Sustainability In Supply Chains: A Study On The Effects Of Sustainability On Supplier-buyer Relationships (essays On Supply Chain Management)
by Thomas Leppelt /
2013 / English / PDF
28.9 MB Download
Sustainability advanced to an omnipresent topic among academics
and business leaders, while at the same time, a growing share of a
firm’s total expenditure accounts for purchased products and
materials. Even though suppliers become increasingly important for
their buyers with regards to sustainability, academic research
still lacks a detailed understanding of how sustainability
considerations affect the relationship between buyers and
suppliers. Thomas Leppelt contributes to extant sustainability
literature across the research disciplines of supply chain
management, management and marketing by cross-functionally
investigating the effects of sustainability on supplier-buyer
relationships from both a supplier and a buyer perspective. The
results of in total three academic articles provide valuable
insights on how buyers as well as suppliers deal with
sustainability upstream and downstream the supply chain. The
results indicate that sustainability leaders, in contrast to
sustainability followers, intensively invest in sustainable
supplier relationship management practices. Moreover, a became
evident that the effective marketing of sustainability-related
capabilities enhances a supplier’s reputation and can render
comparative advantages, if it sends consistent positive signals to
the market and if it integrates purchasing and marketing in the
context of sustainability.
Sustainability advanced to an omnipresent topic among academics
and business leaders, while at the same time, a growing share of a
firm’s total expenditure accounts for purchased products and
materials. Even though suppliers become increasingly important for
their buyers with regards to sustainability, academic research
still lacks a detailed understanding of how sustainability
considerations affect the relationship between buyers and
suppliers. Thomas Leppelt contributes to extant sustainability
literature across the research disciplines of supply chain
management, management and marketing by cross-functionally
investigating the effects of sustainability on supplier-buyer
relationships from both a supplier and a buyer perspective. The
results of in total three academic articles provide valuable
insights on how buyers as well as suppliers deal with
sustainability upstream and downstream the supply chain. The
results indicate that sustainability leaders, in contrast to
sustainability followers, intensively invest in sustainable
supplier relationship management practices. Moreover, a became
evident that the effective marketing of sustainability-related
capabilities enhances a supplier’s reputation and can render
comparative advantages, if it sends consistent positive signals to
the market and if it integrates purchasing and marketing in the
context of sustainability.
