Corporate Social Responsibility in Supply Chains The Impact in Global Supply Chains - Literature review Example

Corporate Social Responsibility in Supply Chains –The Impact in Global Supply Chains Insert your name here Insert Grade Course Insert Tutor’s Name Data of submission 1.0. Introduction Corporate social responsibility and supply chains are areas of increasing strategic significance as due to global outsourcing and competition. It is for this reason that management attention is shifting from competition between companies to competition between supply chains. As this issue gain momentum, studies have been concerned with corporate social responsibility in supply chain, taking case study of their impacts in the context of global supply chains (Lund-Thomsen and Lindgreen 2014). The ability to establish close as well as long-term global relationship among global company requires that there has to be corporate social responsibility approaches towards suppliers. Amidst, these concerns, companies are worried about creating competitive advantage while at the same time, various stakeholders including shareholders, consumers and public authorities are concerned about the impacts of global supply chains (Ahi and Searcy 2013). An increasing number of organisations, especially multinational companies have continued to implement environmental annual reports, their sustainability strategies and steps taken regarding voluntary codes of conduct. Cruz (2013) modeled the relationship of globalized supply chains noting that there is existing gap between the desirability of supply chain sustainability when it comes to supply chains. With these gaps, the aim and objective of this research is to connect with previous studies on theoretical frameworks and supply chain models so as to analyse the impact in the context of global supply chains. This study is therefore concerned with corporate social responsibility in supply chains. Thus specific objective of the study is to contextualize supply chains in the context of global supply from different conceptual frameworks so as to analyse the impact of corporate social responsibility in supply chains. The next section of this paper is a literature review followed by the research conclusion and recommendations for future studies. 2.0. Literature Review The impact of corporate social responsibility in supply chains resonates with concept of sustainable supply chain management and the dialogue global companies create so as to prevent codes of practice or violations of fundamental human rights and environmental standards (Quarshie et al. 2016). This view was supported by Eriksson and Svensson (2016) who observed that for human rights and environmental standards to be observed, then process of responsibility, decoupling point and global companies have the responsibility of delivering on social as well as environmental responsibility that abide by internationally recognized rights and principles. Recent studies such as Acquaye et al. (2017) looks at the impact of corporate social responsibility in supply chains from the perspective of sustainable development, profitability and purchasing. However, what Acquaye et al. (2017) presents is not in tandem with recent discussion regarding the driving forces behind the development of corporate social responsibility in global supply chain. The foregoing discussions show that different authors point to the fact that the power of any company to influence remains critical in inducing channel partners in complying with sustainable supply chain requirements (Golini et al. 2017; Busse et al. 2017). The Danish Council for Corporate Social Responsibility (2010) ( as cited in Busse et al. 2017) supports this view arguing that sustainability will be attained through dialogue amongst the partners of supply chain. Our knowledge of Council for Corporate Social Responsibility (2010) is largely based on very limited data as it fails to provide the connectedness between corporate social responsibility in supply chains and its impacts within the context of global supply chains. Despite these steps, there is paucity of information about the impacts of corporate social responsibility in supply chains. Specifically, efforts of implementing social and environmental aspects in supply chains still lack thus calling for a research that investigates the connectedness between corporate social responsibility among global companies and their impact in the global context. The impact of corporate social responsibility is well elaborated in studies that have concentrated their thesis statements on corporate social responsibility supply chain networks. While researching on a comparative literature analysis of definitions for green and sustainable supply chain management Ahi and Searcy (2013) corporate social responsibility in supply chains result in joint recycling, reduced packaging and development of process changes that goes hand in hand in reducing the use of dangerous or hazardous materials. Preliminary work in this field focused primarily on has focused on collaboration among global companies in the reduction of dangerous materials in supply chains (Dubey et al. 2017; Pagell and Shevchenko 2014). However, in the last 2 years, much more information on corporate social responsibility in supply chains has become available. Eriksson and Svensson (2016) have been consistent in their studies showing that the impact of corporate social responsibility in supply chains is two-fold. From the one hand, the study looks at the impact from the perspective of the process of responsibility, decoupling