Marc Müller
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Müller
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Now showing 1 - 10 of 20
  • Publication
    Coping with Competing Institutional Logics: Decoupling, Compromising and Experience
    ( 2016-05-25)
    Müller, Marc
    Neo-institutionalism refers to organizational responses to institutional referents’ expectations. In this realm, research has long centered on institutional isomorphism studying the processes, which create similarity amongst organizations. Recently, institutional theorists’ attention has shifted towards competing institutional logics to investigate practice variation between organizations. A prominent tension exists between the commercial and the social logic, which can be addressed by adopting different strategies. Through the analysis of social audit reports of the Business Social Compliance Initiative for 100 producers from emerging markets supplying clothing and textiles to brands, retailers and traders from developed countries, the findings suggest that the strategic response depends on a tension’s salience or latency. When a conflict between the commercial and the social logic unearths, the garment suppliers pursue a decoupling strategy by prioritizing the commercial over the social logic. When economic growth eases the pressure in the commercial dimension, the textile producers follow a compromising strategy by balancing up the social logic and meeting the associated obligations. The results also imply that strategy variation attributed to competing institutional logics is a temporary phenomenon since growing experience leads to a manifestation of a similar strategic pattern across organizations, which can be interpreted as isomorphism.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/104337
  • Publication
    Procurement Capabilities and Supplier Social Standard Compliance
    ( 2016-06-21)
    Müller, Marc
    This study investigates the influence of a buyer’s procurement capabilities on suppliers’ compliance with the three most pressing labor issues: working time, compensation, and health and safety. The findings suggest that supplier selection positively influences the upholding of working time and compensation requirements at suppliers’ sites while supplier development has no significant effect on suppliers’ compliance with any of the three social concerns. Health and safety is not affected by any of the procurement capabilities which may explain why suppliers often do not achieve full compliance with a social standard despite that buyers increasingly invest resources for this purpose.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/104200
  • Publication
    Organizational aspirations and violations of a social standard's minimum requirements in the emerging economies' clothing industry
    (Academy of International Business, 2015-06-29)
    Müller, Marc
    ;
    Hofstetter, Joerg S
    ;
    Goerzen, Anthony
    Building on the literature of aspiration-driven behavior, which suggests that performance relative to aspirations (i.e., attainment discrepancy) influences performance corrections, we investigate adaptations of emerging economy supplier social standard compliance attributed to attainment discrepancy between their social performance and organizational aspirations. For this purpose, we rely on social audit reports of the Business Social Compliance Initiative focusing on 66 suppliers from Bangladesh, China, India and Turkey in the clothing industry, which have completed at least four full audits between 2003 and 2012. Our findings demonstrate that social performance below the aspiration level leads emerging market suppliers to improve social standard compliance whereas social performance above the aspiration level guides emerging economy suppliers to deteriorate social standard compliance. These results suggest that emerging market suppliers are unlikely to live up to a social standard's minimum requirements on a continuous basis. We conducted a further analysis to explore how changes in individual social issues shape adaptations of emerging market supplier social standard compliance for positive and negative attainment discrepancies finding that some social issues are more critical than others.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/106244
  • Publication
    Why Emerging Market Suppliers Do Not Meet a Social Standard's Requirements : The Role of Aspirations
    ( 2015-08-11)
    Müller, Marc
    ;
    Hofstetter, Joerg S
    ;
    Goerzen, Anthony
    Recent disclosures of excessive working hours, inadequate compensation and violations of health and safety issues have put emerging market producers - as suppliers to traders, brands and retailers (i.e., buyers) from developed countries - in the spotlight. Consequently, emerging market suppliers are increasingly confronted with minimum social requirements - often set by a social standard - which developed country buyers pressure them to comply with. Yet, little is known on the determinants of emerging market supplier social performance against a social standard's minimum requirements. Building on the literature of aspiration-driven behavior, which suggests that performance relative to aspirations (i.e., attainment discrepancy) influences performance corrections, we investigate adaptations of emerging market supplier social standard compliance attributed to attainment discrepancy between their social performance and organizational aspirations. For this purpose, we rely on social audit reports of the Business Social Compliance Initiative focusing on 90 suppliers from Bangladesh, China, India and Turkey in the clothing and textile industries, which have completed at least four full audits between 2003 and 2012. Our results suggest that social performance below the aspiration level leads emerging market suppliers to improve social standard compliance whereas social performance above the aspiration level guides emerging market suppliers to deteriorate social standard compliance. These findings imply that emerging market suppliers are unlikely to meet a social standard's minimum requirements on a continuous basis.
