HBR's 10 Must Reads 2022: The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review (with bonus article "Begin with Trust" by Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss)

A More Sustainable Supply Chain

by Verónica H. Villena and Dennis A. Gioia

IN RECENT YEARS a rising number of multinational corporations have pledged to work only with suppliers that adhere to social and environmental standards. Typically, these MNCs expect their first-tier suppliers to comply with those standards, and they ask that those suppliers in turn ask for compliance from their suppliers—who ideally ask the same from their suppliers. And so on. The aim is to create a cascade of sustainable practices that flows smoothly throughout the supply chain, or, as we prefer to call it, the supply network.

It’s an admirable idea, but it’s been hard to realize in practice. Many of the MNCs that have committed to it have faced scandals brought about ...