point, and disengagement of moral and social responsibility in supply chains. What Eriksson and Svensson (2016) talk about in this case is that globally, corporate social responsibility in supply chains has the potential of reducing production inefficiencies, work with organisation on formulating the best approach of reducing cost and risks and at the same time, provide frameworks that allow global companies to increase sales. On the other hand, Eriksson and Svensson (2016) look at the impact in terms of potential performance gains that companies can gain from corporate social responsibility. The two positions Eriksson and Svensson (2016) established in their research was practical with Optus Telecommunication Company. According to Brandenburg et al. (2014) Optus Telecommunication Company’s corporate social responsibility in supply chains allowed several major impacts. First, Brandenburg et al. (2014) found that the Company was able to reach the managerial stage of corporate social responsibility maturity thus helping it conceptualise its core competence and analyse the extent to which its internal environment align with its competitors or general demand in the areas of operations. An insight into the company’s internal organization and by extension, core competence is done with the adoption of elaborated business models it supports. Secondly, Brandenburg et al. (2014) see corporate social responsibility in supply chains as a factor that impact on companies approach towards sustainable environment. That is, corporate social responsibility in supply chains enabled Optus Telecommunication Company to build on robust internal shared values as well as corporate culture with its high involvement of third party services places pressure on corporate integration. Despite this interest, Brandenburg et al. (2014) do not, to the best of our knowledge mention how management and leadership within an organization connects to the concept of people empowerment. Corporate social responsibility in supply chains is about challenging existence practices of environment degradation so that people can be empowered on the best practices to emulate to motivate and promote “green” thinking in the company. Hsueh (2014) provides detailed analysis on how to understand specific impacts of corporate social responsibility in supply chains. According to the author, corporate social responsibility in supply chains allows companies to make decisions independently regarding its processes thus having the ability to control and introduce actions by customers and suppliers through different factors including contractual agreements or product design that protect the environment. The position the author holds is that with corporate social responsibility in supply chains global companies have the responsibility to influence conditions of supply chains either through inaction or action that can result in a given social outcomes, as well as responsibility that ranges between ethical overtones and legal obligations. This view was earlier expanded by Klassen and Vereecke (2012) who looked at corporate social responsibility in supply chains in terms of material conservation. This the author noted that companies will be able to achieve by putting in place, processes up and down the supply chain so as to increase the company’s material conversion. Researching on the quantitative models for sustainable supply chain management Brandenburg et al. (2014) shared the same sentiments as Hassini et al. (2012) adding that corporate social responsibility in supply chains helps in increasing energy efficiency, and look for ways that companies can be able to convert their wastes into needed or useful by-products. Although this approach is interesting, they fail to take into account specific case studies on global companies that have integrated their approaches. Taking case study from Australia Post, corporate social responsibility in supply chains Australia Post was able develop integrated supply chains thus mitigating the debilitating factors or effects connected to supply chain dynamics like the bullwhip effect since they are able to develop effective and efficient flow of information materials in the supply chain. Currently, companies are operating in a competitive market where there is continuous need for its top managers to gain top line growth and opportunities that can reduce their cost structure. Additionally, companies have been looking for ways of increasing efficiency, capability and quality without increasing capital investment (Hassini et al. 2012). It is for this reason that studies has looked at the global impact of corporate social responsibility in supply chains in terms of lean thinking and the Six Sigma problem solving methodology (Kogg and Mont 2012). Accordingly, lean thinking and the Six Sigma problem solving methodology in corporate social responsibility have been offering the greatest capability and efficiency to understand process business of any company. As Hassini et al. (2012) noted, to attain the efficiencies in the already competitive markets there is need for improvements; increasing inventory turnover, on time shipment (OTS), reduction on total operational hours per unit among other variables and reduction on process variation and cost. Kogg and Mont (2012) were concerned about environmental and social responsibility in supply chains. The researcher found that when of global supply chains is approached with a view of promoting corporate social responsibility then there is enhancement of community relationships and Vendor Code of