Tartalmi kivonat
The United Nations and the ‘Walmart approach’ to sustainable procurement in the health sector Nora Thommessen Master thesis MSc BLC Business and Development Studies Supervisor: Hans Krause Hansen Written paper, max. 80 pages Submitted: August 2015 No. of characters (with space): 146 986 Number of pages: 74 Copenhagen Business School 2015 1 Abstract This thesis researches the topic of sustainable procurement, using an initiative from the UN as a case study. A comparison is provided between the UN initiative and successful examples of
sustainable procurement in the private sector, and in particular the so-‐called ‘Walmart approach’. Through qualitative interviews with UN staff members as well as staff from partner organizations and supplier firms, the study seeks to map out the UN initiative vis-‐à-‐vis sustainable procurement in the private and the public sector. The study finds that the UN initiative is inspired and driven by the private sector approach when it comes to sustainable procurement. However it still lacks the practice of supply chain monitoring, and has room for improvements regarding
the consideration of a product’s entire life cycle. The study also identifies certain drivers and barriers within the UN initiative. The main drivers are the UN’s sustainability mandate and the business opportunity it provides for the suppliers, and the main barriers are the conservatism of the procurement professionals, the lack of funding, the complexity of the initiative, the lack of environmental considerations in the health sector, and the slow pace that is often part of working in a public organization. In comparison to the critique on public procurement found in
the literature, this study does not find strong evidence of either bureaucracy or lack of transparency. On the other hand, the informal nature of the initiative makes processes potentially move faster than what is normal within the UN. It was also found that there was a strong will to collaborate among a number of the UN’s suppliers. For the future of sustainability in the health sector, it was argued that real changes among organizations and companies will depend on laws, market demand or both. Keywords: Sustainable procurement, green procurement, the
‘Walmart approach’, private sector, MNCs, United Nations, public procurement, green supply chain management 2 Table of content: 1. Introduction 5 1.1 Research topic 5 1.2 Problem statement and research questions 7 1.3 Summary of chapters 8 2. Context: The Walmart approach 9 2.1 What is the Walmart approach? 9 2.2 Other private sector examples: BMW and Nike 11 2.3 Sustainable supply chains: A cover-‐up following a bad reputation? 12 2.4 Summing up: Multinationals and the extent of the ‘Walmart approach’
13 3. Literature review 14 3.1 The politics of businesses 15 3.2 Green supply chain management 16 3.21 Definition 16 3.22 Drivers and barriers to GSCM 17 3.23 Other topics of GSCM 20 3.24 Summing up the GSCM literature 23 3.3 Public procurement and the UN 23 3.31 Public procurement 24 3.32 Green public procurement 25 3.33UN procurement 27 3.34 Summing up the literature on public procurement and the UN 30 3.4 Research Gap 30 4. Methodology 31 4.1
Research philosophy and approach 32 4.2 Research design 33 4.21 Sample 35 4.22 Interviewing a small sample 37 4.23 Doing research with secondary data 39 4.24 Research questions 39 4.3 Ethics 40 4.31 Ethical treatment of the interview subject 40 4.32 Risk of bias during interviews 41 5. Analysis and discussion 41 5.1 Broad overview of the UN initiative 42 5.11 The environmental burden of the health sector 42 5.12 The SPHS initiative 42 5.13 The GPHS Programme 44 5.2 The UN initiative and the
‘Walmart approach’ 48 3 5.21 Comparing the SPHS initiative with the ‘Walmart approach’ 48 5.22 A cradle-‐to-‐cradle vision 50 5.23 Switching options for suppliers 52 5.24 Summing up answer to research question 1 52 5.3 Drivers and barriers 53 5.31 Drivers 53 5.311 Driver: The UN’s sustainability agenda and mandate 53 5.312 Driver: A business opportunity 54 5.313 Other drivers 55 5.314 Comparing with the literature 55 5.32 Barriers 56 5.321 Barrier: Conservatism of procurement professionals 56 5.322 Barrier: Lack of funding and resources 56
5.323 Barrier: Complexity of a cross-‐cutting initiative 57 5.324 Barrier: The lack of environmental considerations in the health sector 58 5.325 Barrier: Slow pace in a public organization 59 5.326 Other barriers 59 5.327 Comparing with barriers in the literature 60 5.33 Summing up answer to research question 2 60 5.4 Relating the findings to the critique of public procurement 62 5.41 (Lack of) efficiency within public procurement 62 5.42 Transparency issues in public procurement 63 5.43 Summing up the answer to research question 3 65 5.5 Other findings 65
5.51 A strong interest from suppliers and manufacturers 65 5.52 Predictions for the future 67 5.53 Summing up the other findings 68 6. Contributions and limitations 69 6.1 Theoretical and practical contributions 69 6.2 Limitations 70 7. Conclusion 71 8. Acknowledgements 74 9. References 75 10. Appendix 83 10.1 Commonly used terms 83 10.2 Overview of sample 83 10.3 Broad overview of guideline questions for the interviews 85 10.4 List of figures and tables87 4 1. Introduction 1.1 Research topic In 1983, the UN General
Assembly formed the World Commission on Environment and Development. This was an independent committee consisting of 22 members, and led by the former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. From this collaboration came the birth of the ‘Brundtland Report’ (also known as ‘Our Common Future’), which provided an agenda for advocating the growth of economies based on policies that do no harm to the environment. The term sustainable development was defined as: “To meet the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability to meet those of the
future.” (United Nations, 1987, P. 34) The report recognized the importance of linking economy with ecology, in order to ensure human development without sacrificing the earth’s resources for future generations (United Nations, 1987). It is likely the first well-‐known UN discussion on sustainability; a topic that would advance over the years as one of the most important aspects of development. Today the term ‘sustainability’ is higher on the global agenda than ever before, and throughout recent years there has been an aspiration for sustainable development.
