Value chains are a vital part of how our world operates, yet we are only beginning to understand how to make them sustainable. This volume addresses the crux of that challenge by presenting a broad array of options for understanding and managing the complexity of sustainability initiatives that affect, and are also influenced by value chains. Its chapters present diverse perspectives on both political and private sector governance, including governmental regulations and private standards, and embrace the emergent and critical value of innovative approaches to monitoring and evaluating progress. Finally, the volume offers a review of concrete examples for transformation and transition towards more sustainable value chains in selected sectors, including, amongst others, agriculture, forestry, mining, and tourism.

This book contains a collection of studies on the interactions between businesses in Africa and Global Value Chains (GVCs) in terms of social, environmental and economic sustainability. This is particularly pertinent given the asymmetrical power distribution between the global buyer and the African supplier, their governance relationships and the ongoing competitive pressures to reduce costs and increase flexibility to meet GVC demands. Rather than focusing on the sustainability of a single organization, GVCs address the sustainability of inter-firm value chains and global industries as a whole. With little differentiation between value chain creation and social / environmental degradation extending to people and raw material extraction (upstream) and disposal or recycling (downstream), sustainability issues need to be at the forefront of African business research interests. Nowadays, sustainability is considered a competitive advantage for a firm looking to join a GVC. Whether sustainability is approached from the viewpoint of an exporting firm motivated to join a GVC in its respective industry or whether a firm’s continuing contractual or collaborative relationship with a buyer depends on its compliance with sustainability standards, both approaches focus on the ability of firms in Africa to benefit from joining sustainable GVCs.

Sustainability can create greater efficiency and cost savings in the supply chain. Supply chains, which are more complex and global than ever before, are full of both risks and opportunities. The risks range from inconsistent or poor quality, supply disruptions and health and safety concerns, to corruption. Businesses face pressure to adopt sustainable supply chain practices from various stakeholders and motivations typically come from one or more of four sources: customers, compliance, costs, competitive advantage. Sustainability in Global Value Chains is the guide to understanding all aspects and approaches of sustainable supply chains using in-depth research from leading academics from sixteen different universities. Sustainability in Global Value Chains focuses on how to make supply chains sustainable, with an emphasis on new technologies and digitization. The research featured covers topics such as KPIs in production and supply chains, the role of standards, blockchain technology and algebraic models. This comprehensive book presents real world issues, problems in implementing sustainability in the supply chain and examples of best practice.

This book introduces the integrated management concept of "Sustainable Value Creation", which delivers sustainability ‘inside-out’ from the core business. It is based on the premise that sustainability can provide a platform for growth, if it is implemented in a company’s products, services and supply chains (combined also known as the 'Value Chain'). Managing the Value Chain from the outset with a sustainability mindset subsequently allows profitable economical, ecological and societal growth. It combines the need for increased sustainability and its implementation in the operations of a company. The book addresses the following issues: How do economic, environmental and societal factors impact the value-creation process of a company? What requirements and expectations need to be met to balance economic, ecologic and societal value creation? What are the building blocks and measures that can be utilized on the journey towards building a sustainable value chain? What benefits can be achieved through sustainable value chains? What are the practical examples of sustainable value chains in leading companies that can inspire others to follow? The book includes contributions from the following organisations and companies: Beiersdorf, SAP, Klenk und Hoursch, VAUDE, Infineon Technologies, Independent Capital Management, BASF, Nanogate, the Federal German Council for Sustainable Development, Henkel, Symrise, shared.value.chain, Siemens, Fairphone and Thin Air Factory

Economic, technological, and political shifts as well as changing business strategies have driven firms to unbundle production processes and disperse them across countries. Thanks to these changes, developing countries can now increase their participation in global value chains (GVCs) and thus become more competitive in agriculture, manufacturing and services. This is a paradigm shift from the 20th century when countries had to build the entire supply chain domestically to become competitive internationally. For policymakers, the focus is on boosting domestic value added and improving access to resources and technology while advancing development goals. However, participating in global value chains does not automatically improve living standards and social conditions in a country. This requires not only improving the quality and quantity of production factors and redressing market failures, but also engineering equitable distributions of opportunities and outcomes - including employment, wages, work conditions, economic rights, gender equality, economic security, and protecting the environment. The internationalization of production processes helps with very few of these development challenges. Following this perspective, Making Global Value Chains Work for Development offers a strategic framework, analytical tools, and policy options to address this challenge. The book conceptualizes GVCs and makes it easier for policymakers and practitioners to discuss them and their implications for development. It shows why GVCs require fresh thinking; it serves as a repository of analytical tools; and it proposes a strategic framework to guide policymakers in identifying the key objectives of GVC participation and in selecting suitable economic strategies to achieve them.

The interaction of sustainability governance and global value chains has crucial implications the world over. When it comes to sustainability the last decade has witnessed the birth of hybrid forms of governance where business, civil society and public actors interact at different levels, leading to a focus on concepts of legitimacy within multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs). Based in over 15 years of theoretical engagement and field research, Business, Power and Sustainability draws from both labour-intensive value chains, such as in the agro-food sector (coffee, wine, fish, biofuels, palm oil), and from capital-intensive value chains such as in shipping and aviation, to discuss how sustainability governance can be best designed, managed and institutionalized in today’s world of global value chains (GVCs). Examining current theoretical and analytical efforts aimed at including sustainability issues in GVC governance theory, it expands on recent work examining GVC upgrading by introducing the concept of environmental upgrading; and through new conceptions of orchestration, it provides suggestions for how governments and international organizations can best facilitate the achievement of sustainability goals. Essential reading on the governance of sustainability in the twenty-first century.

Sustainability is changing and changing rapidly. It is becoming more widespread as companies and customers uncover its power, attractiveness, and sustainability, as well as receiving more attention in the press. Support for sustainability lies within new tools, frameworks, and approaches. The authors capture these and other developments in this second volume of Developing Sustainable Supply Chains. In the first volume, the authors assess major management opportunities; this second volume focuses on implementation; when combined the result is a complete, action-oriented treatment of sustainability. Written by two of the leading academic researchers in this area, this series introduces the reader, whether a student, manager, or experienced sustainability advocate, to the various tools, frameworks, and approaches that work.