COMPETITION, STRATEGY AND SOCIALLY AND ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE PROCUREMENT

This paper examines how competition and competitive strategy influence companies' propensity to engage in socially and environmentally responsible procurement processes (SERP). We interview 141 British procurement managers, on their perception of their company's competitive strategy and the competitive environment in which they operating in. In addition, participants were asked how important responsible procurement was for their overall business and their strategy. Our results suggest that companies that produce a differentiated product engage in relatively proactive SERP process, compared to their counterparties, who aimed to produce a product at the lowest price possible.