Companies are coming under increasing social pressure to reduce the adverse impact of their operating activities. Professor Céline Louche, whose area of expertise is sustainability and related fields, and Professor Ann Vereecke, specialising in Supply Chain Management and manufacturing strategy, set out to develop a tool to help assess to what extent a company has integrated sustainability into its supply chain.
While available data seems to suggest that corporate responsibility (CR) is the prerogative of large businesses, there is ample anecdotal evidence that being a small business does not impede corporate responsible behaviour. Jan Lepoutre, Assistant Professor at Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, has investigated the impact of firm size on CR engagement. SMEs face particular challenges, but are not lacking in opportunities.