SPECIAL TOPIC FORUM ON SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: INTRODUCTION AND REFLECTIONS ON THE ROLE OF PURCHASING MANAGEMENT^*

Abstract

This paper introduces a special topic forum on ''Sustainable Supply Chain Management.'' Before introducing the papers included in the forum, the authors provide thoughts on the direction and future of sustainability research, particularly in the context of purchasing and supply chain management. The underlying premise that structures our discussion is straightforward: a company is no more sustainable than its supply chain. As such the purchasing function becomes central in a company's sustainability effort. In doing so, we reflect on the relationship between purchasing management and sustainable development by drawing from Kraljic's seminal article on how ''Purchasing Must Become Supply Management.''

Corporate Social Responsibility in Buyer-Supplier Relationships: Is it Beneficial for Top-Tier Suppliers to Market their Capability to Ensure a Responsible Supply Chain?

“…As the article's main focus is the exploration of distinct concepts for marketing CSR-related SCM practices, and the respective business practices for integrating marketing and purchasing, the exploratory analysis will devote more attention to the second and third dimension of the theoretical framework because the first dimension (Supplier-oriented CSR practices) has already been widely discussed in the extant SCM literature (Krause, Vachon, and Klassen 2009;Pagell and Wu 2009;Paulraj 2011). However, for comprehensiveness, we will also provide a brief overview of the identified business practices in this first dimension of the theoretical framework.…”

Embending Sustainability Dynamics in the Lean Construction Supply Chain Management

“…Companies start to look at their supply chain to enhance their overall sustainability profile especially due to the fact that the focal companies are held responsible for environmental and social problems caused by their suppliers as well as due to the fact that an increasing share of value is created at the supplier level [4] (p. 1053). [6] (p.18) states that a company ''is no more sustainable than its supply chain''. There is literature on environmentally friendly supply chain management in different industries [7], [8], [9], [10], [4], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15].…”

Sustainable procurement portfolio management: a case study in a mining company

“…Finally, for noncritical items, the proposal is to adopt simple qualifying criteria for suppliers, such as requiring some certification. The final comments of Krause et al (2009) from the construction of the model shown in Figure 3 indicate that organizations will require a level of sustainability of its suppliers according to the type of component/item required at time of procurement. At the same time, some companies will adopt sustainability in a unilateral way, as part of their business strategy, while others will be coerced to integrate sustainability by its customers, suppliers, or the law.…”

“…The key goal of the Kraljic model was also analyzed by Krause et al (2009) in the case in which managers seek to build a Sustainable Supply Chain. To analyze the incorporation of sustainable aspects, the authors drew on the theory of competitive priorities.…”

“…Tate et al (2010) state that the procurement area can contribute to the implementation of the sustainability concept in the business environment Sustainable procurement portfolio management: a case study in a mining company Tamires Magalhães de Mello a , Daniel Eckhardt a , Adriana Leiras a * mainly due to the position of the procurement process as the beginning of the flow of materials and services for a company (Carter et al, 1998;Porter & Van der Linde, 1995). More specifically, each organization is as sustainable as its supply chain (Handfield et al, 2005;Krause et al, 2009). Therefore, companies that have the goal to be sustainable must first involve their suppliers and establish environmental and social performance standards for these suppliers (Sharma & Henriques, 2005;Simpson et al, 2007).…”