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Engaging Supply Chains in Climate Change

Author

Listed:
  • Chonnikarn Fern Jira

    () (Harvard Business School)

  • Michael W. Toffel

    () (Harvard Business School, Technology and Operations Management Unit)

Abstract

Suppliers are increasingly being asked to share information about their vulnerability to climate change and their strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Their responses vary widely. We theorize and empirically identify several factors associated with suppliers being especially willing to share this information with buyers, focusing on attributes of the buyers seeking this information and of the suppliers being asked to provide it. We test our hypotheses using data from the Carbon Disclosure Project's Supply Chain Program, a collaboration of multinational corporations requesting such information from thousands of suppliers in 49 countries. We find evidence that suppliers are more likely to share this information when requests from buyers are more prevalent, when buyers appear committed to using the information, when suppliers belong to more profitable industries, and when suppliers are located in countries with greenhouse gas regulations. We find evidence that these factors also influence the comprehensiveness of the information suppliers share and their willingness to share the information publicly.

Suggested Citation

  • Chonnikarn Fern Jira & Michael W. Toffel, 2011. "Engaging Supply Chains in Climate Change," Harvard Business School Working Papers 12-026, Harvard Business School, revised Oct 2012.
    • Handle: RePEc:hbs:wpaper:12-026
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Wei, Yi-Ming & Mi, Zhi-Fu & Huang, Zhimin, 2015. "Climate policy modeling: An online SCI-E and SSCI based literature review," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 57(PA), pages 70-84.
    2. Susan A. Kayser & John W. Maxwell & Michael W. Toffel, 2014. "Signaling without Certification: The Critical Role of Civil Society Scrutiny," Harvard Business School Working Papers 15-009, Harvard Business School, revised Jul 2016.
    3. Michael W. Toffel & Jodi L. Short & Melissa Ouellet, 2012. "Codes in Context: How States, Markets, and Civil Society Shape Adherence to Global Labor Standards," Harvard Business School Working Papers 13-045, Harvard Business School, revised Sep 2014.
    4. Hartmann, Julia & Uhlenbruck, Klaus, 2015. "National institutional antecedents to corporate environmental performance," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 729-741.
    5. Ji, Guojun & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Yang, Guangyong, 2014. "Constructing sustainable supply chain under double environmental medium regulations," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(PB), pages 211-219.
    6. Yuchen Shen & Mohammad Tazul Islam & Michiyuki Yagi & Katsuhiko Kokubu, 2015. "How do firms' climate-related management and strategy affect climate change risks and opportunities awareness?," Discussion Papers 2015-26, Kobe University, Graduate School of Business Administration.
    7. Louise Laumann Kjaer & Niels Karim Høst-Madsen & Jannick H. Schmidt & Tim C. McAloone, 2015. "Application of Environmental Input-Output Analysis for Corporate and Product Environmental Footprints—Learnings from Three Cases," Sustainability, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 7(9), pages 1-24, August.
    8. Susan A. Kayser & John W. Maxwell & Michael W. Toffel, 2014. "Supply chain screening without certification: The critical role of stakeholder pressure," Working Papers 2014-08, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.

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