Sustainable Supply Chains and Regulatory Policy

Abstract

Increasing concern about global sustainability has ushered in a diverse set of regulatory policies that aim to encourage sustainable practices and outcomes. This chapter sheds light on how these regulatory policies affect multiple aspects of companies’ sustainable supply chain practices. It begins by describing sustainable supply chain strategies more generally, focusing especially on firms’ efforts to reduce their environmental harms. It then discusses how different types of regulation are related to firms’ efforts to make their supply chains more sustainable. Three general regulatory policies are considered: (1) command-and-control regulation; (2) market-based policies; and (3) non-regulatory approaches.