The use of environmental and social standards by German first‐tier suppliers of the Volkswagen AG

Abstract Sustainable supply chain management requires suppliers to be evaluated against a wider set of criteria. Quality standards (ISO 9000) play a central role for evaluating suppliers' economic performance, e.g. in the automotive industry. Regarding sustainability, the implementation of environmental and social standards could play a similar role. But almost no data is available on their degree of implementation or their importance for supplier evaluation. The aim of this survey (conducted in autumn 2003) was to evaluate whether and to what degree environmental and social standards have been implemented in the German car industry. The survey yielded 111 usable questionnaires, equalling a response rate of 29%. The results of the survey show that environmental standards, particularly ISO 14001, are already widely used, while this is not the case for social standards. The social dimension of sustainability has been lacking in implementation so far. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.