环境下供应链的协作与利润分享策略研究

在企业社会责任环境下,研究了由一个供应商和一个制造商组成的两层供应链的协作、定价及其利润分享问题.分别研究了Nash均衡、Stackelberg均衡和合作博弈情况下,制造商与供应商的均衡结果和系统利润,并设计一简单的收入分享契约,该利润分享契约可以实现供应链的帕雷托改进,甚至达到集中式供应链的情形.最后给出了算例分析.     

考虑社会责任的供应链定价与碳减排决策

由于企业社会责任对供应链的可持续发展具有重要影响，所以，针对考虑企业社会责任的供应链管理进行深入研究是十分必要的。在碳总量控制与交易制度下，针对由一个制造商和一个零售商组成的二级供应链，分别分析零售商、制造商领导情形下供应链成员的定价和碳减排决策，并着重探讨零售商的社会（福利）责任关注行为、低碳技术投资效率和消费者环保意识对企业决策和利润（效用）、总消费者剩余以及社会福利的影响。研究表明：零售价格、碳减排水平以及产品销售量可能随着零售商的社会（福利）责任关注度的提高而同时增加；在零售商领导型供应链中，零售商利润的增加并不总是依赖于低碳技术投资效率（消费者环保意识）的提高；在制造商领导型供应链中，零售商的社会责任关注度的提高可使制造商和零售商同时获益，且制造商可能存在先动劣势。     

Sustainable supply chain management in the fast fashion industry: An analysis of corporate reports

In recent decades, the fast fashion industry has been characterized by widespread operations across both developing and developed countries. Due to the economic, social and environmental problems in developing countries, companies increasingly focus on sustainability and try to ensure the same quality and standards in working and production conditions throughout their supply chains. Although the tension in the exchange of resources between developing and developed countries lies at the heart of current sustainability activities, what these companies are actually doing to manage their supply chain has not yet been explored in depth in the literature. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Seuring and Müller (2008), the current study attempts to fill this void by conceptually mapping the current situation of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in the fast fashion industry by analysing reports from 9 companies that use the same reporting guidelines. The results of the study reveal that these companies focus significantly on supplier compliance with their code of conduct, employing further monitoring and auditing activities to prevent production problems in developing countries, improve overall supply chain performance and set sustainability criteria for their suppliers.     

Strategic approaches to sustainability in fashion supply chain management

Today, the sustainability challenge has become a relevant issue in the fashion industry. However, given that the request for sustainability is relatively new in this industry, empirical research that could guide companies towards supply chain sustainability is lacking. This study aims to deepen the understanding of the main strategic approaches to sustainability used in fashion supply chain management (SCM). Ten case studies were examined in terms of the practices that characterise these approaches. Moreover, contextual factors, drivers and barriers that support or hinder different approaches were identified. To accomplish this goal, both environmental sustainability and social sustainability were investigated, and all the areas of fashion SCM (i.e. new product development, source, make, deliver, retail, return, governance) were considered simultaneously to offer a wide overview of this industry’s sustainability issue.     

An integrative approach to assess environmental and economic sustainability in multi-tier supply chains

Abstract

Multi-tier supply chain sustainability is paramount to achieve corporate sustainability, due to the significant impacts from organisations beyond the focal firm boundaries and its direct suppliers. However, including environmental considerations within the dominant profit-centric logic of supply chain related decisions is prone to generate sustainability tensions. This work aims to support organisations address tensions between sustainability dimensions by adopting an integrative approach for sustainable supply chain management performance assessment thanks to an innovative eco-intensity based performance assessment method, which achieves a balanced consideration of environmental and economic performance in a weak sustainability perspective. The method, using primary data sourced from actual practice and featuring an indirect multi-tier approach with decentralised responsibilities across organisations, is applied to a case study of a machinery supply chain. The proposed integrative approach can support addressing sustainability tensions in the area of sustainable supply chain management, facilitate sustainable supplier evaluation and identify supply chain hotspots for operational improvement.     