Conduct. That is, companies will be able to demonstrate a high level of involvement and feedback culture, where the organization seeks participation of its personnel in corporate social responsibility programs by also looking at opportunities that will encourage independent sustainable behaviours in the process of global supply chains. However, we look at corporate social responsibility slightly different from what Kogg and Mont (2012) proposes and in doing so; this study introduces views provided by Klassen and Vereecke (2012) when they connected their research to social issues in supply chains. According to the two authors, global perspective or the effects of corporate social responsibility in supply chains is seen as a process where companies are taking responsibility when it comes to their value chains. What the researchers propose is that with corporate social responsibility in supply chains companies will be able to take care of the social, ecological and economic responsibility for the whole of its value chains. The implication of this position is the negotiating positions these companies are likely to take with regard to their supply chains. This point is well put by Wilhelm et al. (2016) who looked at sustainability in multi-tier supply chains noting that with corporate social responsibility in supply chains, companies have been devising a proper and ecologically safer position when they are negotiating with their stakeholders regarding the society. The challenge with these researchers is lack of connectedness between their perceived effects in the global context and policy framework and theoretical models that have been proposed before. Previous studies noted for instance that the rate at which corporate social responsibility continue to permeate the practice and management theory remains so high that predicting the exact effects of corporate social responsibility on supply chain remains a challenge (Linton et al. 2007; Koplin et al. 2007; Caniato et al. 2012). Currently, global companies conceptualise corporate social responsibility basically as a tool that reduce risks as well as operational costs thus making it difficult how corporate social responsibility in supply chains will have an effects on issues such as ecology as previously mentioned by these authors. This view is in support of Linton et al. (2007) who have observed that there are current changes in companies’ view of corporate social responsibility in supply chains since most companies’ link corporate social responsibility and supply chain in terms of profitability. According to the author, corporate social responsibility is considered merely as a tool that creates positive brand reputation and image. From these perspective the effect or corporate social responsibility in supply chains is difficult to distinguish as a factor that helps these organisations to have real competitive advantage or a factor that take care of the social, ecological and economic responsibility for the whole of their value chains. Caniato et al. (2012) in their study critically discussed environmental sustainability in fashion supply chains taking consideration of the reputation of the corporate social responsibility. Considered as Australian marketing journal Hassini et al. (2012) based their case studies on different companies including Australian Post, Vodafone, Telstra and Optus Telecommunications. According to research data gathered from industrialists and entrepreneurs, corporate social responsibility in supply chains helps society in dealing with environmental, economic and ethical practices that benefit the society at large and at the same time, corporate social responsibility in supply chains help these organisations to improve the corporation image, brand and reputation. 3.0. Conclusions and Suggestions for Future Research The objective of this study was to critically evaluate the global effect of corporate social responsibility in supply chains. From the researches above, we found that corporate social responsibility in supply chains should be tied to theoretical models and policy frameworks that have been adopted by different institutions when one wants to understand specific effect of corporate social responsibility in supply chains. For instance, we noted from studies such as Hassini et al. (2012) that in the last few years, there have been different theoretical frameworks linking social responsibility, environment and financial performance of the corporates. Companies would strive to create effects with their social responsibility as far as their supply chains are concerned but importantly, they are keen to ensure that their companies perform, have the needed competitive advantage and promote the brand. As such, a realisation of the effects of corporate social responsibility in supply chains is still blurred by the fact that these companies need to balance corporate social responsibility and corporate social performance. The second point is that as far as global effect of corporate social responsibility in supply chains is concerned, these effects are embedded or intertwined four critical factors, external and internal environments of a company, customers’ needs, societal satisfaction and sustainability of the company’s operations. Putting this point differently, the society is likely to realise the effects of corporate social responsibility in supply chains the following ways. First, these organisations are likely to advance their national and international environment interest as corporate social responsibility in supply chains is likely to strengthen the