Oguz Morali
and
Cory Searcy

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to explore how sustainability criteria have been incorporated into supply chain management (SCM) practices in Canadian corporations.  Given the increasing pressure on corporations to address the economic, environmental, and social implications of their operations, this is an important contribution.  The paper focuses on addressing six interrelated research questions: (1) How do companies measure the success of their sustainability initiatives in the supply chain? (2) What indicators are currently used to measure supplier performance in sustainability? (3) What are the minimum acceptable standards for sustainable SCM? (4) What are the barriers to incorporating sustainability issues in SCM? (5) Where in the supply chain does a company’s accountability stop? and (6) How can suppliers be encouraged to be more sustainable? Addressing these research questions will provide needed insight into the extent to which indicators, standards, and reporting initiatives are used to support sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices in Canadian corporations.  In this light, the paper is organized into four sections.  Following a brief introduction, a survey of peer-reviewed literature is presented.  Particular emphasis is devoted to exploring the degree to which the research questions have been addressed in previous studies.  The literature review provides context for the next section, which focuses on a content analysis of 20 Canadian corporate sustainable development reports.  The content analysis highlights several interesting trends in Canadian reporting, particularly the wide variety of ways in which corporations address SSCM issues. It also highlights the need for further work on the research questions, including the need for surveys and interviews with Canadian experts on SSCM.  The paper closes with a brief summary and conclusions.