This vision is about promoting prosperity and opportunity, greater social well being, and protection of the environment, in order to improve the lives of people around the world. Sustainable development is one of the top priorities on the UN’s agenda for the future. Following the well-‐known Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the UN is currently preparing an ambitious post-‐2015 sustainable development agenda. This agenda will be launched in September 2015, and will build upon the MDGs and converge with the post 2015 development plan. Like the MDGs,
the sustainable development goals (SDGs) will be action-‐ oriented, limited in number, and global in nature (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2015). Furthermore, as climate change is becoming more and more of a global challenge, the UN is supporting negotiations to adopt a universal global climate agreement by the end of 2015. Finally, the UN is working on developing a financing system to ensure that both sustainable development and climate action are properly resourced (United Nations, 2015). 5 One of the main UN agencies with a
clear sustainability mandate is the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Globally, its main responsibilities are to drive forward the post-‐2015 Sustainable Development Goals, and to support countries in resisting crises and driving and sustaining inclusive growth (United Nations, 2015). However, with offices scattered around the globe, UNDP also works on smaller initiatives to bring the sustainability agenda forward. One of these initiatives is the formation of the UN informal Interagency Task Team on Sustainable Procurement in the Health Sector (iIATT-‐SPHS), which was
kicked off by UNDP’s Nordic Representation Office in Copenhagen. The initiative, commenced in May 2012, currently includes seven UN agencies and three multilateral financing institutions. Within the initiative, the UN has also formed an official programme titled Greening Procurement in the Health Sector (GPHS), which is a programme especially focused on the environmental aspects of sustainability in the procurement processes of the health sector. The official programme has currently been signed by three UN agencies, and two more are in the process of signing it (Milic, 2015).
The UN’s SPHS initiative is focused on making sustainable changes through their own procurement practices. Given the UN’s role as a large purchaser in the health sector, the organization has a lot of bargaining power and influence over suppliers and manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and health products. The UN is therefore working on ways to set standards and guidelines for their suppliers, in order to push them in a more sustainable direction, and potentially improve the practices in the health sector. As stated by many of the UN staff members, the organization is
greatly inspired by the private sector. In particular they take inspiration and learning from large multinational companies (MNCs) that, through their huge purchasing power, can set certain standards for their suppliers. A well-‐known company in this regard is Walmart, a company that has worked on improving its entire supply chain following a massive sustainability plan launched in 2009. This plan includes collaborating with their suppliers, teaching them ways to become more sustainable and demanding improvements in each part of their global supply chain. With the
huge market share that Walmart has in many of the subsectors of retail and fast moving consumer goods, the retail 6 giant has the possibility to change its entire industry. This concept is unofficially titled the ‘Walmart approach’, and is frequently used by UN staff members when referring to the goals of their SPHS initiative. That being said, Walmart and several of the largest MNCs in the world are also notoriously known for polluting the earth through their global value chains and international trade practices. Furthermore, private companies are first and foremost
driven by profit and sales, and thus operate with quite different incentives than the United Nations. This contradiction serves as a starting point for this essay, which essentially is about comparing the UN’s SPHS initiative with the so-‐called ‘Walmart approach’. 1.2 Problem statement and research questions This thesis focuses on the UN’s SPHS initiative, and seeks to compare it with the existing literature on sustainable procurement practices in the private sector. The main goal of the research has been to identify how a practical model of procurement from the
private sector can be applied in the UN. Through identifying the main drivers and barriers of the UN initiative, I have sought to compare them with those of private companies, and discuss how the opportunities and challenges in the UN are similar or different from the ‘Walmart approach’. Finally, I have compared my findings with the existing critique of procurement within public agencies, in particular with issues such as bureaucracy and lack of transparency. Although the UN is of a multilateral or intergovernmental nature (UIA, 2015), it is mainly based on
funding from its member states and is often perceived as a public organization. Furthermore, issues of bureaucracy (Weiss, 2009) and transparency (Kuziemko & Werker, 2006) are not uncommon for the UN system. Based on these facts it is interesting to compare the UN with some of the most common critique on public procurement. With this I have aimed to map out the UN initiative’s position vis-‐à-‐vis the private and the public sector, identifying drivers and barriers that serves as important knowledge for planning their strategy forward. These ideas have led me
to the following research questions: 1. How is the UN initiative similar or different from the private sector model of green procurement and sustainable supply chain management? 7 2. What are the main (internal and external) drivers and barriers that are faced by the UN agencies when working towards sustainable procurement in the health sector? 3. How do the findings on the UN initiative relate to the critique in the literature on public procurement? This topic was chosen after interning in UNDP’s Copenhagen office in the third semester of my master degree.
