Title: SMEs' suppliers' practices and contractors' expectations on CSR management tools: the gap

Authors: Karen Delchet-Cochet; Juliette Azhar-Arnal

Addresses: ISC Paris Business School, 22, bd du fort de vaux, 75017 Paris, France ' Université Paris Nanterre, Bâtiment G, 200 Avenue de la République, 92000 Nanterre, France

Abstract: Stakeholder relationships, especially between multinational companies (MNCs) and their numerous suppliers [small and medium enterprises (SMEs)] are closely intertwined in a supply chain perspective (Gereffi and Lee, 2016). It is a major challenge to properly disseminate more sustainable practices, products and services respecting local and global ecosystems. But MNCs and SMEs are not only 'lost in sustainable tools', but also are different in their expectations and practices. Paradoxically, though MNCs and SMEs are encouraged/and are often willing to adopt CSR tools (ISO26000, AA1000 AS, etc.) to reach economic, social and environmental sustainable goals specifically based on a stakeholder approach, they tend to impose inappropriate tools to SMEs and a 'no dialogue' relationship. The aim of this paper is to compare CSR tools developed and used by SMEs on the one hand and developed and used by large contractors for their suppliers on the other hand. The question of alignment between SMEs' practices and MNCs' expectations is important to ensure a sustainable performance among the supply chain and manage this relationship between suppliers and contractors.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility; CSR; social and environmental standards; sustainable procurement; suppliers-contractors relationships; small and medium enterprises; SMEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSD.2017.089997

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2017 Vol.20 No.3/4, pp.250 - 268

Accepted: 05 Oct 2017
Published online: 26 Feb 2018 *

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