Towards strategic sustainability: the barriers and enablers of supplier involvement in product stewardship and clean technology strategies

Many of today’s firms see sustainability as an exercise in reducing costs and minimizing risk. These organizations use pollution control or prevention techniques to limit the amount of waste in products or processes. By drawing on the Natural Resource Based View this paper calls for a more strategic approach to sustainability; one which moves beyond pollution prevention towards product stewardship and clean technology strategies. Specifically, the paper argues that suppliers should be involved in embedding product stewardship and clean technology strategies in a firm’s new product development process to achieve a competitive advantage. To make this argument, the paper uses an in-depth case study of a high technology firm in the aerospace industry. The case study extends past the boundaries of the firm to include an examination of a supplier and customer, termed a triadic case study design. A triangulated data collection approach is used including forty-two semi-structured interviews, eight focus groups and secondary data. A theoretical contribution is made by determining how technological uncertainty affects supplier involvement in embedding product stewardship and clean technology strategies in new product development efforts. Practically, the paper advances a matrix to assist managers in deciding on appropriate types of supplier relationships when pursing a product stewardship or clean technology strategy.