Abstract
This paper deals with the specific impact of sustainable development in purchasing and supply management. As a company “is no more sustainable than its supply chain” (Krause et al., 2009), the purchasing function plays a critical role in helping a firm reach its sustainable development objectives. However, green sourcing is not a straightforward task relying on marginal adaptations of existing purchasing practices and tools. The challenges introduced by sustainable development deeply affect purchasing and supply management strategies and practices and therefore foster a change in the firm’s supply network (Pagell et al., 2010).<br /><br /> After a literature review on sustainable supply chain development and supply network strategies, this paper will present the result of a longitudinal exploratory case study (over 3 years) of a French gardening products distributor– BOTANIC® – which has decided to place sustainable development at the heart of its corporate strategy since 2005. From 2005 to 2008, the researchers observed the transformations implemented by the purchasing function: evolution of specifications, changes in the supplier portfolio content and structure, changes of purchasing processes…<br /><br /> The analysis of the case study reveals the various factors impacted by the introduction of sustainability goals in the firm’s purchasing strategy and illustrates the specific challenges raised by the integration of new purchasing criteria (concerning the buyer’s competences, the issue of product labelling, partnerships with new stakeholders etc.). It confirms that the traditional focus on the minimization of costs and risks based on purchasing portfolio models might be suboptimal when sustainability becomes a competitive priority (Krause et al., 2009). It highlights the relevance of a network approach to supply management in the context of sustainable development (Gadde & Hakansson, 2001).<br /><br /> Following Krause et al.’s recommendations (2009), the paper then draws the consequences of these preliminary findings on purchasing and supply management and addresses the issue of how purchasing can become sustainable supply management. The relevance of relationshipbased sourcing strategies based on an extended sustainable supply network is then discussed.