As a graduate from the MSc BLC Business and Development Studies program, which is highly focused on the crossroad between the private and the public sector, I believe this topic is very relevant and provides an interesting discussion on the UN’s role in international trade. For more on this thesis’ main contributions and limitations, see chapter 6 1.3 Summary of chapters In this section I shall give a brief overview of the chapters in this thesis, with a short description of their content. Chapter 1: Introduction The introduction describes the wider context in
which this research project is embedded. It states the problem and introduces the research questions. Chapter 2: Context In this chapter I introduce the concept of the ‘Walmart approach’ and discuss the praise and critique of the MNCs’ roles in regards to global sustainability. Real examples from some world leading brands are presented. Chapter 3: Literature review Three broad literatures are discussed in this chapter. First I look into existing literature on the politics of businesses and private companies’ role within global (environmental) governance. Secondly I go through some of the most
relevant research on green supply chain management. 8 Thirdly I discuss some of the existing research on public procurement, and in particular within the UN and other multilateral organizations. Chapter 4: Methodology The choice of research philosophy and design is stated and discussed. A thorough description and examination of the sample is also presented. Finally, there is a short discussion on ethics and in particular the risk of bias. Chapter 5: Analysis and discussion Given that the literature review, the research questions and findings are so much inter-‐
related, the analysis and discussion sections are merged together for a better flow in the essay. All the three research questions are addressed and discussed in turn My own description of the initiative, based on interviews and secondary data, and other smaller findings are also presented and examined. Chapter 6: Contributions and limitations The theoretical and practical contributions are considered, as well as the thesis’ limitations. Chapter 7: Conclusion This chapter completes the thesis by addressing and answering all the three research questions, and offering
suggestions for the UN initiative in the future. 2. Context: The Walmart approach 2.1 What is the Walmart approach? Some of the best-‐known examples of large companies using their purchasing power to make greener procurement practices in their supply chains are within the retail sector. This can be explained by globalization and the rise of media and available information, which increasingly makes retailers face adversity regarding their brand image. In this case the retailers may implement certain programs and processes in order to minimize these adverse effects, for 9 instance
through corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies (Ganesan, George, Jap, Palmatier, & Weitz, 2009). In my findings several of the interviewed UN staff members claim to be inspired by the large American retailer Walmart, and in particular, what they term the ‘Walmart approach’ (Welter, 2015) (Sørensen, 2015). So what exactly did Walmart do in order to coin this unofficial concept? Their sustainability efforts over the recent five years have been broad, comprehensive and at a gigantic scale. The multinational announced in July 2009 plans for a sustainable product index that would rate
their products in terms of different environmental and social criteria. A few months later they announced plans to eliminate 20 million tonnes of carbon emissions from their global supply chain within the end of 2015. To illustrate the size of this commitment, the project was stated to be “four times the collective annual commitment of nearly 200 companies in the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders programme” (Chhabara, 2010. p 1) Their program is titled Sustainability 360, and is based on three main aspirational sustainability goals: a) Be supplied 100% by renewable
energy, b) create zero waste, and c) sell products that sustain people and the environment. Other focus areas are water stewardship, reducing fuel consumption and air pollution in their truck fleets, reducing food waste and helping farmers optimize production and source agricultural products sustainably. They also aim to purchase and preserve one acre of wildlife habitat in the US for every acre of land they develop for production (Walmart, 2015). Walmart uses its own team of greenhouse gas reduction experts to guide suppliers on how they can reduce
emissions from their operations. This is considered very attractive for supplier firms, and, according to Walmart’s former sustainability director Miranda Ballentine, the MNC has received numerous requests from suppliers who wish to be included in the program. Walmart’s strategy promises cost reductions for producers through reduced energy use, improved product quality and reduced manufacturing and operating costs. The company expects that the emissions reduction activities will spread to other companies as Walmart’s suppliers potentially engage with their own providers, and supply chain
emissions reduction becomes common. If successful, this initiative can build momentum also with other brands and retailers by publicly showing a successful example of green supply chain management (Chhabara, 2010). 10 2.2 Other private sector examples: BMW and Nike Many other multinationals have taken part of the sustainability wave and learned the importance of a good reputation. In this section I will mention two other brands that have worked on making their supply chain more sustainable, both with the same type of disintegrated supply chain as
that of Walmart. One of them is the large player in the car industry, BMW, who have transformed its model for building cars, choosing greener alternatives for the different car parts. For instance, they use more energy-‐efficient car engines, they use plant fibers in the air conditioning layer and the door cladding of the car, and they use 100% recycled plastic to make the car’s cover material (30% of which stems from PET bottles). By changing different practices along their supply chain, they have managed to reduce energy consumption per
vehicle by 30%. At the consumer end of the supply chain, they have developed apps that shows people the quickest way to get from one place to another, either by car or public transport, and have also developed apps that allow people to share cars (BMW Group, 2015). The car manufacturer has also moved from a traditional environmental management system (EMS) to a broader, innovative sustainability management system (SMS). For instance, BMW owns the design and engineering service Designworks/USA, but allows the design company to serve other clients as well. Thus there is a
spillover-‐effect taking place, as the designers are able to leverage their experience with BMW Group to other types of products. In turn, the BMW Group are able learn from sustainable design projects beyond the domain of automobiles (McElhaney & Toffel, 2005). The other large brand worth mentioning is Nike, which focuses on innovation throughout its supply chain in order to promote sustainability. By implementing lean manufacturing processes, the brand is focusing on removing the environmental impact of its manufacturing. Nike’s strategy is the following: “The future of