Doing Well by Reporting Good: Reporting Corporate Responsibility and Corporate Performance

This article aimed to examine the impacts of reporting‐type corporate responsibility activities (CRA‐R) on corporate social and financial performance. Academic research has explored how varying attributes of markets, industry sectors and firms might shape corporate social and financial performance, but includes little effort to examine the impacts of different kinds of CRA on corporate performance. We build on debate about the value of firms' reporting activities related to corporate responsibility. Recent literature suggests that CRA‐R is superficial marketing or “greenwashing.” Despite this viewpoint, corporate reporting activities related to responsibility are rising. In order to solve this puzzle, this article explores the impact of CRA‐R on corporate performance. First, drawing from the institutional perspective, we propose that CRA‐R will positively impact corporate social performance (CSP) oriented toward secondary stakeholders. Second, combining the stakeholder–agency perspective and corporate responsibility literature, we motivate the hypotheses that CRA‐R positively influences corporate financial performance (CFP). Empirical testing with a unique dataset of large US corporations selected in the Fortune 500 support the proposed hypotheses. In particular, both corporate social responsibility and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) activities positively influence corporate environmental performance, and financial performance. In particular, GRI reporting is a strong indicator to impact both social and financial performance. Our findings indicate that CRA‐R should not simply reflect shallow motivations, but deliver value to noninvestor stakeholders as well as investors.     

考虑政府补贴与企业社会责任的两级供应链优化

企业社会责任问题日益受到管理者和研究者关注。研究随机需求下由一个供应商与一个零售商组成的分散式供应链，探讨政府补贴对供应链最优生产与社会责任投入决策的影响，并比较分析了分别由供应商与零售商主导下供应链的运作效率。结果表明，在集中式供应链中价格弹性对采购数量和企业社会责任总投入量的影响更为显著；而在分散式供应链中加入政府补贴因素，会使总收益呈现出倒U形的发展趋势，且零售商主导的分散式供应链会因政府补贴的减少表现出迅速下降的趋势；此外增加政府补贴，会使得供应商主导的分散式供应链中的供应商降低其企业社会责任投入，但对于零售商主导的分散式供应链的影响却不大。     

A pathway towards true sustainability: A recognition foundation of sustainable supply chain management

Sustainable supply chain management has developed at an exponential rate into a distinct research field, but its progress towards sustainability is rather modest, and a coherent theoretical foundation for guiding companies towards a stronger integration of sustainability into their operations and supply chains is still missing. This article outlines how the tradition of critical management studies could foster higher levels of sustainable business and sustainable supply chains. We argue that the underlying instrumental logic of contemporary corporate engagement with sustainability, driven by stakeholder pressures, is a key obstacle when aiming for ‘truly’ sustainable supply chains. Referring to a recognition perspective may dissolve the reified pursuit of profit-seeking and other merely economic performance targets to recall the genuine—and in its essence truly radical—claim that the concept of sustainable development is inherently a normative one imposed on all of us. Recognition may lead the way for companies to adopt a caring stance for people and the surrounding environment and to respond to the legitimate expectations of all groups in society while conceiving themselves as an integral part of such a society. We conclude by discussing how far the theoretical perspective of recognition is enrooted in the European tradition of institutionalised business–society relationships and therefore could be seen as a rediscovery of a genuinely European way of making business and managing supply chains.     

社会控制与供应链绩效的相互作用关系探讨——以依赖及供应链整合为中介

供应链各节点企业彼此相互依赖，这种依赖关系如何为管理者所利用，并借助适当的关系治理来促进互惠互利的依赖关系的建立，进而提升供应链整体竞争力具有重要的战略意义。本文拟以社会控制机制和依赖为切入点，探讨其与供应链整合和供应链绩效的深层作用机理，并进而运用结构方程模型（SEM）对社会控制、依赖和供应链整合对绩效的作用路径进行实践模拟。实证结果表明，1）社会控制对依赖、供应链整合和供应链绩效有显著的正向促进作用；2）依赖在社会控制对供应链整合的作用关系中起着不完全的中介作用，且间接作用大于直接作用；3）社会控制可以通过依赖、供应链整合及二者的因果关系间接作用于供应链绩效，但是依赖的中介效应最大（44%），依赖和供应链整合的因果关系中介效应次之（37%），整合的中介效应最小（19%）；4）规模对社会控制/依赖与供应链整合/供应链绩效的作用关系具有调节效应。     

Corporate governance and management practices: stakeholder involvement, quality and sustainability tools adoption

