Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Today, society faces a major challenge of global warming. To combat this, sustainability issues have become increasingly relevant, combining economic goals, social goals, and environmental goals into one overarching objective. Forests play a crucial role in achieving these goals, both by acting as carbon sinks and by providing raw material for forest products that can replace fossil-based products. The forest industry has been criticized for not being sustainable and has therefore come under increasing pressure to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR). To achieve this, suppliers of forest products play an important role, which is why this study examines how suppliers work with CSR throughout the supply chain. The study looks at how suppliers motivate their CSR efforts through four different theories: instrumental, political, integrative, and ethical. To understand how the suppliers achieve this, the study also applies the theory of sustainable procurement. The study takes a qualitative approach and conducts semi-structured interviews with two participating companies. The results showed that the companies followed an integrative motivation, meaning they work with CSR primarily to meet stakeholders’ demands. This was also evident in how external stakeholder requirements could affect the companies in different ways. The integrative motivation was often accompanied either by an ethical desire to ‘do the right thing’ or an instrumental desire to remain competitive. The results also showed that sustainable procurement was carried out with a strong focus on purchasing certified raw materials, conducting supplier reporting, and ensuring transparency throughout the supply chain.