Supervisors: Chris Ellegaard & Mai Skjøtt Linneberg
Discussants: Panos Mitkidis & Pernille Smith

Abstract
In academia and practice alike, there is growing support for the notion that “a company is no more sustainable than its supply chain” (Krause et al., 2009, p. 18). This demonstrates a great challenge to the focal firm: an obligation to assume responsibility for the unsustainable practices of the entire supply chain, creating an “extended responsibility” (Bostrom, 2015), or “chain liability effect” (Hartmann & Moeller, 2014). Ultimately, the unsustainable behavior of the supply chain imposes great risks for the focal organization (Hajmohammad & Shevchenko, 2020; Hajmohammad & Vachon, 2016; Villena, 2019), jeopardizing its operations and reputation (Villena & Gioia, 2018) and its ability to create a truly sustainable supply chain (Pagell & Shevchenko, 2014). This suggests that an organization must work together with its suppliers to pursue sustainability whilst being under pressure to solve the consequences of unsustainable actions.

With this project, the goal is to contribute to the understanding of buyer-supplier relationships, exchanges, social processes, and practices when pursuing a more sustainable supply chain. This is based on a qualitative study of a Danish retailer. Driven by low-cost offers, handling more than 1,500 suppliers, and maneuvering novel sustainability initiatives, demands, and regulations, this case provides an interesting setting for an in-depth study of supply chain sustainability and buyer-supplier relationships.

Everyone is welcome!