Leadership in Multi-Tier Green Supply Chains : A case study about how supply chain leaders and their followers cascade green sustainability throughout a multi-tier supply chain

Abstract: Motivation: Previous research has shown that the focal firm’s supply chain leadership styles could have an impact on the outcome of green supply chain management. However, previous studies of focal firms, such as multinational corporations, have shown that many govern their supply chains through an indirect approach, which needs further research due to the lack of research in the combination of different supply chain leadership and followership styles. Previous research has also indicated that little research has been done on barriers to green supply chain management from the supplier's perspective, especially concerning the followership style and governance mechanism. The context of the study is in the electric-automotive industry, and more specifically, on an original equipment manufacturer's multi-tier supply chain, where the increased use of printed circuit boards has shown to have a tremendous negative impact on the climate. Purpose: The study set out to investigate how supply chain leaders and followers, together with their respective styles and governance mechanisms, are cascading green sustainability throughout the printed circuit board’s multi-tier supply chain. An additional purpose is to find out the barriers to green supply chains from the suppliers’ perspective. Methodology: The study takes a qualitative approach with a single case study design. Further, the different members in the OEM's multi-tier supply chain were interviewed with a semi-structured interviewing method, and respondents were found by a snowballing technique. Finally, the interviews were recorded, transcribed, and then coded and thematized in NVivo. Findings: Interesting findings showed that all supply chain members used an indirect approach as the governance mechanism, which led to the suppliers simultaneously assuming both a leadership role and a followership role. Further, contrasting to previous research was that all the closest tier one suppliers assumed an opposite followership style than the OEM’s leadership style; however, what partly confirms previous research is that the supplier’s leadership style was the same as the OEM. In addition, interesting behavior from the tier two suppliers showed that they assumed a different leadership and followership style than the tier one, which was discussed as a potential reason that the tier one suppliers have lesser influence than the OEMs. Lastly, several barriers to reaching green supply chains were discovered. One of the most problematic was the transparency barrier, which complicated collaboration further down the multi-tier supply chain. Another finding indicated that the use of third-parties could harm the motivation of the followers.