Abstract

In recent decades, supply chains have become a critical source of competitive advantage. Yet, in the Germany automotive industry, supply chains have turned out to be untransparent and prone to sustainability breaches, with the recent Volkswagen manipulation scandal exemplifying the financial and reputational consequences. Many firms today, therefore, focus on what is called sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). While drivers, barriers, and performance implications of SSCM have been widely explored, little is known about its implementation process. Building on the foundations of organisational change, this study inductively analysed 54 sustainability reports from three German automotive triads between 2014 and 2019. Our results led to an SSCM implementation framework that sequentially employed the nine most prominent implementation stages and related change measures. The framework expands our knowledge on the SSCM implementation process; furthermore, it serves as an example for industry experts aiming to turn their supply chains into sponsors for sustainability.

摘要

近几十年来，供应链已成为竞争优势的重要来源。然而，在德国汽车行业，供应链已被证明是不透明的，并且容易违反可持续性，最近的大众汽车操纵丑闻就是财务和声誉后果的例证。因此，今天的许多公司都专注于所谓的可持续供应链管理（SSCM）。虽然 SSCM 的驱动因素、障碍和性能影响已得到广泛探索，但对其实施过程知之甚少。在组织变革的基础上，本研究归纳分析了 2014 年至 2019 年期间来自德国三个汽车三合会的 54 份可持续发展报告。我们的结果导致了一个 SSCM 实施框架，该框架依次采用了九个最突出的实施阶段和相关的变革措施。该框架扩展了我们对 SSCM 实施过程的了解；此外，它还为旨在将其供应链转变为可持续发展赞助商的行业专家树立了榜样。