IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/proeco/v260y2023ics0925527323000968.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Solutions from space? A dynamic capabilities perspective on the growing use of satellite technology for managing sustainability in multi-tier supply chains

Author

Listed:
  • Heldt, Lisa
  • Beske-Janssen, Philip

Abstract

Distant upstream tiers in supply chains are hotspots for sustainability issues that expose focal firms to growing reputational, financial, operational and legal risks – yet sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practice and research still focus on dyadic buyer-supplier relationships due to poor upstream transparency. Recently, however, focal firms have started adopting satellite technology as a tool for gaining systematic, continuous and direct oversight of issues like deforestation occurring far upstream to complement standards and certifications. This could transform multi-tier SSCM dynamics but, being a novel phenomenon, it remains unclear which organizational capabilities and collaborations focal firms apply to leverage remote sensing's potential. Combining dynamic capabilities theory and a multi-tier SSCM framework, our paper analyzes the current use of satellite technology in forest-risk commodity supply chains. Triangulating insights from interviews, documents and observations in a qualitative content analysis, the study finds that effective multi-tier SSCM relies on (a) internal resources providing four functions (traceability; monitoring; follow-up; stakeholder accountability), (b) complemented with external resources accessed through strategically selected collaborations that (c) take the form of working along supply chains, across supply chains and across sectors. The results show that technology-driven multi-tier SSCM can hold strategic benefits beyond risk reduction. Further research is needed to assess these relations.

