Publikationen

In today’s business, it is largely acknowledged that sustainability has to be considered in managerial decision making and corporate strategy development. However, many firms still face substantial operational and organizational challenges when striving for a transformation toward sustainability, especially when expanding their efforts toward their supplier base. Framed by the recently emerging theoretical lens of the practice-based view and its extension toward the supply chain practice view, and grounded in recent conceptualizations of sustainable supply chain management, the study at hand elaborates on management practices by which firms can improve the sustainability of their supply chains. Due to its high economic relevance and its exposure to increasing sustainability requirements, the chemical process industry is chosen as the empirical research field. Qualitative case study research identifies intra- and inter-organizational practices that are important to achieve and improve supply chain sustainability. A framework that conceptualizes sustainability practices and their implementation prerequisites and performance impacts is derived from interviews with key informants from German chemical manufacturers. This paper contributes to the state-of-the-art of sustainability diffusion in particular through its distinct focus on imitable practices that are easily transferable between companies and hence may help in transforming entire industry sectors toward sustainability.

The distinct definition of accordance in the perceived barriers and enablers for sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) policy implementation has been the subject of various research studies, but a distinct focus on the textile sector has been the object of limited previous attention. However, it has been found that it affects the approach to developments in company approaches to sustainable supply chain management within that industry. This article presents the results of an in-depth comparative case study analysis, drawing on 23 interviews with managers of 10 companies from the textile industry. The analysis demonstrates that specific modes of collaboration can both enable an effective SSCM and diminish barriers for policy implementation. The width and depth varies between a collaborative management approach for an effective internal SSCM versus industry collaboration and buyer supplier collaboration to address external barriers and enablers.