The Importance Of Business Ethics And Sustainability Within Supply Chains

Master's Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Business Ethics, Corporate Ethics, grade: 78 % (1,0), University of Exeter (Business School), course: Strategy/Operations, language: English, abstract: 1. Introduction "Ethics are in vogue" is an assertion drawn after the International Herald Tribune (IHT) conference on luxury (Smale, 2007). The reason for this statement is the presumption of an emergent type of luxury consumer whose purchase decision is up to the ethical behaviour of business. Is this concept mere wishful thinking or does it reflect empirical reality, since the latter would void the expression "the devil wears Prada". It is obvious, that the conventional way of economic development not any longer satisfies the needs of the world in which we live - "the environment is, without doubt, one area which is being subjected to greater public scrutiny" (Dembkowski and Hanmer-Llyod, 1994). Society increasingly requires a healthy living, innovative, efficient and safe technologies as well as a "stable and safe" natural and social environment (Jochem 2011). The media especially reports on ethical and sustainable business conduct and its affects on "human health, the ecosystem and future generations" (Bonacchi and Rinaldi, 2006). Simultaneously to the increasing requirements of ethical and sustainable business conduct, the luxury fur demand is substantially growing. From US $ 456.99 million in 2001, the world fur outlook estimates an increase in sales up to US $ 854.13 million in 2011 (Parker, 2005) - fur auction houses sell "record-breaking" numbers. Fur re-emerges as a fashionable design material; especially younger designers are "fascinated with fur and use it in innovative ways" (Foreman, 2010). The material has also trickled down to the streets - the younger generation demands it more than ever; even child fashion designers use it for their collections (Vulsier, 2010). The inherent question from these insights is whether both developme

Master's Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Business Ethics, Corporate Ethics, grade: 78 % (1,0), University of Exeter (Business School), course: Strategy/Operations, language: English, abstract: 1. Introduction “Ethics are in vogue” is an assertion drawn after the International Herald Tribune (IHT) conference on luxury (Smale, 2007). The reason for this statement is the presumption of an emergent type of luxury consumer whose purchase decision is up to the ethical behaviour of business. Is this concept mere wishful thinking or does it reflect empirical reality, since the latter would void the expression “the devil wears Prada”. It is obvious, that the conventional way of economic development not any longer satisfies the needs of the world in which we live – “the environment is, without doubt, one area which is being subjected to greater public scrutiny” (Dembkowski and Hanmer-Llyod, 1994). Society increasingly requires a healthy living, innovative, efficient and safe technologies as well as a “stable and safe” natural and social environment (Jochem 2011). The media especially reports on ethical and sustainable business conduct and its affects on “human health, the ecosystem and future generations” (Bonacchi and Rinaldi, 2006). Simultaneously to the increasing requirements of ethical and sustainable business conduct, the luxury fur demand is substantially growing. From US $ 456.99 million in 2001, the world fur outlook estimates an increase in sales up to US $ 854.13 million in 2011 (Parker, 2005) - fur auction houses sell “record-breaking” numbers. Fur re-emerges as a fashionable design material; especially younger designers are “fascinated with fur and use it in innovative ways” (Foreman, 2010). The material has also trickled down to the streets - the younger generation demands it more than ever; even child fashion designers use it for their collections (Vulsier, 2010). The inherent question from these insights is whether both developments, namely an increasing requirement of sustainable and ethical business conduct as well as a growing fur fashion demand, are in line or in contrast to each other. Thus, is a fur producer ethical and sustainable? The author aims to gain knowledge whether a fur business responds to these external societal requirements regarding ethics and sustainability and whether ethical and sustainable or unethical and insustainable business conduct implicates advantages or disadvantages. This study will examine the topics ethics and sustainability within a fur business. The research will examine the supply chain sustainability performance and ethicality of a fur producer and trader from a business and consumer perspective.

Various industries in modern society can contribute to many different sustainable development initiatives. By implementing better processes for resource usage and its impacts, businesses can play a vital role in creating a cleaner environment. Ethics and Sustainability in Global Supply Chain Management is a comprehensive reference source for the latest scholarly material on organizational procedures and methods that ensure environmental sustainability, while maintaining effective production processes. Highlighting the most innovative topics and perspectives, such as life cycle costing, waste management, and business leadership, this book is ideally designed for professionals, academics, practitioners, graduate students, and researchers interested in developing green supply chain processes.

