Dynamic Capabilities in Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Philip Beske’s thesis addresses the resulting research gap by linking the theories of sustainable supply chain management and dynamic capabilities and thereby presents a welcome contribution towards closing it. As a first step he turns to the underlying question of what are the constitutive elements of sustainable supply chain management. This is insightful as it emphasizes that “conventional” supply chain management is not sufficient, but a wider set of objectives has to be taken into account in satisfying sustainability requirements. Against this background Philip Beske develops a conceptual framework for dynamic capabilities in sustainable supply chain management. The assumption is that such capabilities would improve sustainability performance both for the companies as well the related supply chain. The example of organic cotton supply chains then serves as a first application field for this concept. Further empirical research is presented on the relational view in the organic apples supply chain.