Socialt ansvarstagande i leverantörskedjan : En fallstudie hos SSAB EMEA Inköp

Sustainable development can be explained by dividing the concept into three dimensions; economical, social and environmental, which should support each other in the progress towards sustainable development. Companies and organizations need to take responsibility for all of these dimensions to achieve a sustainable development. This is referred to as social responsibility. An increased focus on these issues has been observed, partly as a consequence of media reports and scandals revealing large corporations that fail in taking social responsibility. This have further led to an increased focus on issues concerning how companies take responsibility for the actions of suppliers. These suppliers sometimes act on markets where laws and regulations concerning environment, social rights, workers rights and anti-corruption not always are respected. A large Swedish industrial corporation with suppliers throughout the world has to consider the extended supply chain as a risk factor in its work to achieve and maintain social responsibility. The role of the purchasing function is therefore crucial to achieve social responsibility in the whole corporation. The aim of this study is to investigate to which extent a purchasing function in a large Swedish industrial corporation works towards achieving social responsibility in the supply chain. For this purpose, a theoretical frame of reference was set up, where following topics were concluded as important factors for social responsibility in the supply chain: 1.Organizational governance 2.Integration within the purchasing function 3.Suppliers – classification and risk evaluation 4.Suppliers – negotiation and contracting 5.Suppliers – supervision and evaluation 6.Suppliers – relationship development 7.Stakeholders, cooperation and communication All of the seven identified areas are of importance to achieve success and they all have to be addressed. The analysis reveals that several of the components are in place within the SSAB EMEA purchasing function, but improvement areas are also identified. Classification and risk evaluation, as well as negotiation and contracting, are identified as strengths, where several of the key components are in place to enable a successful progress. The other five identified areas are in need of further development in terms of planning and frameworks.Validerat; 20130916 (global_studentproject_submitter