City Research Online

Abstract

With increasing public attention to corporate sustainability, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) controversies emerging in global supply chains present a growing problem for multinational enterprises (MNEs). This paper investigates whether MNEs with geographically dispersed suppliers are more likely to be exposed to supplier-related ESG controversies. It also explores structural characteristics of global supply chains that can mitigate MNEs’ exposure to such controversies. Building on the literature on supply chain complexity and small-world networks, we suggest that the small-worldness of an MNE’s supply chain network can mitigate the impact of the geographical dispersion of suppliers on supplier-induced ESG controversies. Our analysis of the Fortune 500 largest U.S. companies from 2010 to 2019 reveals that MNEs with geographically dispersed suppliers suffer from more supplier-induced ESG controversies, while small-worldness attenuates such impact. Our findings contribute to the international business literature by highlighting small-worldness as a network structural characteristic that can be deployed by MNEs to mitigate the negative impacts of supply chain spatial complexity.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Publisher Keywords:	ESG controversies, supplier geographical dispersion, small-world networks, global supply chain
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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