SUPPLY CHAIN SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH: THE ROLE OF FUNDING

Informe de sostenibilidad en la cadena de suministro en el Sur global: El papel del financiamiento

ABSTRACT

Companies deal with increasing pressure from multiple stakeholders to report not only their sustainable practices, but also their extended supply chain sustainability (SCS). However, the literature has paid less attention to how stakeholder pressures are shaped in the Global South characterized by institutional voids related to contracting, outsourcing, and weak legislation enforcement. This study maps which stakeholder pressures are associated with SCS reporting analyzing an unbalanced panel data of 220 corporate sustainability reports from 2016 to 2018 by Brazilian listed companies. Results show that long-term oriented shareholders and creditors, company size, and adoption of GRI guidelines are all associated with higher levels of SCS reporting, while public and regulatory pressures are not, offering support to the institutional voids rationale. In the absence or weakness of regulatory pressures, long-term funding sources and access to resources seem to step-in as associated drivers of SCS reporting.

Keywords:
supply chain sustainability; transparency; reporting; stakeholder; global reporting initiative