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Making supply chains sustainable

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Making Supply Chains Sustainable

A large part of global value creation takes place in integrated supply chains. Here, large companies determine the parameters of the production and action of their suppliers. The competitiveness of developing countries increasingly depends on their companies participating in supply chains. To achieve this, they have to meet ever higher requirements, including sustainability standards. Despite the increasing importance of global supply chains, many chains in developing countries, especially in the food sector, are still local and national; but here, too, demands regarding quality and efficiency are increasing.

For many international supply chains, firms and civil society partners have agreed on voluntary standards and codes of conduct. But the public sector can also influence the design of supply chains. It can mandate basic standards or exert gentle pressure through transparency rules, labelling, promotion of innovative practices, sustainable public procurement and other measures. It is important, however, to keep an eye on unintended consequences: higher standards create barriers to entry and can exclude the weakest market participants.

Supply chain research helps identify opportunities for companies in developing countries. It provides insights into the distribution of income between stages of the value chain. It provides information about dependency relationships, knowledge transfer, or environmental impacts. In this way, policy approaches can be identified that lead to better results for society as a whole. IDOS analyzes, inter alia, the following questions: How can supply chains in agriculture and industry be shaped to serve the interests of society? What is the potential of public procurement? How effective are voluntary sustainability standards and to what extent are they used in emerging countries? How can we move towards a circular economy?

Team

Publications

Fruit and vegetable value chains in Africa
Aboushady, Nora / Lukas Kornher / Chahir Zaki (2024)
in: Sunday P. Odjo / Fousseini Traoré/ Chahir Zaki (eds.), Africa Agriculture Trade Minitor 2024, Kigali and Washington DC: Akademiya2063, 76-133

Aid for trade and export performance of recipient countries: the moderating role of institutions
Aboushady, Nora / Georges Harb / Chahir Zaki (2024)
in: The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Online

Tackling the Epidemic of Informal Employment and Low-Paying Work
Asimeng, Theodore / Alexander Stöcker (2024)
The Current Column of 29 April 2024

Relational contracts in the Rwandan coffee chain
Vrolijk, Kasper (2023)
Policy Brief 25/2023

Chinese firms and adherence to global ESG standards in developing countries: is there potential to create common ground?
Morris, Mike (2023)
Discussion Paper 18/2023

Are global value chains for sale? On business-state relations in the MENA region
Aboushady, Nora / Chahir Zaki (2023)
Discussion Paper 17/2023

Trade policy and food security in turbulent times
Aboushady, Nora / Chahir Zaki (2023)
in: Salvatore Capasso / Giovanni Canitano (eds.), Mediterranean Economies 2023 - The impact of the Russia-Ukraine war in the Mediterranean region: the socio-economic consequences, Bologna: Il Mulino, 141-171

The EU-CEAP impacts on developing countries: an analysis of the plastic packaging, electric vehicles and batteries sectors
To, Jenny(2022)
Discussion Paper 12/2022

Wage effects of global value chains participation and position: An industry-level analysis
Ndubuisi, Gideon \ Solomon Owusu(2022)
in: The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development 31 (7), 1086-1107

The three great stimulants: an analysis of the cocoa, coffee, and tea value chains in Africa
Aboushady, Nora / Chahir Zaki / Devesh Roy(2022)
in: Bouët, Antoine / Sunday P. Odjo / Chahir Zaki (eds.), Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor 2022, Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

The opportunities and challenges of Industry 4.0 for industrial development: a case study of Morocco’s automotive and garment sectors
Vidican Auktor, Georgeta(2022)
Discussion Paper 2/2022

How important is global value chain participation for export upgrading
Ndubuisi, Gideon / Solomon Owusu(2021)
in: The World Economy, first published 19.01.2021

Global access to COVID-19 vaccines: challenges in production, affordability, distribution and utilisation
Stamm, Andreas / Christoph Strupat / Anna-Katharina Hornidge(2021)
Discussion Paper 19/2021

Blockchain technology in supply chains – what are the opportunities for sustainable development?
Krings, Katharina / Jakob Schwab(2021)
Briefing Paper 2/2021

Priorities for a development-friendly EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
Brandi, Clara(2021)
Briefing Paper 20/2021

Can the Supply Chain Act bring about social justice?
Stoffel, Tim (2021)
The Current Column of 22 February 2021

Approaches for supporting smallholders in the Global South: contentious issues, experiences, syntheses
Rauch, Theo / Michael Brüntrup(2021)
Briefing Paper 1/2021

Does COVID-19 change the long-term prospects of latecomer industrialisation?
Altenburg, Tilman / Clara Brandi / Anna Pegels / Andreas Stamm / Kasper Vrolijk / Tina Zintl(2021)
Discussion Paper 32/2021

