Supply management and corporate social responsibility: the challenge of global chain traceability

The sustainable supply chain has become a major research topic and has given rise to a large number of academic works. These studies focus on how supply management integrates environmental, social and economic criteria allowing a network of interlinked organizations to achieve long-term economic viability. The objective of this research is to explore the paradigm shift that buyers must undergo when adopting a sustainable development approach. This new vision extends and surpasses the traditional dyadic buyer-supplier relationship that has historically dominated the field leading to a new global supply chain dynamic. The case of the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris is used to question the ability of a hub firm to ensure component traceability from first-tier and second-tier suppliers and thus consolidate their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. Indeed, second-tier supplier failure to comply with CSR requirements, even if the first-tier suppliers meet these requirements, may damage customer perception of the hub firm's strategic positioning. This research mobilizes the agency theory conceptual framework to illustrate that hub firms tend to trust first-tier suppliers with verifying CSR requirements in the upstream supply chain to reduce direct agency costs (monitoring and bonding expenditures). If this approach becomes widespread, it is highly likely that CSR expansion along the global supply chain will be ineffective.