ability of these companies towards ‘green’ supply chains. We also found that corporate social responsibility in supply chains provide give the society, globally, a foundation that will promote economic growth, productivity improvement, sustainability prosperity and global competitive advantage. Contrariwise, suggestions for future research are multifaceted. First, our study has found that there is distortion of the corporate social performance concept and as such, an understanding of corporate social responsibility in supply chains is skewed. Future study need to look at the extent to which corporate social responsibility in supply chains gives a leading stewardship of environment rather than how companies are aligned with their corporate social responsibilities. Taking this direction will help in understanding different aspects of supply chains such as reducing and maintaining environmental footprint, conservation, efficiency in the usage of resources and reduction of operation costs. Secondly, the context of global supply chains and corporate social responsibility should be tied to ethical decision making practices. Future researches should investigate the extent to which embed ethical decision making processes in their corporate social responsibility. For instance, if a company ethical make decisions on their operations and supply chains then they have a higher chance of being regarded as robust in their internal management which in turn, will inculcate shared values that promote safety for environment. References Acquaye, A., Feng, K., Oppon, E., Salhi, S., Ibn-Mohammed, T., Genovese, A. and Hubacek, K., 2017. Measuring the environmental sustainability performance of global supply chains: A multi-regional input-output analysis for carbon, sulphur oxide and water footprints. Journal of Environmental Management, 187, pp.571-585. Ahi, P. and Searcy, C., 2013. A comparative literature analysis of definitions for green and sustainable supply chain management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 52, pp.329-341. Brandenburg, M., Govindan, K., Sarkis, J. and Seuring, S., 2014. Quantitative models for sustainable supply chain management: Developments and directions. European Journal of Operational Research, 233(2), pp.299-312. Busse, C., Schleper, M.C., Weilenmann, J. and Wagner, S.M., 2017. Extending the supply chain visibility boundary: utilizing stakeholders for identifying supply chain sustainability risks. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 47(1). Caniato, F., Caridi, M., Crippa, L. and Moretto, A., 2012. Environmental sustainability in fashion supply chains: An exploratory case based research. International journal of production economics, 135(2), pp.659-670. Cruz, J.M., 2013. Modeling the relationship of globalized supply chains and corporate social responsibility. Journal of Cleaner Production, 56, pp.73-85. Dubey, R., Gunasekaran, A., Papadopoulos, T., Childe, S.J., Shibin, K.T. and Wamba, S.F., 2017. Sustainable supply chain management: framework and further research directions. Journal of Cleaner Production, 142, pp.1119-1130. Eriksson, D. and Svensson, G., 2016. The process of responsibility, decoupling point, and disengagement of moral and social responsibility in supply chains: Empirical findings and prescriptive thoughts. Journal of Business Ethics, 134(2), pp.281-298. Golini, R., Golini, R., Caniato, F., Caniato, F., Kalchschmidt, M. and Kalchschmidt, M., 2017. Supply chain integration within global manufacturing networks: a contingency flow-based view. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 28(3), pp.334-352. Hassini, E., Surti, C. and Searcy, C., 2012. A literature review and a case study of sustainable supply chains with a focus on metrics. International Journal of Production Economics, 140(1), pp.69-82. Hsueh, C.F., 2014. Improving corporate social responsibility in a supply chain through a new revenue sharing contract. International Journal of Production Economics, 151, pp.214-222. Klassen, R.D. and Vereecke, A., 2012. Social issues in supply chains: Capabilities link responsibility, risk (opportunity), and performance. International Journal of Production Economics, 140(1), pp.103-115. Kogg, B. and Mont, O., 2012. Environmental and social responsibility in supply chains: The practise of choice and inter-organisational management. Ecological Economics, 83, pp.154-163. Koplin, J., Seuring, S. and Mesterharm, M., 2007. Incorporating sustainability into supply management in the automotive industry–the case of the Volkswagen AG. Journal of Cleaner Production, 15(11), pp.1053-1062. Linton, J.D., Klassen, R. and Jayaraman, V., 2007. Sustainable supply chains: An introduction. Journal of operations management, 25(6), pp.1075-1082. Lund-Thomsen, P. and Lindgreen, A., 2014. Corporate social responsibility in global value chains: Where are we now and where are we going?. Journal of Business Ethics, 123(1), pp.11-22. Pagell, M. and Shevchenko, A., 2014. Why research in sustainable supply chain management should have no future. Journal of supply chain management, 50(1), pp.44-55. Quarshie, A.M., Salmi, A. and Leuschner, R., 2016. Sustainability and corporate social responsibility in supply chains: The state of research in supply chain management and business ethics journals. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 22(2), pp.82-97. Wilhelm, M.M., Blome, C., Bhakoo, V. and Paulraj, A., 2016. Sustainability in multi-tier supply chains: Understanding the double agency role of the first-tier supplier. Journal of Operations Management, 41, pp.42-60. Read More