Exporters and global value chain participation: Firm-level evidence from South Africa
Torres Mazzi, Caio / Gideon Ndubuisi / Elvis Avenyo(2020)
Wider University Working Paper 144

How sustainable is recycling? Reconciling the social, ecological, and economic dimensions in Argentina
Pegels, Anna / Stefanie Heyer / David Ohlig / Felix Kurz / Lena Laux / Prescott Morley (2020)
Discussion Paper 23/2020

How sustainable procurement can fight modern slavery
Stoffel, Tim (2020)
The Current Column of 30 November 2020

Cling together, swing together: the contagious effects of COVID-19 on developing countries through global value chains
Pahl, Stefan / Clara Brandi / Jakob Schwab / Frederik Stender (2020)
Discussion Paper 21/2020

The changing landscape of sustainability standards in Indonesia: potentials and pitfalls of making global value chains more sustainable
Brandi, Clara (2020)
in: Negi, Archna / Jorge Antonio Pérez-Pineda / Johannes Blankenbach (Eds.), Sustainability Standards and Global Governance, Singapore: Springer, 133-144

The interaction of private and public governance: the case of sustainability standards for palm oil
Brandi, Clara (2020)
in: European Journal of Development Research, 12.10.2020 (online)

Linking voluntary standards to Sustainable Development Goals
Bissinger, Katharina / Clara Brandi / Sandra Cabrera de Leicht / Matteo Fiorini / Philip Schleifer / Santiago Fernandez de Cordova / Niematallah Ahmed (2020)
Geneva: International Trade Centre

Advancing EU-Africa cooperation in light of the African Continental Free Trade Area
Berger, Axel / Clara Brandi / Frederik Stender / Edward K. Brown / Philomena Apiko / Sean Woolfrey (2020)
ETTG-Paper, September 2020

Ernährungssicherung in Krisenzeiten: arme Entwicklungsländer sind anders
Büntrup, Michael (2020)
Analysen und Stellungnahmen 6/2020

Incentives and rules for fair supply chains
Müngersdorff, Maximilian / Tim Stoffel (2020)
The Current Column of 14 May 2020

Exporting out of China or out of Africa? Automation versus relocation in the global clothing industry
Altenburg, Tilman / Xiao Chen / Wilfried Lütkenhorst / Cornelia Staritz / Lindsay Whitfield (2020)
Discussion Paper 1/2020

Globale Wertschöpfung, globale Verantwortung? Nachhaltigkeit in globalen Wertschöpfungsketten
Berger, Axel (2019)
Berlin: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e. V.

Soziale und ökologische Herausforderungen der globalen Textilwirtschaft: Lösungsbeiträge der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit
Stamm, Andreas / Tilman Altenburg / Maximilian Müngersdorff / Tim Stoffel / Kasper Vrolijk (2019)
Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

Sustainable public procurement as a tool to foster sustainable development in Costa Rica: challenges and recommendations for policy implementation
Stamm, Andreas / Luise Dietrich / Heike Harling / Laura Häußler / Florian Münch / Jana Preiß / Jan Siebert (2019)
DIE Studies 100

Linking small-scale farmers to the durum wheat value chain in Ethiopia: assessing the effects on production and wellbeing
Biggeri, Mario / Francesco Burchi / Federico Ciani / Raoul Herrmann (2018)
in: Food Policy 79 (August), 77-91

South-South and triangular knowledge cooperation on sustainability standards
Fues, Thomas / Sven Grimm (2018)
in: Development Cooperation Review 1 (4), 5-9

Developing countries turn to sustainability standards
Grimm, Sven / Thomas Fues / Archna Negi / Christoph Sommer / Jorge Perez Pineda (2018)
in: Voluntary Sustainability Standards, Trade and Sustainable Development: 3rd Flagship Report of the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS), 39-46

Food value chain linkages and household food security in Tanzania
Herrmann, Raoul / Ephraim Nkonya / Anja Faße (2018)
in: Food Security 10 (4), 827-839

Green industrial policy: accelerating structural change towards wealthy green economies
Altenburg, Tilman / Dani Rodrik (2017)
in: Tilman Altenburg / Claudia Assmann (eds.), Green industrial policy: concept, policies, country experiences, Geneva; Bonn: UN Environment; German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), 1-20

Electric mobility and the quest for automobile industry upgrading in China
Altenburg, Tilman / Kaidong Feng / Qunhong Shen (2017)
in: Tilman Altenburg / Claudia Assmann (eds.), Green industrial policy: concept, policies, country experiences, Geneva; Bonn: UN Environment; German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), 185-198

