The Value Of Environmental Sustainability: A Shared Responsibility : An exploration of B2B companies in Sweden and their costs and benefits of selecting sustainable business partners, using ISO 14001 as a point of reference.

Abstract: Background: The business-to-business (B2B) industry stands for a significant portion of the environmental issue, yet the customer is still having price, quality, and service as major determinants for the choice of suppliers. The difficulty on how to evaluate environmental factors is hence increasingly demanding. One common and simple way for businesses to present their efforts towards sustainability is to certify their Environmental Management System with an ISO 14001 certification. Nonetheless, the question remains of the value of this premise in Sweden in our contemporary world. This study thereby investigates the value of working with environmentally sustainable business partners in the B2B market in Sweden. Purpose: This paper aims to explore the cost and benefits of working with environmentally sustainable business partners, using ISO 14001 as a reference point, within the Swedish B2B market.  Method: This study adheres to the interpretivist paradigm, with a qualitative approach. Nine semi-structured interviews with six B2B companies in Sweden were conducted and analysed via thematic analysis, using codes and emerging themes.  Conclusion: There are severe gaps in the ISO 14001 framework, and that one cannot trust it as much regarding the environment as intended or as much as firms do today. The real value for environmental sustainability is created when sustainable B2B firms start selecting suppliers based on their own sustainable values, not on time efficiency or costs. For a shared responsibility, firms have to evaluate suppliers based on actual and not perceived environmentally sustainable efforts.