SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION OF ECO-INNOVATIVE ORGANIZATIONS Supply chain sustainability based on supply chain integration of eco-innovative organizations, taking into account organizational size

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2021-08-31
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en
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In literature on sustainable supply chain management, little is known about the extent to which eco-innovative organizations, and in particular SMEs, are integrated in their supporting supply chain. The level of integration of eco-innovative organizations in a supply chain might signal the appropriateness of the external business environment for these types of organizations. An attempt is made to estimate supply chain sustainability based on supply chain integration of eco-innovative organizations taking into account organizational size. The question central to this research is: To what extent are strong eco-innovative organizations in general and strong eco-innovative SMEs in particular integrated in their supply chain compared to weak eco-innovative organizations, and how does the external integration of eco-innovative organizations signal sustainability of the supply chain? This research provides a better understanding of the dependency on - and availability of sustainability in the supporting supply chain of eco-innovative organizations and in particular SMEs. This research is executed using mixed research methods. In different phases of this research both quantitative and qualitative approaches are combined, providing insights in the integration of eco-innovative organizations in a supply chain as well as the way in which this signals sustainability of the supply chain. This led to different results between outsourcing organizational activities to suppliers or cooperating with suppliers as types of supply chain integration. From this it was concluded that the difference between supply chain outsourcing and cooperation dictates the significant positive or negative extent to which strong eco-innovative organizations in general and strong eco-innovative SMEs in particular are integrated in their supply chain. Strong eco-innovative SMEs in particular are to a greater extent outsourcing to- and cooperating with their upstream supply chain compared to large strong eco-innovative organizations. This was explained using the resource based view, transaction cost theory, and the open innovation theory. Finally, a difference was found in the use of supplier sustainability performance measures in large eco-innovative organizations and SMEs. This indicated that external integration signals supply chain sustainability differently taking into account organizational size. Based on this, it is recommended that eco-innovative organizations and SMEs in particular outsource to- or cooperate with upstream supply chain partners using sustainability performance measures, to increase the level of supply chain integration and positively impact supply chain sustainability. Future research could focus on the difference between outsourcing activities to suppliers and cooperating with suppliers for eco-innovation activities.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen