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.

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 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.

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.

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

EPUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Today, production processes have become fragmented with a range of activities divided among firms and workers across borders. These global value chains are being strongly promoted by international organisations, such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, but social and political backlash is mounting in a growing variety of forms. This ambitious volume brings together academics and activists from Europe to address the social and environmental imbalances of global production. Thinking creatively about how to reform the current economic system, this book will be essential reading for those interested in building sustainable alternatives at local, regional and global levels.

Global value chains (GVCs) are a key feature of the global economy in the 21st century. They show how international investment and trade create cross-border production networks that link countries, firms and workers around the globe. This Handbook describes how GVCs arise and vary across industries and countries, and how they have evolved over time in response to economic and political forces. With chapters written by leading interdisciplinary scholars, the Handbook unpacks the key concepts of GVC governance and upgrading, and explores policy implications for advanced and developing economies alike. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial}