NGOs’ Initiatives to Enhance Social Sustainability in the Supply Chain: Poverty Alleviation through Supplier Development Programs

This research studies how nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) can implement supply-management practices for poverty alleviation. The research inductively builds a theoretical framework from a nested case study, which includes one NGO and six firms implementing supplier development (SD) programs. The framework suggests a set of resources that enhance the social sustainability of the supply chain without creating trade-offs between economic and social performance. This study has implications for decision-makers in firms and NGOs about the type of resources they need to develop, and the characteristics they should seek when choosing partners for undertaking collaborative initiatives in social sustainability.