The global supply chain creates environmental and social burdens during different stages of production and distribution. Ethical and sustainable practices along the supply chain seek to minimize these burdens and ensure fair labor practices, lower emissions, and a cleaner environment. Ethical and Sustainable Supply Chain Management in a Global Context uses cases, qualitative studies, empirical results, and analyses of legal frameworks to focus on ethics and sustainability as they relate to the management of global supply chains. Featuring research on topics such as production planning, consumer awareness, and labor laws, this book is ideally designed for managers, policymakers, professionals, researchers, and students working in the field of sustainable development and related disciplines including marketing, economics, finance, operations management, supply chain management, environmental science, and waste management.

The application of sustainability practices at the system level begins with the supply chain. In the business realm, incorporating such practices allows organizations to redesign their operations more effectively. Emerging Applications in Supply Chains for Sustainable Business Development is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on the models, strategies, and analyses that are essential for developing and managing a sustainable supply chain. While highlighting topics such as agile manufacturing and the world food crisis, this publication is ideally designed for business managers, academicians, business practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students seeking current research on sustainable supply chain management.

Sustainability can create greater efficiency and cost savings in the supply chain. Supply chains, which are more complex and global than ever before, are full of both risks and opportunities. The risks range from inconsistent or poor quality, supply disruptions and health and safety concerns, to corruption. Businesses face pressure to adopt sustainable supply chain practices from various stakeholders and motivations typically come from one or more of four sources: customers, compliance, costs, competitive advantage. Sustainability in Global Value Chains is the guide to understanding all aspects and approaches of sustainable supply chains using in-depth research from leading academics from sixteen different universities. Sustainability in Global Value Chains focuses on how to make supply chains sustainable, with an emphasis on new technologies and digitization. The research featured covers topics such as KPIs in production and supply chains, the role of standards, blockchain technology and algebraic models. This comprehensive book presents real world issues, problems in implementing sustainability in the supply chain and examples of best practice.

Management of social issues in supply chain is increasingly becoming challenging and complex. The major challenges for a firm to counter social issues come from both internal and external stakeholders. Thus, firms adopt strategies which, while meeting the stakeholder demands also ensure performance improvements. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is adopted by the firms to address social and societal issues while achieving performance in their supply chains. Supplier development (SD) by the virtue of bringing performance improvement is a core element in implementing CSR. However, research at the intersection of CSR, Supply Chain Management (SCM) and supplier development rarely give insights into the interactions between economic and social performance in supply chains.

The main aim of this dissertation is to bring three different streams of literature (CSR, SCM and SD) and provide conceptual and empirical insights while investigating the role of SD as CSR in achieving performance improvements. Firstly, a conceptual framework based on the literature review is proposed providing more in-depth comprehension of CSR in supply chain. Secondly, based on the previous framework, a conceptual framework focusing on supplier development is proposed adding to the understanding of buyer-supplier relationships and its impact on performance outcomes. Finally empirical investigations into the Dairy supply chain in India using the constructs from these two frameworks, provide insights into the role of SD as CSR. Thus, this dissertation provides insights into the management of social issues in supply chains and makes valuable contributions at the intersection of CSR, SCM and SD.

It is increasingly clear that traditional supply chains which focus on sourcing products from the lowest possible cost suppliers are failing to exploit their full potential. Supply Chain Ethics, through case studies, surveys and unique research, identifies and outlines best practice employed by global manufacturers, retailers and logistics companies. It examines the so-called 'triple advantage' that accrues to businesses when strategies that combine bottom line profits, sustainable environmental practices and positive societal impact are employed. Narrow supply chain strategies which focus on only one of these three factors will inevitably fail. Supply Chain Ethics covers the following issues which affect senior supply chain, operations and manufacturing managers: 'triple advantage' best practice and how it can create value for global businesses; product design; sourcing and warehousing; transportation and recycling; environmental practices of logistics companies and suppliers; supply chain technologies. There is also an invaluable Ethical Supply Chains survey of top global companies.