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A pathway towards true sustainability: a recognition foundation of sustainable supply chain management

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 13:44 authored by Stefan Gold, Martin Schleper
Sustainable supply chain management has developed at an exponential rate into a distinct research field, but its progress towards sustainability is rather modest, and a coherent theoretical foundation for guiding companies towards a stronger integration of sustainability into their operations and supply chains is still missing. This article outlines how the tradition of critical management studies could foster higher levels of sustainable business and sustainable supply chains. We argue that the underlying instrumental logic of contemporary corporate engagement with sustainability, driven by stakeholder pressures, is a key obstacle when aiming for ‘truly’ sustainable supply chains. Referring to a recognition perspective may dissolve the reified pursuit of profit-seeking and other merely economic performance targets to recall the genuinedand in its essence truly radicaldclaim that the concept of sustainable development is inherently a normative one imposed on all of us. Recognition may lead the way for companies to adopt a caring stance for people and the surrounding environment and to respond to the legitimate expectations of all groups in society while conceiving themselves as an integral part of such a society. We conclude by discussing how far the theoretical perspective of recognition is enrooted in the European tradition of institutionalised businessesociety relationships and therefore could be seen as a rediscovery of a genuinely European way of making business and managing supply chains.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

European Management Journal

ISSN

0263-2373

Publisher

Elsevier

Issue

4

Volume

35

Page range

425-429

Department affiliated with

  • Business and Management Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2018-06-14

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2019-06-27

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2018-06-14

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