Doctoral thesis: Supply risk in addition to image risk motivate investments in sustainable supply chain

A product is only as sustainable as the practices of all the companies involved in manufacturing it are, says Hanna-Riitta Harilainen in her doctoral thesis "Managing Supplier Sustainability Risk". Harilainen's study explores what is problematic in sustainable supply chain management from a practitioner perspective and draws up a framework of what drives both the amount of supplier sustainability risk and the proactive management of it at a company level.

The study finds that, in addition to image risk, supply risk can serve as an effective driver for investments in supplier sustainability.

"A company's supply chain strategies and sourcing practices affect the vulnerability to adverse incidents in its supply chain and the outcomes of those incidents. The sourcing organisation's incentive structure and risk awareness as well as the company's position in the supply chain matter in the focus and proactivity of risk management", Harilainen describes the key findings of her research.

Harilainen's findings can be utilised to understand when proactive supplier sustainability risk management makes sense and what its enablers are. The study utilises grounded theory methodology where theory is seen as emerging from the data, gathered from interviews and company documents of six Finnish multinational companies.

M.Sc.(Econ.) Hanna-Riitta Harilainen defends her doctoral thesis in Supply Chain Management and Corporate Geography: "Managing Supplier Sustainability Risk" on Saturday 26 April 2014.

Time: 26 April 2014 at 12
Place: Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki
Opponent: Professor Constantin Blome, Louvain School of Management, Belgia
Custos: Erkko Professor Gyöngyi Kovács, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki

For more information, please contact:
Hanna Harilainen
Phone: +358 50 577 4005
hanna.harilainen@gmail.com

A copy of the thesis can be downloaded at: https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/44842