IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v22y2013i5p339-356.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the Comprehensiveness of Supply Chain Environmental Strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Joana M. Comas Martí
  • Ralf W. Seifert

Abstract

As environmental awareness grows, firms are expected to expand the scope of their environmental strategies beyond organisational boundaries and to address more comprehensively environmental issues in their supply chains and product life cycles. Drawing on different literature streams, international standards and corporate disclosure, this paper presents a conceptual framework for the quantitative assessment of the comprehensiveness of firms' environmental strategies. This framework allows us to capture: (i) the environmental inputs and outputs addressed, (ii) the firm versus supply chain orientation of environmental strategies, and (iii) the environmental management practices adopted by companies. We illustrate the application of this framework with a content analysis of corporate sustainability reports for a cross‐sectoral sample of sustainability leaders. Our results indicate that there is a need for greater specificity in environmental reporting and that, overall, companies remain firm‐oriented. It is also observed that supply chain orientation can generally be associated with stakeholder pressure. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Joana M. Comas Martí & Ralf W. Seifert, 2013. "Assessing the Comprehensiveness of Supply Chain Environmental Strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 339-356, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:22:y:2013:i:5:p:339-356
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.1749
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1749
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.1749?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lenzen, Manfred & Dey, Christopher J. & Murray, Shauna A., 2004. "Historical accountability and cumulative impacts: the treatment of time in corporate sustainability reporting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3-4), pages 237-250, December.
    2. Harry Bremmers & Onno Omta & Ron Kemp & Derk‐Jan Haverkamp, 2007. "Do stakeholder groups influence environmental management system development in the Dutch agri‐food sector?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 214-231, March.
    3. Birger Wernerfelt, 1984. "A resource‐based view of the firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 171-180, April.
    4. Antony Paulraj, 2009. "Environmental motivations: a classification scheme and its impact on environmental strategies and practices," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 453-468, November.
    5. Stefan Seuring, 2004. "Industrial ecology, life cycles, supply chains: differences and interrelations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(5), pages 306-319, September.
    6. Nicole Darnall & G. Jason Jolley & Robert Handfield, 2008. "Environmental management systems and green supply chain management: complements for sustainability?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 30-45, January.
    7. Pontus Cerin, 2002. "Communication in corporate environmental reports," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(1), pages 46-65, March.
    8. Nigel Roome, 2001. "Conceptualizing and studying the contribution of networks in environmental management and sustainable development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 69-76, March.
    9. Kim Hammond & Samantha Miles, 2004. "Assessing quality assessment of corporate social reporting: UK perspectives," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 61-79, March.
    10. Magali Delmas & Vered Doctori Blass, 2010. "Measuring corporate environmental performance: the trade‐offs of sustainability ratings," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 245-260, May.
    11. Frank de Bakker & André Nijhof, 2002. "Responsible chain management: a capability assessment framework," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), pages 63-75, January.
    12. Javier González‐Benito & Óscar González‐Benito, 2006. "A review of determinant factors of environmental proactivity," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 87-102, March.
    13. Josef Kaenzig & Damien Friot & Myriam Saadé & Manuele Margni & Olivier Jolliet, 2011. "Using life cycle approaches to enhance the value of corporate environmental disclosures," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 38-54, January.
    14. Lutz Preuss, 2005. "Rhetoric and reality of corporate greening: a view from the supply chain management function," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 123-139, March.
    15. Bloemhof-Ruwaard, Jacqueline M. & van Beek, Paul & Hordijk, Leen & Van Wassenhove, Luk N., 1995. "Interactions between operational research and environmental management," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 229-243, September.
    16. Chialin Chen, 2001. "Design for the Environment: A Quality-Based Model for Green Product Development," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(2), pages 250-263, February.
    17. Lassi Linnanen, 1995. "Life cycle management: Integrated approach towards corporate environmental issues," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(3), pages 117-127, July.
    18. Vito Albino & Azzurra Balice & Rosa Maria Dangelico, 2009. "Environmental strategies and green product development: an overview on sustainability‐driven companies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(2), pages 83-96, February.
    19. James J. Cordeiro & Joseph Sarkis, 1997. "Environmental proactivism and firm performance: evidence from security analyst earnings forecasts," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(2), pages 104-114, May.
    20. Magali Delmas & Michael W. Toffel, 2004. "Stakeholders and environmental management practices: an institutional framework," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 209-222, July.