lean for NIKE is to deliver profitable growth through sustainable manufacturing and sourcing. To do this, we are making Lean NIKE Inc’s manufacturing standard We require a commitment to lean as part of being accepted into our source base and a minimum commitment and progression for positive ratings by including it in our Sourcing and Manufacturing 11 Sustainability Index, a component of our Manufacturing Index which assesses factories based on sustainability, cost, quality and on-‐time delivery.” (Nike Inc, 2014) 2.3 Sustainable supply chains: A cover-‐up following a bad
reputation? The above examples point to a positive potential role for large MNCs. That being said, many of these enormous companies have previously had a rather appalling reputation, and a number of them still get criticized today (Wahba, 2015) (Jackson, 2015). Some of these companies may be making sustainable changes in order to cope with the increasing pressure they face, stemming from their already weak reputation. For instance, there was a global boycott campaign against Nike in the 1990s, because the brand denied responsibility for any malpractice that may have taken place
in its sub-‐factories (Birch, 2012). Walmart is one of the companies best known for its bad reputational history. In her book ‘The Story of Stuff’ (2010) author and environmentalist Annie Leonard depicts Walmart as one of the worst MNCs when it comes to environmental and social harm, due first and foremost to its gigantic size. Indeed, she claims that the superstore in fact represents one of the top economies in the world, bigger than the GDP of countries like Israel, Chile, and Austria, and that the MNC is one of China’s top-‐ten trading partners, ahead
of Germany and the UK. Hence Walmart’s scale creates so much pollution that the company’s sustainability efforts remain worthless in comparison. “And regardless of what the price tag says, the true cost of every single product at Walmart is actually much, much higher. The real costs start with raw materials that are often pillaged from poor countries or subsidized by the government and which leave behind a trail of tragic consequences for the earth’s water, animals, air, forests, and people. The costs continue with hot, poorly ventilated factories in Asia, where
thousands of workers slave away for less than five dollars per day, often exposed to toxic chemicals without adequate protection or health care, forced to work unpaid overtime, with little hope of rising out of their dismal situations.” (The Story of Stuff, 2010, p. 155-‐156) 12 Leonard’s book was written in 2010, before the world had seen much progress in Walmart’s Sustainability 360 programme. That being said, the author claims that in the long run these sustainability practices will not matter much, given that the superstore already has an issue
of scale. According to her, Walmart is moving so much toxic-‐laden non-‐durable products around so far and so fast, that all the solar panels and hybrid cars in the world couldn’t make up for its gigantic footprint. Leonard argues that big-‐box retailers with big brands have huge purchasing power, and thus try to cut costs throughout the entire supply chain. She terms this the ‘mean lean system’, as the big brands do not need to take responsibility for what their suppliers do, and can simply find new ones if the current suppliers are not fulfilling their
requirements. Movement of goods across the globe by ships, trucks and planes contribute to pollution through fuel consumption, which in turn leads to carbon emissions through fossil fuel combustion (Leonard, 2010). Many other researchers and scholars agree with Leonard on this aspect. For instance, it is argued that MNCs are creating environmental hazards by ‘cutting costs at all costs’ (Dauvergne & Lister, 2010). Stacy Mitchell states that big-‐box retailers are fueling existing problems in the United States, for instance through shrinking the middle class,
increasing pollution levels and making civic engagement diminish. In her book ‘Big-‐Box Swindle’ (2007) she makes a compelling argument that the rise of large brand retailers in the United States such as Walmart, Home Depot and Starbucks contribute to the decline of small independent businesses. She claims that the “big-‐box mentality” leads to rising fuel consumption and poverty rates, whilst simultaneously contributing to family farms getting pushed out of the market (Mitchell 2007). 2.4 Summing up: Multinationals and the extent of the ‘Walmart approach’ On the one
hand, certain MNCs go forward as a good example for sustainable change. They try to show that improving their sustainability practices in the supply chain can lead to a better brand image, a more cost-‐efficient business model, and make positive changes to the environment and society overall. Given the scale and purchasing power of these businesses, 13 positively affecting their supply chains may also imply that they can make sustainability changes to the entire industry they operate in. On the other hand, with globalization the large-‐ scale movement of goods and services
contribute to a large part of the world’s pollution. Some discuss whether the MNCs’ sustainability practices even matter in comparison to all the pollution stemming from their global business models. Clearly there are several aspects of the ‘Walmart approach’ that the UN can draw inspiration and learnings from. Walmart is, like the UN, of a large scale and thus a huge potential influencer in its industry. The all-‐encompassing view in Walmart’s Sustainability 360 agenda can perhaps serve as a relevant framework for the UN initiative. That being said, Walmart and the
other MNCs mentioned are profit-‐driven, and often come from a background of unstable reputation. Their production and trade have already made a bad impact on the planet, and previous cost-‐cutting choices can lead to reputational catastrophes if revealed. When it comes to MNCs, their sustainability strategies rarely stem from entirely clean sleights, as they often become more sustainable in order to turn a bad reputation into a decent one. This is an important point to keep in mind when discussing the so-‐called ‘Walmart approach’. 3. Literature review In this section
I will focus on the most relevant literature on green procurement practices, divided into three parts. In the first part I will look into the existing literature on large MNCs’ increasing political power. This relates to my first research question, as it addresses how the private sector affects global governance, and environmental governance in particular. In the second part I will look at green supply chain management (GSCM), its drivers and barriers as well as some principal components. This is highly related to my second research question, as it discusses previously
identified drivers and barriers companies face in their efforts to implement a green strategy. In the third part I will move the procurement discussion to the public sector, and discuss some of the current literature in that field. This forms an important basis for answering my third research question, as the section highlights some of the main findings and critique of public procurement. The section also addresses the existing literature 14 on procurement in the UN. Finally I will identify the research gap, which serves as a foundation for this research
project. 3.1 The politics of businesses The political power of the private sector within environmental governance is not a new issue. Corporate efforts to shape the global agenda for environment were especially visible in the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, where the idea of partnerships between the private sector, environmentalists and international society was promoted. In fact, in the past three decades there has been an increasing change of attitude among MNCs, as they have realized that an environmental strategy can lead to gains both in business and for the larger