The retail revolution
Altenburg, Tilman (2017)
in: D+C: Development and Cooperation (Monthly e-paper), October 2017, 38-39

Vietnam’s preferential trade agreements: implications for GVC participation and upgrading
Berger, Axel / Dominique Bruhn (2017)
in: Claire H. Hollweg / Tanya Smith / Daria Taglioni (eds.), Vietnam at a crossroads: engaging in the next generation of global value chains, Washington, D.C.: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, 81-98

Sustainability standards and sustainable development: synergies and trade offs of transnational governance
Brandi, Clara (2017)
Sustainable Development 25 (1), 25-34

Large-scale agricultural investments and smallholder welfare: a comparison of wage labor and outgrower channels in Tanzania
Herrmann, Raoul (2017)
in: World Development 90 (February), 294-310

Applying the water-energy-food nexus to the charcoal value chain
Hoffmann, Harry K. / Klas Sander / Michael Brüntrup / Stefan Sieber (2017)
published on Frontiers in Environmental Science 20 December 2017

Drivers and constraints for adopting sustainability standards in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
Christoph Sommer (2017)
Discussion Paper 21/2017

Making retail modernisation in developing countries inclusive: a development policy perspective
Altenburg, Tilman / Elmar Kulke / Aimée Hampel-Milagrosa / Lisa Peterskovsky / Caroline Reeg (2016)
Discussion Paper 2/2016

Deep preferential trade agreements and upgrading in global value chains: the case of Vietnam
Berger, Axel / Dominique Bruhn / Andrea Bender / Julia Friesen / Katharina Kick / Felix Kullmann / Robert Roßner / Svenja Weyrauch (2016)
Studies 92

Female wages in the Egyptian textiles and clothing industry: low pay and discrimination
El-Haddad, Amirah (2016)
in: Review of Economics and Political Science 1 (1), 1-35

Policies and institutions for assuring pro-poor rural development and food security through bioenergy production: case studies on bush-to-energy and Jatropha in Namibia
Brüntrup, Michael / Katharina Becker / Martina Gaebler / Raoul Herrmann / Silja Ostermann / Jan Prothmann (2016)
Studies 90

Industrial policy in developing countries: failing markets, weak states
Altenburg, Tilman / Wilfried Lütkenhorst (2015)
Cheltenham: Elgar

Large-scale agro-industrial investments and rural poverty: evidence from sugarcane in Malawi
Herrmann, Raoul / Ulrike Grote (2015)
in: Journal of African Economies 24 (5), 645-676

Sustainability standards for palm oil: challenges for smallholder certification under the RSPO
Brandi, Clara (2015)
The Journal of Environment & Development 24 (3), 292-314

The entrepreneur makes a difference: Evidence on MSE upgrading factors from Egypt, India, and the Philippines
Hampel-Milagrosa, Aimée, Loewe, Markus & Caroline Reeg (2015)
World Development 66(2), 118-130

Factors of success and failure of large agro-enterprises (production, processing and marketing): a pilot study; results of case studies in the fruit, maize, and palm oil sectors
Brüntrup, Michael / Tony Swetman / Mirja Michalscheck / Felix Asante (2014)
published on African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND) 13 (5)

Biokraftstoffe zwischen Sackgasse und Energiewende: sozial-ökologische und transnationale Perspektiven
Hirschl, Bernd / Kristina Dietz / Thomas Vogelpohl / Elisa Dunkelberg / Maria Backhouse / Raoul Herrmann / Michael Brüntrup (Hrsg.) (2014)
München: Oekom Verl.

Interest groups, power relations, and the configuration of value chains: the case of biodiesel in India
Altenburg, Tilman (2011)
in: Food Policy 36 (6), 742-748

Bush-to-energy value chains in Namibia: institutional challenges for pro-poor rural development
Brüntrup, Michael / Raoul Herrmann (2012)
in: Meine Pieter van Dijk / Jackes Trienekens (eds.), Global value chains: linking local producers from developing countries to international markets, Amsterdam: Amsterdam Univ. Pr., 89-115

Faire Wertschöpfungsketten: sozialverträgliche Formen der Modernisierung in Sri Lankas Zimtsektor
Stephan, Christiane / Andreas Stamm (2010)
in: Karin Fischer / Christian Reiner / Cornelia Staritz (Hrsg.), Globale Güterketten: weltweite Arbeitsteilung und ungleiche Entwicklung, Wien: Promedia, 139-156

Donor approaches to supporting pro-poor value chains
Altenburg, Tilman (2007)
Report prepared for the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development Working Group on Linkages and Value Chains, Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

Shaping value chains for development
Altenburg, Tilman (2006, ed.)
Special issue in: The European Journal of Development Research 18 (4), 493-621

