Making sense of SSCM: How companies express sustainable supply chain management issues in their public reports

This working paper examines recent sustainability reports published by corporations listed on the London Stock Exchange. Changes in UK legislation mean reporting of carbon emissions is now mandatory for these companies. This provides an opportunity to analyze the relative carbon associated with different sectors, and the significance of internal action, covered by sustainable operations management, and external action covered by sustainable supply chain management. The paper also considers how companies in particular sectors are publicly responding to wider questions of sustainable development. Content analysis and discourse analysis are conducted, and findings are discussed in relation to macro-scale sustainable development objectives.