Suggested Citation

  • Heldt, Lisa & Beske-Janssen, Philip, 2023. "Solutions from space? A dynamic capabilities perspective on the growing use of satellite technology for managing sustainability in multi-tier supply chains," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:260:y:2023:i:c:s0925527323000968
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2023.108864
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527323000968
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijpe.2023.108864?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jamalnia, Aboozar & Gong, Yu & Govindan, Kannan, 2023. "Sub-supplier's sustainability management in multi-tier supply chains: A systematic literature review on the contingency variables, and a conceptual framework," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    2. Sara Saberi & Mahtab Kouhizadeh & Joseph Sarkis & Lejia Shen, 2019. "Blockchain technology and its relationships to sustainable supply chain management," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(7), pages 2117-2135, April.
    3. Eric F. Lambin & Holly K. Gibbs & Robert Heilmayr & Kimberly M. Carlson & Leonardo C. Fleck & Rachael D. Garrett & Yann le Polain de Waroux & Constance L. McDermott & David McLaughlin & Peter Newton &, 2018. "The role of supply-chain initiatives in reducing deforestation," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(2), pages 109-116, February.
    4. Beske, Philip & Land, Anna & Seuring, Stefan, 2014. "Sustainable supply chain management practices and dynamic capabilities in the food industry: A critical analysis of the literature," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 131-143.
    5. Donald Schepers, 2010. "Challenges to Legitimacy at the Forest Stewardship Council," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(2), pages 279-290, March.
    6. Teece, David J., 2016. "Dynamic capabilities and entrepreneurial management in large organizations: Toward a theory of the (entrepreneurial) firm," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 202-216.
    7. Christoph G. Schmidt & Kai Foerstl & Birte Schaltenbrand, 2017. "The Supply Chain Position Paradox: Green Practices and Firm Performance," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 53(1), pages 3-25, January.
    8. Chen, Jen-Yi, 2022. "Responsible sourcing and supply chain traceability," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    9. Grimm, Jörg H. & Hofstetter, Joerg S. & Sarkis, Joseph, 2014. "Critical factors for sub-supplier management: A sustainable food supply chains perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 159-173.
    10. Marin-Burgos, Victoria & Clancy, Joy S. & Lovett, Jon C., 2015. "Contesting legitimacy of voluntary sustainability certification schemes: Valuation languages and power asymmetries in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil in Colombia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 303-313.
    11. Hannes Hofmann & Martin C. Schleper & Constantin Blome, 2018. "Conflict Minerals and Supply Chain Due Diligence: An Exploratory Study of Multi-tier Supply Chains," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 115-141, January.
    12. Gardner, T.A. & Benzie, M. & Börner, J. & Dawkins, E. & Fick, S. & Garrett, R. & Godar, J. & Grimard, A. & Lake, S. & Larsen, R.K. & Mardas, N. & McDermott, C.L. & Meyfroidt, P. & Osbeck, M. & Persson, 2019. "Transparency and sustainability in global commodity supply chains," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 163-177.
    13. David J. Teece, 2007. "Explicating dynamic capabilities: the nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(13), pages 1319-1350, December.
    14. Taghizadeh, Elham & Venkatachalam, Saravanan & Chinnam, Ratna Babu, 2021. "Impact of deep-tier visibility on effective resilience assessment of supply networks," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    15. Cristina Sancha & Josep F. Mària S.J. & Cristina Gimenez, 2019. "Managing sustainability in lower-tier suppliers: how to deal with the invisible zone," African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 10(4), pages 458-474, September.
    16. Jia, Fu & Gong, Yu & Brown, Steve, 2019. "Multi-tier sustainable supply chain management: The role of supply chain leadership," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 44-63.
    17. Sara Hajmohammad & Stephan Vachon, 2016. "Mitigation, Avoidance, or Acceptance? Managing Supplier Sustainability Risk," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 52(2), pages 48-65, April.
    18. Teece, David J., 2020. "Hand in Glove: Open Innovation and the Dynamic Capabilities Framework," Strategic Management Review, now publishers, vol. 1(2), pages 233-253, June.
    19. ManMohan S. Sodhi & Christopher S. Tang, 2019. "Research Opportunities in Supply Chain Transparency," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 28(12), pages 2946-2959, December.
    20. Kristoffer Francisco & David Swanson, 2018. "The Supply Chain Has No Clothes: Technology Adoption of Blockchain for Supply Chain Transparency," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-13, January.
    21. David J. Teece & Gary Pisano & Amy Shuen, 1997. "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 509-533, August.
    22. Joseph Sarkis & Qingyun Zhu, 2018. "Environmental sustainability and production: taking the road less travelled," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(1-2), pages 743-759, January.
    23. Kathleen M. Eisenhardt & Jeffrey A. Martin, 2000. "Dynamic capabilities: what are they?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(10‐11), pages 1105-1121, October.
    24. Birger Wernerfelt, 1984. "A resource‐based view of the firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 171-180, April.
    25. Hannes Hofmann & Christian Busse & Christoph Bode & Michael Henke, 2014. "Sustainability‐Related Supply Chain Risks: Conceptualization and Management," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 160-172, March.