society (Falkner, 2003). The main driver for corporate strategic change was the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. Though some companies were reluctant to adhering to the protocol in the first few years, they slowly started turning when they were given public incentives, and government support for the protocol became more widespread (Kolk & Pinkse, 2004). Another important standard-‐setting feature adopted in the late 1990s was the ISO 14000 series of environmental management, developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Private firms increasingly used such voluntary codes
of conduct. This lead to the so-‐called ‘mixed’ regimes, whereby both private companies and states were involved in the adoption and upholding of international principles, rules, norms and decision-‐making procedures. The ISO standards were intended to make corporations include environmental considerations in all parts of operations by establishing an environmental management system (EMS) and other business guidelines (Clapp, 1998). The ISO 14000 standards are still in use today (ISO, 2015) Several authors argue that large MNCs, with their high purchasing power vis-‐à-‐vis
other actors in the value chain, have a potential to serve an important political power in the larger environmental debate. For instance, MNCs can take on an important role in global environmental governance by improving supply chain practices and promoting eco-‐ consumerism (Dauvergne & Lister, 2010). This political power of businesses has increasingly gained importance in international relations theory (Strange, 1991). But at the same time, it has been argued that MNCs’ political power is fragile, as governance failures or scandals can dramatically challenge the legitimacy of these businesses (Fuchs,
2005). 15 Some authors argue that global environmental governance is a complex system of hegemonies, driven by different forces such as states, civil society organizations (CSOs) and private companies (Levy & Newell, 2002). Others argue that private governance needs to be distinguished from mere cooperation between different partners, as governance is much more of a long-‐term commitment. The emergence of private governance stems from globalization, pressures from civil society, and from private actors’ will to re-‐structure global hegemony, shifting the ideological view of
global environmental politics towards market-‐ oriented, de-‐regulated systems of governance (Falkner, 2003). Common for all the above-‐mentioned authors is the idea that the private sector can play an important role in improving global environmental issues, especially through MNCs’ influence as large procurers. Next I shall address more specifically what green supply chain management (GSCM) is about, as well as discuss aspects of firms’ decisions around sustainable procurement practices. 3.2 Green supply chain management 3.21 Definition The study of GSCM has existed for several decades, but
has exponentially increased since the 1990s. There is no clear definition of green and sustainable supply chains, which makes it a complex concept (Fahimnia, Sarkis, & Davarzani, 2015). Giunipero et al (2012) noted this lack of definition, and thus created their own: “.we define ‘sustainable supply management’ (SSM) as the extent to which supply management incorporates environmental, social, and economic value into the selection, evaluation and management of its supply base.” (Giunipero, Hooker, & Denslow, 2012)(p 260) Although green procurement refers to environmental practices, whilst
sustainable procurement also can include social and economic issues, the concepts of GSCM and SSM are used interchangeably (Fahimnia, Sarkis, & Davarzani, 2015) (Giunipero, Hooker, & Denslow, 2012). 16 3.22 Drivers and barriers to GSCM In light of the discussion on MNCs and their choices to follow a sustainable path along their supply chain, it is relevant to look into some of the literature on the practical incentives and challenges behind such decisions. When deciding on procurement standards and practices, the environmental concerns are in fact only a very small piece of a
much larger puzzle. This is evident from the figure below, where environmental concern, shown in the bottom right corner of the figure, is a small part of a company’s procurement decision (De Boer, Labro, & Morlacchi, 2001): Figure 1: Decision tree for procurement standards and practices Source: De Boer et al. (2001) In terms of drivers, some authors point to the importance of external triggers that are placed on companies from governments, customers and stakeholders. These pressures act as
incentives to make companies push for sustainable value chains. Companies may fear that their reputation will be put in jeopardy, and thus introduce environmental and social standards, either in their criteria for the products from suppliers or as part of practices along their entire supply chain (Seuring & Müller, 2008). 17 In their analysis on leading supply management executives from national and multinational companies in the United States, Giunipero et al. (2012) found evidence that executives do follow and support their CEO’s initiatives in
implementing sustainable practices, and that companies often do so out of necessity to comply with national regulation (Giunipero, Hooker, & Denslow, 2012). Walker et al. (2008) found both external pressure and regulatory compliance to be important drivers. In a study of seven public and private companies in the UK, the drivers and barriers to GSCM were addressed. The main driver identified for the companies was first and foremost regulatory compliance, but other common drivers were pressure or encouragement from customers, and environmental risk minimization. It was also considered
beneficial for firms to be mindful of external influences from society and competitors. Some of the internal barriers identified were high costs and lack of resources, and some of the external barriers were tight regulation, poor supplier commitment and industry specific barriers. The drivers and barriers identified can be summarized in table 1 below (Walker, Di Sisto, & McBain, 2008). Encountered internal drivers for GSCM: Encountered internal barriers for GSCM: • Organization’s values • Costs • Value champions • Local nature of project • Cost reductions • Lack of resources Encountered
external drivers for GSCM: Encountered external barriers for GSCM: • Access to environmental information • Regulatory compliance • Environmental risk minimization • Lack of information • Monitor environmental performance • Confidentiality • Pressure • Fragmented industry • Small number of suppliers (poor or encouragement customers • Regeneration of local areas • Gaining competitive advantage • Exposing poor environmental performance by competition) • Scale of supply chain • Lack of industry-‐wide consistent environmental criteria 18 • Procurement legislation • Clinical preference • Food culture •
Inertia by project stakeholders • Supplier’s (manufacturer) reluctance to change Table 1: Drivers and barriers for selected companies in the UK Source: Walker et al. (2008) Another study has looked into green purchasing practices in American firms, and found that a buying firm with a large purchasing volume was more heavily involved in green purchasing practices compared to those with a smaller purchasing volume. This implies that economies of scale help justifying green purchasing programs (Min & Galle, 2001), and is consistent with the arguments mentioned in chapter 2.