    21. Ans Kolk & Anniek Mauser, 2002. "The evolution of environmental management: from stage models to performance evaluation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), pages 14-31, January.
    22. Lutz Preuss, 2010. "Codes of Conduct in Organisational Context: From Cascade to Lattice-Work of Codes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(4), pages 471-487, July.
    23. Patten, Dennis M., 2002. "The relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: a research note," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 763-773, November.
    24. Mark P. Sharfman & Teresa M. Shaft & Robert P. Anex, 2009. "The road to cooperative supply‐chain environmental management: trust and uncertainty among pro‐active firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 1-13, January.
    25. Teun Wolters & Peter James & Mark Bouman, 1997. "Stepping‐stones for integrated chain management in the firm," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(3), pages 121-132, July.
    26. Robert Handfield & Robert Sroufe & Steven Walton, 2005. "Integrating environmental management and supply chain strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 1-19, January.
    27. Ken Green & Barbara Morton & Steve New, 1996. "Purchasing And Environmental Management: Interactions, Policies And Opportunities," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(3), pages 188-197, September.
    28. James Guthrie & Suresh Cuganesan & Leanne Ward, 2008. "Industry specific social and environmental reporting: The Australian Food and Beverage Industry," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 1-15, March.
    29. Guthrie, James & Cuganesan, Suresh & Ward, Leanne, 2008. "Industry specific social and environmental reporting: The Australian Food and Beverage Industry," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 1-15.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Raphaëlle Stewart & Peter Fantke & Anders Bjørn & Mikołaj Owsianiak & Christine Molin & Michael Zwicky Hauschild & Alexis Laurent, 2018. "Life cycle assessment in corporate sustainability reporting: Global, regional, sectoral, and company‐level trends," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1751-1764, December.
    2. Zhu, Qinghua & Geng, Yong & Sarkis, Joseph, 2016. "Shifting Chinese organizational responses to evolving greening pressures," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 65-74.
    3. Caetano Luiz Beber & Greta Langer & Johannes Meyer, 2021. "Strategic Actions for a Sustainable Internationalization of Agri-Food Supply Chains: The Case of the Dairy Industries from Brazil and Germany," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Katelin Opferkuch & Sandra Caeiro & Roberta Salomone & Tomás B. Ramos, 2021. "Circular economy in corporate sustainability reporting: A review of organisational approaches," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 4015-4036, December.
    5. Chien-Ming Chen, 2017. "Supply Chain Strategies and Carbon Intensity: The Roles of Process Leanness, Diversification Strategy, and Outsourcing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 603-620, July.
    6. Chen, Jen-Yi & Slotnick, Susan A., 2015. "Supply chain disclosure and ethical sourcing," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 17-30.
    7. Timo Busch & Matthew Johnson & Thomas Pioch, 2022. "Corporate carbon performance data: Quo vadis?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(1), pages 350-363, February.
    8. Nicole Luisa Schnittfeld & Timo Busch, 2016. "Sustainability Management within Supply Chains – A Resource Dependence View," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 337-354, July.
    9. Bruna Alexandra Elias Mota & Ana Isabel Cerqueira de Sousa Gouveia Carvalho & Maria Isabel Azevedo Rodrigues Gomes & Ana Paula Ferreira Dias Barbosa‐Povoa, 2020. "Business strategy for sustainable development: Impact of life cycle inventory and life cycle impact assessment steps in supply chain design and planning," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 87-117, January.
    10. Helene Seidel-Sterzik & Sarah McLaren & Elena Garnevska, 2018. "Effective Life Cycle Management in SMEs: Use of a Sector-Based Approach to Overcome Barriers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-22, January.
    11. Martí, Joana M. Comas & Tancrez, Jean-Sébastien & Seifert, Ralf W., 2015. "Carbon footprint and responsiveness trade-offs in supply chain network design," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 129-142.
    12. Raphaëlle Stewart & Monia Niero, 2018. "Circular economy in corporate sustainability strategies: A review of corporate sustainability reports in the fast‐moving consumer goods sector," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 1005-1022, November.
    13. Päivi Luoma & Romana Rauter & Esko Penttinen & Anne Toppinen, 2023. "The value of data for environmental sustainability as perceived by the customers of a tissue‐paper supplier," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(6), pages 3110-3123, November.
