Understanding the Success Factors of Sustainable Supply Chain Management: Empirical Evidence from the Electrics and Electronics Industry

ABSTRACT Recent studies have reported that organizations are often unable to identify the key success factors of Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) and to understand their implications for management practice. For this reason, the implementation of SSCM often does not result in noticeable benefits. So far, research has failed to offer any explanations for this discrepancy. In view of this fact, our study aims at identifying and analyzing the factors that underlie successful SSCM. Success factors are identified by means of a systematic literature review and are then integrated into an explanatory model. Consequently, the proposed success factor model is tested on the basis of an empirical study focusing on recycling networks of the electrics and electronics industry. We found that signaling, information provision and the adoption of standards are crucial preconditions for strategy commitment, mutual learning, the establishment of ecological cycles and hence for the overall success of SSCM. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.