Centre for Business Organisations and Society

Building sustainable supply chains (ongoing) - Steve Brammer, Stefan Hoejmose, Andrew Millington

This Network for Business Sustainability funded project is designed to provide a comprehensive comparative review of sustainable supply chain practices in developing versus developed countries. Within this review, a thorough account of building, promoting and ensuring sustainable supply chains is developed using both quantitative (frequency counts, trends) and qualitative content analysis (theme identification) before outlining opportunities for future research. The analysis is based on both academic and practitioner publications, in order to obtain a comprehensive account of the current state of the literature. As such, this review will provide theoretical insights into the development and promotion of sustainable supply chains, while also exploring practical policy to support and implement sustainable supply chains. The review will shed light on the key determinants of successful sustainable supply chain management in developing and developed country settings.

Implementing Environmental and Social Supply Chain Policy: Learning from Corporate Experience (ongoing) -PhD Research - Stefan Hoejmose, Adam Adrien-Kirby - supervised by Steve Brammer and Andrew Millington

This EABIS funded project is being undertaken by three research-based institutions in the UK, Italy and Germany (CBOS, University of Bath; ALTIS Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; CCC, Catholic University of Eichstatt-Ingolstadt). It is concerned with the effective implementation of environmental and social supply chain policy within companies. Although a great deal is known about the incidence and determinants of corporate environmental and social supply chain policy, and the implementation of such policies in supply relationships, little is known about the way in which policy is transformed into action, or the barriers which restrict action within companies. Earlier work suggests that a significant gap exists between policy statements and practical implementation in companies which reflects incentive structures in supply management and top management support for implementation. This project explores the relationship between corporate environmental and social strategy and supply chain environmental and social strategy before evaluating the role and efficiency of the underlying tools which are central to the development and implementation of effective environmental and social supply chain policy within the company. 30 firm level case studies are currently being undertaken in the participating countries.

International Social and Environmental Procurement- PhD research (ongoing) - Adam Adrien-Kirby, Stefan Hoejmose - supervised by Steve Brammer and Andrew Millington

This major international collaborative project on social and environmental procurement is being undertaken by the Centre for Business, Organisations and Society with partners in Italy (ALTIS, Universita Cattolica, Milan) and India (LIBA, Loyola College, Chenai). The project examines social and environmental procurement in the UK, Italy, China and India and investigates how firms located in the UK and Italy manage social and environmental issues within their relationships with suppliers in China, India and their domestic market. The supply chain is one of the key contexts within which corporate responsibility issues arise and through which policy implementation occurs. The movement of manufacturing to developing and transitional economies and the substitution of markets and hierarchies by networks have highlighted the need for systematic cross section analysis of social and environmental practices in these markets.

Global Sustainable Public Procurement (completed) - Steve Brammer, Helen Walker

As concerns over environmental and social issues have assumed greater political significance public procurement has become a visible mechanism for government action. This comparative international study investigates approaches to public sector sustainable procurement practices in the US, Canada, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and the Rest of the World within a sample which reflects organisations involved in healthcare, education, public order and justice, transport, and the provision of general public services. Preliminary results suggest that sustainability is embedded in procurement practices around the world but that environmental pressures are not the most prominent.

Brammer, S. & Walker, H. 2009. Sustainable procurement in the United Kingdom public sector. Supply Chain Management 14(2): 128-137 Click here for article.

Sustainable procurement: an institutional perspective’ (PhD Research - ongoing) - Charles Oldroyd, supervised by Johanne Grosvold & Andrew Millington

Sustainability has developed into a multi-disciplinary issue in contemporary business environments. An increased emphasis on the wider societal and environmental impacts of business has caused firms to adopt sustainable supply chain practices, the procurement function being increasingly concerned with sourcing goods and services that conform with sustainable business principles . Whilst scholarship has begun to address the motivations and drivers of socially and environmentally sustainable procurement, little research has evaluated how institutional pressures affect sustainable procurement practices, nor addressed how these may differ between the public and private sectors. This research explores these issues and contributes to supply chain literature on how institutional contexts affect sustainable procurement.

Sustainable public procurement in Malaysia (PhD Research – ongoing) – Ridzuan (Harry) Mohd Ramli Kushari, supervised by Krista Bondy & Andrew Millington