    14. David Lazarevic & Michael Martin, 2018. "Life cycle assessment calculative practices in the Swedish biofuel sector: Governing biofuel sustainability by standards and numbers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1558-1568, December.
    15. Jadhav, Akshay & Orr, Stuart & Malik, Mohsin, 2019. "The role of supply chain orientation in achieving supply chain sustainability," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 112-125.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Francesco Rizzi & Irene Bartolozzi & Alessandra Borghini & Marco Frey, 2013. "Environmental Management of End‐of‐Life Products: Nine Factors of Sustainability in Collaborative Networks," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(8), pages 561-572, December.
    2. Simon Norris & Julia Hagenbeck & Stefan Schaltegger, 2021. "Linking sustainable business models and supply chains — Toward an integrated value creation framework," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 3960-3974, December.
    3. André Tchokogué & Jean Nollet & Nathalie Merminod & Gilles Paché & Véronique Goupil, 2018. "Is Supply's Actual Contribution to Sustainable Development Strategic and Operational?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 336-358, March.
    4. S. Maryam Masoumi & Nima Kazemi & Salwa Hanim Abdul-Rashid, 2019. "Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Automotive Industry: A Process-Oriented Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-30, July.
    5. Satish Kumar & Riya Sureka & Weng Marc Lim & Sachin Kumar Mangla & Nisha Goyal, 2021. "What do we know about business strategy and environmental research? Insights from Business Strategy and the Environment," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 3454-3469, December.
    6. Mark P. Sharfman & Teresa M. Shaft & Robert P. Anex, 2009. "The road to cooperative supply‐chain environmental management: trust and uncertainty among pro‐active firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 1-13, January.
    7. Binh Do & Uyen Nguyen & Ninh Nguyen & Lester W. Johnson, 2019. "Exploring the Proactivity Levels and Drivers of Environmental Strategies Adopted by Vietnamese Seafood Export Processing Firms: A Qualitative Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-22, July.
    8. Joe Miemczyk & Thomas Johnsen, 2010. "Sustainability in purchasing and supply: Defining the territory," Post-Print hal-00761965, HAL.
    9. Hans Haake & Stefan Seuring, 2009. "Sustainable procurement of minor items - exploring limits to sustainability," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(5), pages 284-294.
    10. Abeer Hassan & Essam Ibrahim, 2012. "Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure: Factors Influencing Companies' Success in Attaining Environmental Awards," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), pages 32-46, January.
    11. David G Hyatt & Nicholas Berente, 2017. "Substantive or Symbolic Environmental Strategies? Effects of External and Internal Normative Stakeholder Pressures," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(8), pages 1212-1234, December.
    12. Kjell Mårtensson & Karin Westerberg, 2016. "Corporate Environmental Strategies Towards Sustainable Development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 1-9, January.
    13. Francesco Calza & Giorgia Profumo & Ilaria Tutore, 2016. "Corporate Ownership and Environmental Proactivity," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(6), pages 369-389, September.
    14. Stefan Seuring & Martin Müller, 2008. "Core issues in sustainable supply chain management – a Delphi study," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(8), pages 455-466, December.
    15. Peter Oberhofer & Elmar Fürst, 2013. "Sustainable Development in the Transport Sector: Influencing Environmental Behaviour and Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6), pages 374-389, September.
    16. Luo, Le & Tang, Qingliang, 2016. "Determinants of the Quality of Corporate Carbon Management Systems: An International Study," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 275-305.
    17. David Ervin & JunJie Wu & Madhu Khanna & Cody Jones & Teresa Wirkkala, 2013. "Motivations and Barriers to Corporate Environmental Management," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6), pages 390-409, September.
    18. Rakesh Kumar Malviya & Ravi Kant & Ashim Dutta Gupta, 2018. "Evaluation and Selection of Sustainable Strategy for Green Supply Chain Management Implementation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 475-502, May.
    19. Christina W.Y. Wong & Chee Yew Wong & Sakun Boon‐itt, 2018. "How Does Sustainable Development of Supply Chains Make Firms Lean, Green and Profitable? A Resource Orchestration Perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 375-388, March.
    20. Marilyn T. Lucas, 2010. "Understanding environmental management practices: integrating views from strategic management and ecological economics," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(8), pages 543-556, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:22:y:2013:i:5:p:339-356. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.