Sustainable supply management practices : making a difference in a firm’s sustainability performance

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the role of sustainable supply management (SSM) practices in a firm’s overall sustainability performance and reflect the significance of supply management in this performance. The paper uses dynamic capability view as a theoretical foundation for the research of SSM practices and differentiates between reactive and proactive practices. Design/methodology/approach: The research design includes a focus group session with nine supply management professionals and survey data collected from 111 companies. The research objectives are examined by means of quantitative analyses. Findings: The empirical results show that SSM practices represent a significant share of the firm’s sustainability performance overall. However, the significance of the practices differs depending on the strategic type and importance of the practice. SSM practices reflecting reporting and upstream SCM activities aim to ensure sustainability of the entire supply chain and have a focal role in improving firm’s sustainability performance. Originality/value: A three-dimensional matrix for the categorization of SSM practices is proposed. This is a novel theoretical contribution to the SSM literature. Reactive practices are basic ones where the strategic importance regarding the development of new capabilities is low. Proactive practices are dynamic in nature and aim toward the development of new capabilities. Thus, proactive practices have a long-term effect and are necessary for gaining higher sustainability performance.