Sustainability risk management in supply chains : A case study of Finnish companies
Dammert, Eero (2021)
Dammert, Eero
2021
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021120258648
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021120258648
Tiivistelmä
Sustainability has become an important topic of today’s business environment. Stakeholders are more aware of the sustainability phenomenon and thus require companies to comply with their sustainability requirements. At the same time importance of supply chains has increased and competition between companies has switched rather to competition between supply chains. Supply chains are longer and the number of actors has increased which has made sustainability management more complex in supply chains. There is a vast number of sustainability risks in today’s supply chains that can harm companies. Negative reports, loss of reputation, and losing competitive advantages are negative impacts that can be a result of realized sustainability risks in a supply chain. A company is often considered as sustainable as its supply chain. Therefore, companies are required to manage sustainability risks in their supply chains. In this thesis, a sustainability risk management framework is presented. In addition, various management tools are discussed to obtain a holistic view of how sustainability risks can be managed in supply chains.
This thesis discusses how Finnish companies manage sustainability risks in supply chains. The three case companies which are Kesko, UPM, and Neste have been chosen from the 2020 Global 100 ranking and thus represent some of the most sustainable companies in the world. The case companies are analyzed with help of a framework that is presented in previous literature. The analyzed data consists of companies’ reports and other information from their websites. In addition, reports from NGOs are utilized to obtain an objective perspective of the phenomenon. The NGO reports demonstrate that the case companies have had sustainability issues in their supply chains which is a prove of how difficult it is to manage sustainability risks, especially in long supply chains.
The main result of the empirical study is that the case companies have clear frameworks to manage sustainability-related risks in supply chains. The companies utilize similar steps that include the framework that is presented in the literature review. In addition, they have similar tools to manage sustainability risks such as code of conduct, certificates, and supplier development. However, even the case companies have clear operations in sustainability risks management, they have to further develop their processes. Sustainability risk management in supply chains is a constant loop where new risks might occur. Therefore, companies are required to monitor their processes and try to find ways how to improve practices.
This thesis discusses how Finnish companies manage sustainability risks in supply chains. The three case companies which are Kesko, UPM, and Neste have been chosen from the 2020 Global 100 ranking and thus represent some of the most sustainable companies in the world. The case companies are analyzed with help of a framework that is presented in previous literature. The analyzed data consists of companies’ reports and other information from their websites. In addition, reports from NGOs are utilized to obtain an objective perspective of the phenomenon. The NGO reports demonstrate that the case companies have had sustainability issues in their supply chains which is a prove of how difficult it is to manage sustainability risks, especially in long supply chains.
The main result of the empirical study is that the case companies have clear frameworks to manage sustainability-related risks in supply chains. The companies utilize similar steps that include the framework that is presented in the literature review. In addition, they have similar tools to manage sustainability risks such as code of conduct, certificates, and supplier development. However, even the case companies have clear operations in sustainability risks management, they have to further develop their processes. Sustainability risk management in supply chains is a constant loop where new risks might occur. Therefore, companies are required to monitor their processes and try to find ways how to improve practices.
Kokoelmat
- 512 Liiketaloustiede [433]