TY - JOUR
T1 - Sustainability management in supply chains
T2 - the role of familiness
AU - Fritz, Morgane
AU - Ruel, Salomée
AU - Kallmuenzer, Andreas
AU - Harms, Rainer
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to all interviewees for their active participation, and they would like to thank the reviewers for their constructive feedback. Rainer Harms’ contribution is based on the study funded by the Basic Research Program of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) and by the Russian Academic Excellence Project ' 5–100′ .
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - The development and management of sustainable supply chains is a practical and academic challenge. Considering that, globally, most firms are family businesses, this study explores the role that their unique familiness plays in the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability in supply chains. Family businesses emphasize a long-term perspective, social responsibility, and ecological awareness. Findings from a comparative study of twelve cases of six family and six non-family businesses demonstrate that sustainability concerns differ at the upstream, focal-firm, and downstream firm levels. These differences are explored from an institutional theory perspective and arise because of several coercive, normative, and mimetic pressures. We argue that, at the upstream level, family businesses tend to accentuate social concerns.In contrast, non-family businesses pay much less attention to social concerns. Within the firm, family businesses give weight to all three sustainability dimensions. In comparison, non-family businesses downplay the social dimension in favor of the environmental dimension. Downstream, family businesses address similar sustainability dimensions as non-family businesses. Such differences are due to institutional pressures, especially the firm's culture, values, and top management involvement. There are specific practical implications concerning the role that family businesses can play in making supply chains more sustainable
AB - The development and management of sustainable supply chains is a practical and academic challenge. Considering that, globally, most firms are family businesses, this study explores the role that their unique familiness plays in the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability in supply chains. Family businesses emphasize a long-term perspective, social responsibility, and ecological awareness. Findings from a comparative study of twelve cases of six family and six non-family businesses demonstrate that sustainability concerns differ at the upstream, focal-firm, and downstream firm levels. These differences are explored from an institutional theory perspective and arise because of several coercive, normative, and mimetic pressures. We argue that, at the upstream level, family businesses tend to accentuate social concerns.In contrast, non-family businesses pay much less attention to social concerns. Within the firm, family businesses give weight to all three sustainability dimensions. In comparison, non-family businesses downplay the social dimension in favor of the environmental dimension. Downstream, family businesses address similar sustainability dimensions as non-family businesses. Such differences are due to institutional pressures, especially the firm's culture, values, and top management involvement. There are specific practical implications concerning the role that family businesses can play in making supply chains more sustainable
KW - Sustainability Supply chain management Family business Institutional theory Pressures Stakeholders
KW - 22/1 OA procedure
U2 - 10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121078
DO - 10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121078
M3 - Article
SN - 0040-1625
VL - 173
JO - Technological forecasting and social change
JF - Technological forecasting and social change
M1 - 121078
ER -