Local public services are the field in which New Public Management (NPM) and Public Governance issues are most in evidence. The local public services are characterized by the rethinking of the role played by local government in the provision of services. An evolution has taken place. From a traditional configuration in which local public services were managed by local governments they moved to a configuration where a separation has taken place between the local government role (which continues to be the guarantor of the satisfaction of public needs) and the role of local public utilities (LPUs) (responsible for delivering the services). This transformation implies both the delegation of resources and authority to lower organisational levels within the public sector and the reconfiguration of accountability chains between the state institutions and the society. In recent years, an intense debate has developed regarding the introduction of new tools and control systems. Particular attention has been paid to planning and control systems, human resources management systems, and performance management systems, leaving a few pioneers to develop their analysis on corporate governance mechanisms with regard their relationships with both the external (stakeholders) actors and the internal (management) ones. On one hand, the OECD wrote guidelines in order to ensure good corporate governance practices, focusing on relations with stakeholders. On the other hand, the dialogue between corporate governance and stakeholders has been already tackled by a number of International organizations guidelines or principles, following a debate on corporate governance that has progressively combined a stakeholder perspective with a more classic shareholder-maximizing model of governance. This article contributes to the debate on the stakeholder involvement process. By means of both a theoretical discussion and an empirical research conducted on 37 Italian LPUs, this paper attempts to analyse specific management tools which can be used to improve the quality of corporate governance in LPUs, by extending the stakeholder involvement. Some NPM’s tools, such as quality standards and sustainability tools imply an effort to offer new forms of organizational behaviour in the decision-making processes (i.e. the choice of the performance indicators and the reporting tools) and to create a dialogue between the enterprise and its stakeholders. In particular, in our study we focus on the adoption of quality standards (ISO 9000 and Customer Satisfaction) and sustainability tools (sustainability reports and ISO 14000 standard) as NPM’s tools to facilitate the stakeholder involvement practices.     

不同权力结构下供应链企业社会责任激励

本文以单个供应商和单个零售商组成的两级供应链为对象，假设仅考虑供应商对产品安全方面的社会责任，研究了在供应商主导和零售商主导两种权力配置模式下，供应商履行社会责任程度的差异，以及如何在供应商和零售商间建立合理的契约以激励供应商社会责任的履行。研究发现，相对供应商主导，在零售商主导下供应商会更多地履行社会责任。引入收入共享的事后契约和成本共担的事前契约后，在供应商主导下，两种契约在一定条件下均能有效地激励供应商更好地履行社会责任，但在留存比例与分担比例相等的条件下，成本共担契约的激励效应更强。在零售商主导下，收入共享契约虽能激励供应商的社会责任履行，但因导致零售商的利润下降，故无法达成，而成本共担契约只有在分担足够大时才有激励效应。     

CSR as Value Attunement within Governance Processes: Stakeholder Dialogue,Corporate Principles and Regulation

I argue that a governance perspective on corporate social responsibility (CSR) makes it possible to explain why the concept will always be under‐defined, is normative and thus political by nature, and is and should be difficult to measure. The perspective also makes it possible to understand the interaction between corporate values and stakeholders values. In processes of dialogue within governance systems and governance structures, changing insights into the principles of CSR can lead to regulation or its adjustment. Power is important in these dialogues. Principles are at least partly shaped within governance systems and governance structures, and they influence the outcomes of corporate policies. Changes within the regulatory framework could also lead to changes in the principles of CSR. Value attunement processes could lead to regulation, which again influences the governance structures and thus the power of stakeholders within the dialogue. The theoretical model provided helps to analyze why CSR is different in companies, cultures and academic traditions.     

制度环境、公司治理对企业竞争优势的影响研究——基于中国上市公司的经验证据

如何通过外部制度和内部制度的安排延续企业的竞争优势,是制度变迁背景下中国企业面临的核心问题.本文以2002年-2005年的中国上市公司为样本,基于国内地区差距,实证分析了制度环境和公司治理时企业竞争优势的影响.回归结果发现,政府支持市场化程度、经济法律环境水平、股权集中度、股权竞争度、董事会独立性、专业委员会设置程度以及股东参与决策程度与企业竞争优势显著正相关.研究结果表明,好的制度环境与有效的公司治理能提高企业的竞争优势;企业持续竞争优势的源泉应包含以政府为主体的宏观层次的制度竞争和以企业为主体的微观层次的公司治理竞争.     

