Extending CSR in SMEs’ upstream supply chains: a dynamic capabilities perspective

ABSTRACT

In recent years, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has benefited from a renewed interest in supply chains. However, little scholarly attention has been paid to the CSR practices in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)’ supply chains that lie beyond the first-tier supplier. Drawing from the dynamic capabilities perspective, the purpose of this study is twofold: first, to examine how SMEs extend CSR into their multi-tier supply chain (MSC); and second, to investigate the drivers of and the barriers to this process. A multiple-case study was conducted to examine six triadic relationships of SMEs including sub-suppliers. We performed within-case and cross-case analyses. The study shows that SMEs use ‘co-evolving’ or ‘reflexive control’ capabilities to extend CSR to the SME first-tier supplier. The findings reveal that, in contrast, SMEs use ‘active delegation’, ‘supply chain re-conceptualization’ capabilities or a ‘don’t bother’ approach to extend CSR to the SME second-tier supplier. Besides, our study shows that the type of internal drivers (instrumental or normative) determines the dynamic capabilities implemented at the first-tier and at the second-tier supplier level, while external drivers are weak and the barriers are primarily internal.

KEYWORDS:

• Triadic relationships
• upstream supply chain
• dynamic capabilities
• corporate social responsibility
• small- to medium-sized enterprises

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.