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Sustainability Governance of Global Supply Chains: A Systematic Literature Review with Particular Reference to Private Regulation

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Sustainable Global Value Chains

Part of the book series: Natural Resource Management in Transition ((NRMT,volume 2))

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Abstract

An essential contribution to sustainable development is the integration of environmentally and socially responsible practices into globalised economic systems, including highly branched supply chains spread across developed and developing countries. Due to the complexity of global production networks, a further increase of social and environmental risks is to be expected. To mitigate these risks, existing sustainability governance instruments need to be analysed, evaluated and further developed; new instruments need to be generated against the background of experience and conclusions from previous initiatives. This chapter presents a systematic literature review conducted on behalf of GIZ, aiming to accumulate and expand knowledge on major governance mechanisms for sustainability in global supply chains (Fischer and Jentsch, Ergebnisse der Studie “Einflussmechanismen für Nachhaltigkeit in globalen Lieferketten”, working paper no. 29. Institut für Technologie und Arbeit e.V., Kaiserslautern, 2016). The chapter elaborates especially on private regulation as one of the governance instruments, which is currently gaining greater importance in sustainability related public, scientific and political discourse. The study findings were exemplified and interpreted taking into consideration the aspects of effectivity and legitimacy of private standards as well as the key factors of influence on their design, application and impact.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    These preliminary projects were “Sustainable Design of International Value Creation Chains: Actors and Governance Systems” (German acronym NAWAGO, 2008–2010); “Early Risk Indicator System for Corporate Social Responsibility” (2011–2012), “Corporate Responsibility in Procurement” (2013–2016) and a PhD thesis on Corporate Sustainability (Fischer 2017); for more detailed information see www.ita-kl.de.

  2. 2.

    Each of the named characteristics is influenced by a range of factors. For the detailed analysis of the governance mechanism ‘market/sustainable consumption’ see Fischer and Jentsch (2016).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Technology and Work, Associated Institute of the University Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Marina Jentsch

  2. FOM University of Applied Science, Study Centre Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany

    Klaus Fischer

Authors
  1. Marina Jentsch
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  2. Klaus Fischer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marina Jentsch .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Planning, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU), Cottbus, Germany

    Michael Schmidt  & Dmitry Palekhov  & 

  2. The Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA), Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Daniele Giovannucci

  3. Division Climate Change, Rural Development, Infrastructure, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Eschborn, Germany

    Berthold Hansmann

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Jentsch, M., Fischer, K. (2019). Sustainability Governance of Global Supply Chains: A Systematic Literature Review with Particular Reference to Private Regulation. In: Schmidt, M., Giovannucci, D., Palekhov, D., Hansmann, B. (eds) Sustainable Global Value Chains. Natural Resource Management in Transition, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14877-9_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14877-9_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-14876-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-14877-9

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