A study based on 70 operating units within UK public limited companies found that a firm’s capabilities were an important predictor for GSCM. To develop such capabilities, a firm should take a proactive corporate environmental stance, and plan for a highly strategic purchasing and supply process (Bowen, Cousins, Lamming, & Faruk, 2001). Having looked at the drivers and barriers of lead firms, it is also meaningful to compare with supplier firms. Manufacturers and suppliers are sometimes obliged to make sustainability changes in order to comply with the procurement standards of
the lead firm in the value chain. This is especially evident in emerging markets where there tends to be clusters of manufacturing firms. Zhu and Sarkis (2006) have researched environmental practices of Chinese manufacturers. Their findings show that due to the relative scarcity of resources, increased international pressures and the potential pressure of ‘green barriers’ to trade, the Chinese companies and government agencies had started to promote different environmental management practices (Zhu & Sarkis, 2006). In another study in China, they found that competitive, regulative
and marketing pressures made Chinese enterprises increase their environmental awareness. However, this did not translate into strong GSCM practice adoption, 19 nor did it change the areas of performance. Their findings showed that Chinese manufacturers mainly changed environmental practices such as getting ISO 14000 certification to be able to supply foreign companies, thus purely for business reasons (Zhu, Sarkis, & Geng, 2005). This argument is also backed up by Walker et al. (2008) in their study of different public and private organizations in the UK, where they found little
indication of suppliers being the drivers for green supply chain management (Walker, Di Sisto, & McBain, 2008). These studies suggest that the lead firms are the ones who drive sustainability strategies forward, whilst the suppliers follow suit in order to keep their customers. 3.23 Other topics of GSCM In addition to looking at the drivers and barriers, many scholars have researched different topics, frameworks and strategies within GSCM. There is a lot of research in this field, and not all of it is relevant for this study. The studies that are most comparable to
the UN case are discussed in this section. First of all, the type of value chain the firm finds itself in is important for determining its ability to set sustainable standards to its suppliers. Gereffi et al (2005) argue that the structure of global value chains depends on three variables: The complexity of transactions, the ability to codify transactions, and the capabilities in the supply base. Furthermore, the authors define five types of global value chain governance according to power asymmetry and different levels of explicit coordination. These are: 1) Markets,
where the costs of switching to new partners are low for both parts. 2) Modular value chains, where suppliers typically make products particular to a customer’s specifications. 3) Relational value chains, often containing complex interactions between the buyers and sellers, which in turn create mutual dependence and a high level of asset specificity. 4) Captive value chains, where small suppliers face high switching costs and are thus dependent on much larger buyers and are thus ‘captive’. 5) Hierarchy, characterized by vertical integration, where the dominant form of governance is
managerial control (Gereffi, Humphrey, & Sturgeon, 2005). 20 Given that the company in question is a large leading purchaser and can set standards for its suppliers, a second question becomes what type of requirements the company should set for its products. Throughout a product’s life cycle, the following number of issues can for instance be brought into environmental consideration: • Product design: Firms can do a life cycle assessment of the product and minimize its environmental impact over its usable life and afterwards. • The manufacturing of by-‐products: When
considering the extended supply chain it is important to consider the reduction and elimination of by-‐products, for instance through cleaner process technologies, as well as quality and lean production techniques. • By-‐products produced during product use: This calls for extended producer involvement and responsibility in order to yield high-‐quality product management. • Product life extension: This works against the design of obsolescence and rather focuses on avoiding the depletion of resources. • Product end-‐of-‐life: The disposition of the product at the end of its
life depends to a large extent on its design from an early phase. The initial product design has a great influence on the degree to which a product can be reused, remanufactured, recycled, incinerated or disposed of. • Recovery processes at end-‐of-‐life: This includes extending the supply chain to include issues such as recycling, remanufacturing and refurbishing, and essentially is about transferring the external costs from society to supply chain partners (Linton, Klassen, & Jayaraman, 2007). Indeed, several authors have mentioned the importance of considering
a product’s recovery already in the design phase. Braungart et al (2007) highlights the relevance of eco-‐ effectiveness and cradle-‐to-‐cradle production and design strategies in order to create healthy emissions in supply chains. Both visions focus on creating beneficial industrial systems driven by the synergistic pursuit of positive environmental, social and economic goals. Eco-‐ effectiveness moves beyond zero emission approaches by looking into the development of industrial systems and products that either maintain or enhance the productivity and quality 21 of materials, through
several life cycles. The cradle-‐to-‐cradle approach focuses on designing products and industrial processes through enabling one of two distinct metabolisms: the biological metabolism or the technical metabolism. The former is defined as products of consumption that can be returned to the natural environment after use, in order to become nutrients for living systems. The latter, also known as a durable good, is a material that can potentially remain safely in a closed-‐loop system of manufacture, recovery and reuse, maintaining a high value through many product life cycles
