Fostering firms' ability to cascade sustainability through multi-tier supply chains: an investigation of power sources

Kati Marttinen · Anni‐Kaisa Kähkönen

50 citations0/0 files storedInternational Journal of Operations & Production Management

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Sustainable Supply Chain Management Quality and Supply Management Global trade, sustainability, and social impact

Abstract

Purpose A firm's ability to cascade sustainability requirements further down to lower-tier suppliers might be affected by inter-firm power relations. This study aimed to identify the power sources of focal firms and first- and lower-tier suppliers and to investigate how they may affect their ability to cascade sustainability requirements along multi-tier supply chains. Design/methodology/approach A multiple case study of 24 companies was conducted to investigate the sources of power in multi-tier supply chains. In total, 42 informants from five focal companies, ten first-tier suppliers and nine lower-tier suppliers were interviewed. Findings Differences were found between the sources from which focal firms and first- and lower-tier suppliers drew power. Findings revealed that firms' power sources may increase or impair their ability to cascade sustainability requirements to lower supply chain tiers. Furthermore, multi-tier supply chain-level power sources constitute a significant determinant of firms' ability to disseminate sustainability requirements to lower-tier suppliers. Practical implications The results can help companies and purchasing managers understand how their own and suppliers' power may affect their ability to cascade sustainability agendas to lower-tier suppliers. In particular, the results can be useful for supplier selection and the development of supplier relationship management strategies for fostering sustainability in multi-tier supply chains. Originality/value This study places traditional power perspectives in the context of multi-tier sustainable supply chain management, broadening the view beyond dyadic relationships that have traditionally been the focus of the supply management literature.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 50 citations exist upstream.

References

1989Building Theories from Case Study Research 2007Theory Building From Cases: Opportunities And Challenges 2008A framework of sustainable supply chain management: moving toward new theory 2002Assessing the impact of environmental management systems on corporate and environmental performance 2014Renaissance of case research as a scientific method 1996Collaborative Communication in Interfirm Relationships: Moderating Effects of Integration and Control 1999Power, value and supply chain management 2015Sustainability in multi‐tier supply chains: Understanding the double agency role of the first‐tier supplier

Cited by

2023Toward suppliers' corporate social responsibility performance: the role of relationship dependence 2024Sustainability diffusion in the Chinese semiconductor industry: A stakeholder salience perspective

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.