Social Sustainable Supply Chain Practices and Impacts on Companies Performance: an Exploratory Study on Portuguese Manufacturing Industries

As the role of businesses in contemporary society is changing, sustainable supply chain management has emerged as an important organisational approach to reducing environmental and social risks. Many companies' actions are under pressure from a number of stakeholders, among others customers, media, governments and investors to implement sustainable practices. So far, sustainable practices in the supply chain have focused largely on the environmental side of sustainability in comparison to the social side. Social standards in supply chains such as labour rights and worker safety are rather difficult to ensure because they are detached from the final product and hence demand monitoring for each step in the production process. This research aims at studying the internal and external social sustainable practices of eight Portuguese companies and the relationship with economic and social performance. First, the author identifies the different social practices based on the literature available It then builds on the data collected from interviews with eight Portuguese industrial companies that consisted of 22 semi-structured interviews with general managers, procurement and environmental/safety managers. Secondary data was collected from reports, websites and the companies' internal documentation. Sectors included glass, automotive, drink, wood-based panels, furniture and cork. The results indicate that the companies' performance is positively affected by the implementation of social practices into the supply chain, namely internal social practices. The paper is of use to supply chain managers, policymakers to understand the internal and external social practices used by the organisations and how they influence performance. Further, the findings could act as a key tool for managers seeking to implement socially sustainable supply chain management practices.