(Braungart, McDonough, & Bollinger, 2007) (Alston, 2008). This concept has developed over time In the mid-‐1980s it started as a cradle-‐to-‐grave approach, focusing on the proper disposal of chemical wastes. Today, the concept has developed further in order to become a cradle-‐to-‐cradle approach to resource management, which rather focuses on the recovery of resources, recycling and reuse (Kumar & Putnam, 2008). A third question relates to how a firm can be successful in implementing GSCM strategies. Within the most relevant literature, several authors have
mentioned the importance of collaboration and integration among the various firms in the supply chain. Vachon and Klassen (2006) assessed the influence of technological and logistical integration on environmental practices in the supply chain, using data from 84 plants across North America. They found that technological integration with major customers and primary suppliers was positively linked with environmental monitoring and collaboration. However, logistical integration only had an impact on green supply chain practices with primary suppliers but not with major customers (Vachon &
Klassen, 2006). The same authors used a survey on the North American package printing industry in 2008, and assessed the link between environmental collaborations in the supply chain on the one hand, and manufacturing performance and environmental performance on the other hand. Their findings show that environmental collaboration with primary suppliers and major customers, for instance through encompassing joint environmental planning activities and cooperating in finding solutions to environmental challenges, can have a significant positive impact on both manufacturing and environmental
performance (Vachon & Klassen, 2008). This argument is also backed up by van Bommel (2011) in his research based on a survey held in the fashion/clothing sector. He argues that a company’s capability to react to external 22 environmental pressure is highly influenced by the cooperation characteristics of the supply network (van Bommel, 2011). 3.24 Summing up the GSCM literature In sum, the literature has pointed to many different aspects of GSCM. A large part of the literature describes the different drivers and barriers for firms to implement green
procurement practices. The type of global value chain is an important predictor in terms of whether a company can actually set green standards towards their suppliers. When firms are deciding on procurement standards, it is important to consider the product’s entire life cycle in order to be as sustainable as possible. Furthermore, some authors point to environmental collaboration as a big success factor. The reviewed literature of GSCM provides interesting starting points for this research, and serves as a basis for comparison to the UN’s SPHS case. It is especially
relevant in answering research question 2, in which the main drivers and barriers are discussed. Within the entire range of literature on GSCM, certain large aspects are left out in this section due to their irrelevance for this particular research topic. Much research looks into strategic models within GSCM (Ageron, Gunaseparan, & Spalanzani, 2012) (Orsato, 2006), but is too specific for private companies to be part of this research. Furthermore, different assessment methods and environmental performance measures are written about (Hervani, Helms, & Sarkis, 2005) (Varnäs, Balfors, &
Faith-‐Ell, 2009) (Beske, Koplin, & Seuring, 2008), but this literature also falls slightly outside of the scope for this paper. In the next section I will move the discussion to the public sector, and refer to the literature on public procurement, environmental procurement in the public sector, and finally procurement practices within the UN. 3.3 Public procurement and the UN The UN belongs to the sector for multilateral organizations (Riddell, 2007). Multilateral organizations are formed by three or more countries, and work on issues related to its member
countries (Moler, 2014). The UN’s funding comes from its member states, both 23 through obligatory and voluntary contributions (Better World Campaign, 2015). Given its non-‐profit agenda, the funding structure of the UN is not too different from that of public agencies. Furthermore, given its public funding structure, the UN requires that equal opportunity is available to potential suppliers from all the member countries. Therefore the procurement practices of a multilateral organization such as the UN is quite similar to those of public agencies. This way of viewing
the UN’s procurement practices is consistent with Rolfstam’s (2013) definition of public procurement: “Procurement refers to the function of purchasing goods or services from an outside body. Public procurement occurs when this function is performed by a public agency. Public procurement can take place at any level in society – in a department in a local council of a municipality, or on the regional, national or even supranational level. In fact, essentially all public functions are supported by public procurement.” (Rolfstam, 2013, p 6) According to the above
definition, procurement through the UN is most definitely a type of public procurement. Thus it is highly relevant to review some of the existing literature on public procurement. And as is evident from the sources referred to below, public procurement has been particularly criticized for being bureaucratic, slow and intransparent. 3.31 Public procurement Public procurement dates back to at least the nineteenth century, and has been used to address a number of policy objectives such as creating demand, creating employment by stimulating economic activity, protecting
domestic firms from foreign competition, improving competitiveness among domestic firms, remedying regional disparities and creating jobs for marginal sections of the labor force (Rolfstam, 2013). The OECD defines public institutions as governments and state-‐owned enterprises. They state that, of all government activities, procurement is the one that is the most vulnerable to fraud and corruption. Furthermore, weak governance in public procurement hampers market competition and raises the price paid by the administration for goods and services. In October 2008, the OECD Principles for Enhancing Integrity in
Public Procurement in the form of an 24 OECD recommendation was approved. This provides a policy instrument for improving integrity in the entire public procurement cycle. In particular they point out procedures that enhance transparency, good management, accountability and control, and prevention of misconduct. Its aim has been to contribute to preventing the waste of public resources and corrupt practices, as well as enhancing good governance and integrity (OECD, 2009). Hawkins et al. (2011) analyzed differences in the for-‐profit and not-‐for-‐profit sectors in terms of two