Governance patterns in value chains and their development impact
Altenburg, Tilman (2006)
in: The European Journal of Development Research 18 (4), 498-521

Agribusiness and poverty reduction: what can be learned from the value chain approach?
Stamm, Andreas (2008)
in: Christina Stringer / Richard Le Heron (eds.), Agri-food commodity chains and globalising networks; the dynamics of economic space, Aldershot: Ashgate, 23-34

Strengthening value chains in Sri Lanka's agribusiness: a way to reconcile competitiveness with socially inclusive growth?
Stamm, Andreas / Christoph Jost / Constanze Kreiss / Katharina Meier / Mike Pfister / Philipp Schukat / Henning A. Speck (2006)
Studies 15

Sustainable and inclusive supply chains in specific industries

The economic, social and ecological consequences of structural transformations in supply chains are highly context-specific. IDOS has carried out a variety of studies on specific supply chains in recent years, always focusing on the impacts on firms, employment and the environment in developing countries. Current work deals with standards, automation trends and global relocations in the textile supply chain, with the auto industry in the transition to electromobility and with the role of supermarket chains as change agents for or against socially and ecologically sustainable supply chains.

Contact: Tilman Altenburg

Inclusive agricultural supply chains

Although the global agricultural markets are an important source of income for many developing countries, the food supply chains remain local and national in many countries. While increasingly demanding standards (hygiene, crop protection, etc.) make access to export markets more difficult, new opportunities arise on the domestic markets. In sub-Saharan Africa in particular, agricultural supply chains mostly rely primarily on raw materials from small farmers. Although there are many synergies between small farmers and large farms, they also compete for input factors (land, water, labor ...) and output markets.

Research at IDOS explores bio-based energy supply systems (charcoal, sugar, Jatropha), smallholder integration in rural-urban food supply chains and smallholder sustainability certification in export chains (palm oil) as well as relations between local farmers and agro-industries. Our research has also addressed land and water issues, EU-policies affecting African farm and supply systems as well as specific smallholder support-policies.

Contact: Michael Brüntrup

Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) and Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs)

Voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) can play a key role for making supply chains more sustainable. The goal of this project is to promote the achievements of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by investigating and everaging the role of VSS in the context of more sustainable global value chains. Based on a mapping of the overlaps between VSS requirements and SDG targets and complementary quantitative as well as qualitative data, we generate comprehensive and detailed insights into the potential effectiveness and role of VSS for the SDGs.

Project Partners: EUI, Free University Amsterdam, ITC, UNFSS

Contact: Clara Brandi

Greening supply chains and promoting circularity

The urgent requirement to restructure economic activities towards ecological sustainability is undisputed. Supply chain oriented thinking can help to identify levers and key actors in this restructuring process, leading to targeted and effective policies. At IDOS, we focus on four main actor groups which, at different stages of the value chain, can contribute to sustainable economies in developing country contexts: industry, supermarket chains, consumers, and informal waste pickers.

Projects

Contact: Anna Pegels

Sustainable Public Procurement

Public Procurement accounts for 15-20 percent of global GDP. Thus, by demanding sustainability criteria in their tenders, public entities possess a significant lever to contribute to sustainable consumption and production patterns, i.e. helping to achieve SDG 12 of the Agenda 2030. Traders and producers of goods procured by public entities have different options to verify compliance with the demanded sustainability criteria. At DIE, we analyse whether and how those criteria are passed along selected supply chains and whether there are differences depending on the verification option.

Projects

Contact: Andreas Stamm

Promoting Voluntary Sustainability Standards in partner countries

The Managing Global Governance (MGG) Academy, centred at IDOS, has been active in assisting stakeholders to promote Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) in partner countries. It helped launching national platforms on VSS and organized multiple events (conferences, workshops) to bring together countries that have set up national platforms or are willing to establish one. With regard to the latter, DIE is supporting national standardization bodies in Indonesia and South Africa to establish national platforms.

MGG is currently supporting the following organizations and national platforms for voluntary sustainability standards

Recent VSS Events organized by DIE/MGG

Contact: Ariel Hernández

Other Projects

Research Network “Sustainable Global Supply Chains”

Fair Globalisation

Investment Facilitation for Sustainable Development

Promoting food security in rural Sub-Saharan Africa: The role of private sector investments and results-oriented approaches

Managing Global Governance (MGG)

Impulses for Socially Responsible Public Procurement of Municipalities in Global Value Chains (ISOPP)

Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS)

Call for papers

The African Global Value Chains (AfGVC) Research Network
Request for Proposals: Paper Award
Economics and Governance of Global Value Chains in Africa (PDF)