Title: An analysis of sustainable procurement guidelines in Japanese manufacturing companies: clarifying the current state and future directions

Authors: Akira Endo; Eiki Yamakawa

Addresses: Graduate School of Societal Safety Sciences, Kansai University, 7-1 Hakubai-cho, Takatsuki, 569-1098, Osaka, Japan ' Faculty of Societal Safety Sciences, Kansai University, 7-1 Hakubai-cho, Takatsuki, 569-1098, Osaka, Japan

Abstract: Manufacturing companies must implement sustainable procurement to avoid sustainability-related supply chain risks. This study aimed to clarify the current state, tendencies, and issues in the sustainable procurement guidelines (SPG) in the Japanese manufacturing sector. It investigated 160 major Japanese firms and collected text data on 130 firms' SPGs, on which text-mining and correspondence analyses were conducted. The survey identified that the examined companies have either been developing or revising their SPGs proactively. Some pre-requisite concepts for setting of SPGs need to be promoted for greater association with the main 'setting' topics. Additionally, this study indicated that corporate social responsibility rules influence the topics for establishing SPGs. The findings can serve as reference for firms to develop or revise their SPGs. Future researchers should focus on a reference model of SPGs based on procurement risk communication with stakeholder collaboration, including companies, customers, investors, governments, non-governmental organisations, and not-for-profit organisations.

Keywords: sustainable procurement; sustainable procurement guideline; SPG; sustainable purchasing; corporate social responsibility; CSR; procurement risk management; PRM; procurement risks; Japanese manufacturing companies; supply chain.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPM.2024.136050

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2024 Vol.19 No.2, pp.196 - 207

Received: 05 Oct 2022
Accepted: 16 Oct 2022
Published online: 15 Jan 2024 *

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