    Type: conference paper
    DOI: 10.5465/AMBPP.2015.18684abstract
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/106059
  • Publication
    Social standard compliance in global textile supply chains : A comparative study between Bangladesh and India
    (Academy of International Business, 2014-06-24)
    Müller, Marc
    ;
    Hofstetter, Joerg S
    ;
    Goerzen, Anthony
    The ongoing revelations on the exploitation of workers in the global supply chains of well-known brands including Adidas, H&M, Nike and others have put Western brands under pressure to ensure adequate working conditions at their suppliers' facilities. Yet, research on social issues in global supply chains has gained momentum only recently and few studies have connected the endeavors through which Western buyers address social issues along their supply chains with the outcome, social standard compliance of suppliers. We draw on multiple case studies based on supplier social audit reports from the Business Social Compliance Initiative focusing on four textile suppliers from Bangladesh and India to shed light on the determinants of suppliers' compliance with social standards. An inductive research approach is employed to derive a set of testable propositions focusing on how (enhanced) buyer social standard monitoring and the state of economic and institutional development of sourcing countries shape supplier social standard compliance.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/86733
  • Publication
    The role of voluntary sustainability initiatives as means to improve supplier compliance : Evidence from the Business Social Compliance Initiative in Bangladesh and India
    ( 2014-06-17)
    Müller, Marc
    ;
    Hofstetter, Joerg S
    ;
    Grimm, Jörg H.
    ;
    Goerzen, Anthony
    The ongoing revelations on social and environmental misconducts in the global supply chains of well-known brands including Apple, Nike and others have put brands under pressure to ensure socially responsible operations at their suppliers' facilities. In order to respond to the growing pressure, an increasing number of Western brands participate in voluntary sustainability initiatives to augment the compliance level of their suppliers. Yet, few studies have investigated whether such corporate practice leads to actual improvements of suppliers' compliance - particularly in emerging markets. In this explorative work-in-progress paper, we investigate how corporate participation in a voluntary sustainability initiative impacts on supplier compliance. For this purpose, we rely on social audit reports of the Business Social Compliance Initiative focusing on 105 suppliers of the textiles, shoes, leather and hard goods industries based in Bangladesh and India. We find that the lower the level of supplier social compliance in the first full audit the greater is the improvement over time. Surprisingly, very high levels of supplier social compliance are associated with deterioration. Thus, corporate participation in the Business Social Compliance Initiative is appropriate to improve supplier social compliance but not to ensure suppliers' full compliance with the requirements.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/86754
  • Publication
    Achievement Study: 10 Years of the BSCI
    (Business Social Compliance Initiative, 2013)
    Hofstetter, Joerg S
    ;
    Müller, Marc
    The aim of this study is to highlight the Business Social Compliance Initiative's (BSCI) development at the occasion of its tenth birthday by reviewing its history, presenting its current activities, investigating its achievements, and providing scenarios on expected developments from a neutral scientific organisation. For the purpose of this study, we employ qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Formal and informal interviews are conducted with BSCI Secretariat officials, BSCI Steering Committee members, BSCI Stakeholder Council affiliates, BSCI country representatives, participants and auditors. Thereby, we investigate the initiative's nature, scope and challenges as well as the participants' and stakeholders' expectations. Quantitative data is analysed to examine the structure of the participant base and the producers' audit results. Further, the qualitative and quantitative research is accompanied by reviews of supplementary documentation. The study is available for free download at: http://www.fta-intl.org/sites/default/files/bsciachievementstudy_master_final.pdf.
    Type: book
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/90141
  • Publication
    Socially responsible supply chains : A distinct avenue for future research?
