Analyzing and evaluating supplier carbon footprints in supply networks

Green purchasing in green supply chain management (GSCM) literature plays an essential role in achieving carbon neutrality by seeking to eliminate CO2 emissions. Single organizations would, however, not aim at such a goal if it is to their economic detriment. GSCM research streams highlight that the successful implementation of environmental considerations leads to better economic performance in the long term. Therefore, this paper aims to identify and analyze suppliers that exhibit both environmental and economic success, indicating an effective and efficient realization of their sustainability measures. Given the long-term horizon of the research problem, we differentiate from previous microeconomic research by taking a macro perspective on sustainable supplier analysis, which investigates macroeconomic indicators focusing on firms' revenues. The above-described economic and environmental efficiency is analyzed in a multiple case study using sustainability reports from 66 OEM suppliers as well as data on their revenues and ratings on their carbon pollution measured by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). First, a text mining inspired quantitative sustainable SWOT analysis is performed to evaluate the long-term strategy of organizations. A subsequent data envelopment analysis aims to identify efficient suppliers and causes for their efficiency. The overall results not only outline sustainable suppliers but also give insights into suppliers that may become sustainable in the future. We further show that large organizations struggle with meeting environmental expectations, whereas low-to-medium-sized suppliers tend to be more economically and environmentally efficient.. Based on the results, we discuss implications both for management research and practice.