    26. Jabbour, Charbel Jose Chiappetta & de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz Lopes & Sarkis, Joseph, 2019. "Unlocking effective multi-tier supply chain management for sustainability through quantitative modeling: Lessons learned and discoveries to be made," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 11-30.
    27. MacCarthy, Bart L. & Ahmed, Wafaa A.H. & Demirel, Guven, 2022. "Mapping the supply chain: Why, what and how?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    28. Julia Wolf, 2014. "The Relationship Between Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Stakeholder Pressure and Corporate Sustainability Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(3), pages 317-328, February.
    29. Montecchi, Matteo & Plangger, Kirk & West, Douglas C., 2021. "Supply chain transparency: A bibliometric review and research agenda," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    30. Craig R. Carter & Dale S. Rogers & Thomas Y. Choi, 2015. "Toward the Theory of the Supply Chain," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 51(2), pages 89-97, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Jamalnia, Aboozar & Gong, Yu & Govindan, Kannan, 2023. "Sub-supplier's sustainability management in multi-tier supply chains: A systematic literature review on the contingency variables, and a conceptual framework," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    2. Iain J. Fraser & Martin Müller & Julia Schwarzkopf, 2020. "Transparency for Multi-Tier Sustainable Supply Chain Management: A Case Study of a Multi-tier Transparency Approach for SSCM in the Automotive Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-24, February.
    3. Julia Köhler & Sönnich Dahl Sönnichsen & Philip Beske‐Jansen, 2022. "Towards a collaboration framework for circular economy: The role of dynamic capabilities and open innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(6), pages 2700-2713, September.
    4. Alessandro Da Giau & Nicolai J. Foss & Andrea Furlan & Andrea Vinelli, 2020. "Sustainable development and dynamic capabilities in the fashion industry: A multi‐case study," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1509-1520, May.
    5. Zhao, Nanyang & Hong, Jiangtao & Lau, Kwok Hung, 2023. "Impact of supply chain digitalization on supply chain resilience and performance: A multi-mediation model," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    6. Kumar, Gopal & Subramanian, Nachiappan & Maria Arputham, Ramkumar, 2018. "Missing link between sustainability collaborative strategy and supply chain performance: Role of dynamic capability," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 96-109.
    7. Chikán, Attila & Czakó, Erzsébet & Kiss-Dobronyi, Bence & Losonci, Dávid, 2022. "Firm competitiveness: A general model and a manufacturing application," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    8. Siems, Erik & Land, Anna & Seuring, Stefan, 2021. "Dynamic capabilities in sustainable supply chain management: An inter-temporal comparison of the food and automotive industries," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    9. Linde, Lina & Sjödin, David & Parida, Vinit & Wincent, Joakim, 2021. "Dynamic capabilities for ecosystem orchestrationA capability-based framework for smart city innovation initiatives," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    10. FeCheng Ma & Farhan Khan & Kashif Ullah Khan & Si XiangYun, 2021. "Investigating the Impact of Information Technology, Absorptive Capacity, and Dynamic Capabilities on Firm Performance: An Empirical Study," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    11. Jim Andersén, 2023. "Green resource orchestration: A critical appraisal of the use of resource orchestration in environmental management research, and a research agenda for future study," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5506-5520, December.
    12. Zhang-Zhang, YingYing & Rohlfer, Sylvia & Varma, Arup, 2022. "Strategic people management in contemporary highly dynamic VUCA contexts: A knowledge worker perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 587-598.
    13. Thierry Sauvage & Tony Cragg & Sarrah Chraibi & Oussama El Khalil Houssaini, 2018. "Running the Machine Faster: Acceleration, Humans and Warehousing," Post-Print hal-02905068, HAL.
    14. Abel D Alonso & Seng Kok, 2018. "A resource-based view and dynamic capabilities approach in the context of a region’s international attractiveness: The recent case of Western Australia," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 33(3), pages 307-328, May.
    15. Schriber, Svante & Löwstedt, Jan, 2015. "Tangible resources and the development of organizational capabilities," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 54-68.
    16. Cleverton Rodrigues Fernandes & André Gustavo Carvalho Machado, 2019. "Technology Transfer Capability: development dynamics in higher education institutions," Brazilian Business Review, Fucape Business School, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, January.
    17. Lin, Hsing-Er & Hsu, I-Chieh & Hsu, Audrey Wenhsin & Chung, Hsi-Mei, 2020. "Creating competitive advantages: Interactions between ambidextrous diversification strategy and contextual factors from a dynamic capability perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    18. Desirée Knoppen & Louise Knight, 2022. "Pursuing sustainability advantage: The dynamic capabilities of born sustainable firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1789-1813, May.
    19. Abel Duarte Alonso & Seng K. Kok & Seamus O'Brien, 2019. "Understanding Approaches To Innovation Through The Dynamic Capabilities Lens: A Multi-Country Study Of The Wine Industry," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(06), pages 1-30, August.
    20. Jean D. Kabongo & Olivier Boiral, 2017. "Doing More with Less: Building Dynamic Capabilities for Eco‐Efficiency," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(7), pages 956-971, November.

    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:eee:proeco:v:260:y:2023:i:c:s0925527323000968. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpe .

    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.