    (Springer Gabler, 2015-10-09)
    Müller, Marc
    ;
    Stölzle, Wolfgang
    ;
    Bogaschewsky, Ronald
    ;
    Eßig, Michael
    ;
    Lasch, Rainer
    ;
    Stölzle, Wolfgang
    The on-going revelations of social misconducts in supply chains throughout industries have attracted scholarly attention leading to increasing and diverse publications labelled as social responsibility in supply chains. Yet, sustainability defined as the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental aspects has been a hot topic in business and supply chain management research for more than a decade. Accordingly, the question arises whether distinctive research on social issues in supply chains is really needed. Building on the first conceptualizations of social responsibility in the context of supply chains provided by Carter and Jennings (2002a) and Murphy and Poist (2002), this paper is first to provide a comprehensive overview of the current structure and body of knowledge on social issues in supply chains published in peer-reviewed English-speaking management journals between 2002 and 2013. The current structure is examined by the distribution of articles according to year and journal of publication as well as by the papers' epistemological orientation, research design, theoretical anchoring and unit of analysis. The body of knowledge is conceptualized into five research categories dealing with social issues in supply chains which serve as grounds to outline distinctive avenues for further research in this domain.
    Type: book section
    Journal: Advanced Studies in Supply Management
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-658-08809-5_6
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/105848
  • Publication
    Disruptions in supply chains : Summarizing the theorectical and practical perspectives on challenges and reactions
    (DVV Media Group, 2014)
    Müller, Marc
    ;
    Wütz, Steffen
    ;
    Hofstetter, Joerg S
    ;
    Stölzle, Wolfgang
    ;
    Wütz, Steffen
    ;
    Hofstetter, Joerg S
    Today, supply chains encompass multiple valued-added stages scattered around the world as opposed to the past, in which companies conducted a larger share of value-added activities in-house with greater regional concentration. These changes are particularly fuelled by the megatrends of the last 25 years - globalization and the fine slicing of supply chains. Globalization has intensified competition, enlarged reach of distribution but also reduced cost by including low cost countries in supply chains. The division of work by outsourcing the development and production of parts, components or complete systems to other companies resulted in "fine-sliced" multi-tier supply chains. More actors in a supply chain are associated with higher complexity and lower transparency. Limited transparency and control in supply chains increase the risk for disruptions. A disruption is an incident in which a sudden lack of availability of materials, information or operational capacities delays, restricts, or prevents the fulfillment of a customer order. Disruptions are caused by natural, economic, personal, social, and governmental risks resulting in significant additional costs, decreasing profits and loss of reputation, impacting on companies at all stages of the supply chain. While disruptions cannot be avoided completely, employing distinct risk and disruption management concepts in supply chain management constitute appropriate countermeasures. BVL International and the Chair of Logistics Management at the University of St.Gallen draw attention to disruptions from a practical perspective in seven individual case studies. Therein, attention is drawn to disruptions that occur (1) in distribution activities to customers, (2) in production activities, and (3) in sourcing activities with suppliers and sub-suppliers.
    Type: book section
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/87956
  • Publication
    Sustainability in Chemical Supply Chains : A Close Look at the Current State and Ways Forward
    (GIT, 2014-05-08)
    Müller, Marc
    ;
    Stölzle, Wolfgang
    The ongoing sustainability movement has become a hot topic in the business world and within broader society. Issues such as renewable resources, waste management and working conditions have become omnipresent in the media. As a result, chemical companies feel the growing concern of customers, nongovernmental organizations and regulators to ensure sustainable operations beyond the boundaries of the corporate entity. In response to continuously growing stakeholder pressures, leading chemical firms have increasingly taken individual and joint measures to augment the status quo of ecologic and social sustainability in their supply chains. Yet the agendas of prominent industry conferences indicate that chemical companies are particularly concerned with economic aspects, namely the minimization of costs. We take this opportunity to assess the current state of sustainability in chemical supply chains and to suggest auspicious roads into the future.
    Type: newspaper article
    Journal: CHEManager Distribution & Logistics for the Chemical and Life Science Industries
    Volume: 2
    Issue: 1
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/86995