内外部碳配额交易路径下供应链减排决策研究

供应链内外部碳配额交易是碳配额政策下供应链协调碳配额的重要途径,对供应链成员企业碳减排决策产生重要影响。本文以单供应商和单制造商组成的二级供应链为研究对象,在完善的碳配额交易市场情况下,通过构建供应链外部碳交易路径和内外部碳配额交易路径共存的博弈模型,分析了碳配额政策下内外部碳配额交易条件、企业减排策略和利润影响因素。研究结果表明,在外部碳交易路径下,供应链上、下游企业的减排决策相互影响,且当单位碳排放量和碳减排成本系数相等时,上游企业碳减排率是下游企业的两倍;同时进行内外部碳配额交易能降低中间产品批发价格,提高供应链成员企业碳减排率、增加企业利润。算例验证了结论的有效性,并发现企业碳配额和内部碳交易价格在一定区间内才能使内部碳交易达成,此时制造商会分担供应商的碳减排费用。     

供应链治理机制与供应链绩效之间的相互作用关系——基于信息共享的中介效应和信息技术水平的调节效应

本文构建起了供应链治理机制与供应链绩效之间的相互作用关系理论模型，并进而对信息共享在其中所起的中介效应及信息技术水平在其中所起着的调节效应进行剖析。以380份来自于供应链相关岗位的中高层管理人员及技术人员的问卷作为样本，利用结构方程模型对社会控制、正式控制、信息技术水平、信息共享及供应链绩效之间的相关关系进行实证研究。研究结果表明：（1）社会控制对信息共享及供应链绩效均产生正向影响，信息共享对供应链绩效也产生正向影响；而正式控制则对信息共享产生显著的负向作用关系，且其对供应链绩效的作用关系并不显著；（2）信息共享在社会控制和供应链绩效之间的作用关系中起着部分中介的作用，但其在正式控制-供应链绩效间的中介作用则并不显著；（3）信息技术水平对于社会控制-信息共享和正式控制-信息共享间的关系具有调节效应。     

Connecting the Dots: Do Financial Analysts Help Corporate Boards Improve Corporate Social Responsibility?

This paper presents an examination of the joint impact of board structural elements at firm level and financial analysts as market-level corporate governance (CG) on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. Our study contributes to the CG–CSR literature by adopting the bundling approach, a perspective that has recently attracted researchers’ attention as an answer to any heterogeneity and fragmentation in existing findings. It is based on an extensive sample consisting of 7,739 firm-year observations of US firms for the 2006–2015 period. The findings suggest that financial analysts complement the corporate board with more independence, gender diversity and a specialized CSR committee to realize a certain level of CSR performance of a firm. The findings also indicate that analysts substitute for those internal governance factors that are associated with weaker boards – larger sizes and dual-role CEOs. We also draw implications for research and practice from our findings.     

Consequences of Collaborative Governance in CSR: An Empirical Illustration of Strategic Responses to Institutional Pluralism and Some Theoretical Implications

Collaborative governance (CG) is becoming the common currency of decision‐making, able to surmount existing institutional constraints to effectively address challenges related to sustainability and social and environmental corporate behavior. CG approaches may however result in institutional complexity. As an illustration of CG in the domain of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the ISO 26000 standard is a legitimate point of reference for organizations worldwide. The standard represents a pluralistic institutional logic that resonates several tensions arising from the domain it tries to standardize, the nature of its development process, its interpretation of CSR and the type of standard it represents. This article aims to identify and examine strategic responses to ISO 26000 by various standards‐related organizations (including national standardization institutes, certification organizations, and service providers) and to contribute to the understanding of strategic responses of organizations to pluralistic institutional logics that result from CG.     

Responding to discontinuities in product-based service supply chains in the COVID-19 pandemic: Towards transilience

PurposeIn this study, we identify and characterise how organisations have responded, in ways ranging from restoration to radical change, to discontinuities in their product-based service (PBS) supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachFollowing a theoretical approach that integrates transilience and panarchy theory as a response strategy in PBS supply chains, our qualitative study involved collecting data through 19 semi-structured interviews at six manufacturing firms during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., March to August 2020) and triangulating the findings with the secondary data and that from an industry workshop. Following an inductive approach, we performed thematic data analysis in Nvivo software package.FindingsThe findings suggest characterising discontinuities in PBS supply chains as unmanageable external supply-side, demand-side or interactional discontinuities or other manageable deliberate or forced organisational discontinuities. Following that characterisation, we developed a conceptual framework combing both resilience and transformation into new service opportunities.Research limitations/implicationsWe gained insights into the first-response abilities and ways of coping among manufacturing firms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though our findings capture a contemporary, eye-of-the-storm perspective on future directions, a longitudinal study on the pandemic could further validate and extend the modes of response that complement mitigation with the ability to accelerate change or innovation of internal process or external service offerings.Originality/valueCombining current literature with lessons learned from the firms' immediate responses, this paper's overview and characterisation of discontinuities following the COVID-19 outbreak in PBS supply chains demonstrate how manufacturing firms can foster transilience. As such, it integrates product-based supply chain discontinuities into the domain of service-based supply chains.