Legal Implications of Sustainable Value Chains for the Multi-National Company
Abstract
Evolving international regulations are driving sustainability innovation and improvement in many value chains. Additionally, business-to-business relationships are further creating voluntary self-regulatory influences. This is impacting and complicating supply chain decisions from relationships with suppliers and customers, to strategic, marketing, financing, and operating decisions needed to comply with growing regulatory and stakeholder demands for more sustainable value chains. Broader supply chain network decisions are putting pressure on corporate strategies to not only enhance value to the customer, but also address social and environmental conditions in order to capture opportunities to further improve profit and market growth. This paper examines research in this field and while highlighting a case study on one organization’s journey to seek out value chains for sustainability compliance, we identify the pertinent European laws for multi-nationals seeking to compete in the global sustainability market.