critical aspects of procurement, ethics and strategy. They found that buyers in the for-‐ profit sector were more likely to behave opportunistically, which may be due to a profit motive. However, they found that buyers’ leaders in the not-‐for-‐profit sector were more willing to turn a blind eye to their subordinate buyers’ opportunistic behaviors. This is consistent with their finding that leaders of non-‐profit firms also exhibited greater willful ignorance (Hawkins, Gravier, & Powley, 2011). Extensive research has also been performed on procurement practices in
the European Union (EU) (Arrowsmith & Davies, 1998). Some have focused on the innovative possibilities of the EU, and the use of public demand as an engine for innovation (Rolfstam, 2013) (Edler & Georghiou, 2007). Other authors have stated that EU procurement has been pursued on the background of corrupted states, and that there are particular difficulties in the implementation, interpretation and detailed application of the provisions of the EU Public Procurement Regime (Tyrrell & Bedford, 1997). What is common for most of the literature on public procurement is
that the procurement practices have great potential for achieving social and economic goals, but that unfortunately there tends to be issues of bureaucracy and corruption involved. This is not surprising, and may in many cases hold true for the private sector as well. 3.32 Green public procurement Within public procurement, social and environmental considerations are one of the key objectives. However, numerous other issues are also relevant to consider, such as for instance value for money, efficiency of the procurement process, and fair and equal treatment of 25
contractors (Arrowsmith, Linarelli, & Wallace, 2000). Within sustainable procurement, the aspects of social and green procurement can be both interrelated and conflicting (McCrudden, 2004). In terms of environmental aspects of public procurement, Arrowsmith and Davies (1998) suggest three requirements the contracting body may impose on its suppliers: 1. The contracting body may wish to impose “product-‐related” environmental requirements on the product, relating to its post-‐procurement environmental performance. This could for instance be the design characteristic of the product 2. Bodies may also
wish to adopt “affirmative purchasing” which can be broad environmental goals that are not necessarily connected only to the product itself. 3. Contracting bodies may impose process and production methods regarding the techniques used in producing the supplies to be procured (Arrowsmith & Davies, 1998). Within green public procurement (GPP), certain drivers and barriers are identified. Organizational factors, such as affective commitment by individual actors and support by top management, are important in determining the degree of sustainable procurement (Grandia, Groeneveld, Kuipers, & Steijn,
2014). It is also observed that the leading barrier is high costs (Walker & Brammer, 2009). These leading drivers and barriers are not too different from those of green procurement in the private sector. Finally, the following research cases by Preuss (2009) and Thomson & Jackson (2007) are relevant to highlight, as they both form basis for the discussion in chapter 5. Preuss (2009) looks at sustainable procurement for local government authorities in the UK. The author found that public authorities were replacing hazardous materials in products and
services. Some local authorities also compiled and disseminated sustainability information through environmental policies and applied an environmental risk assessment for key contracts in order to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability (Preuss, 2009). Thomson and Jackson (2007) also studied green procurement practices in local government in the UK, looking at the operating environment. They found that there has been real progress in green procurement among local government authorities, but that it is limited in the range of products involved and the level of ambition. At the
operational level, the main driving force 26 for green procurement was the presence of motivated individuals in the decision-‐making process. Finally, the authors recommended better information at all levels in order to deepen and widen the scope for green procurement (Thomson & Jackson, 2007). 3.33 UN procurement There is limited available literature looking specifically at procurement practices in the UN. Due to the complexity of the organization itself, it is also difficult to generalize about the procurement practices that are taking place across all the
different UN organizations. Nevertheless, the existing literature will be addressed in this section. The UN system covers a wide range of different organizational units that vary in size and type of activities. All these specialized agencies possess their own legislative and executive bodies, as well as their own secretariats and budgets. Each of the larger UN agencies has their own procurement entities, in order to procure goods and services that are specific to their mandates and operations. Several UN agencies have delegated authority to their respective country offices to
undertake procurement up to a certain financial limit (this amount varies by agency). Each UN organization has adopted common guidelines for procurement UNDP’s Inter-‐Agency Procurement Services Office (IAPSO) served as a focal point for procurement issues in the entire UN for several years, but was dissolved in 2007 (Welter, 2015). Among other things, it promoted inter-‐agency cooperation and coordination through R&D related to procurement, and supported the international business community with information on UN business opportunities. IAPSO used to serve as the permanent secretariat to the
Inter Agency Procurement Working Group (IAPWG). The IAPWG consisted of heads of purchasing from across different UN organizations, and met annually to discuss procurement issues across the UN (Walker & Harland, 2008) (Ævarsson, 2010). The IAPWG has now likely also been dissolved, although the UN websites lack updated information on this. Table 2 below contains data from 2003, and shows that medical procurement – in the form of pharmaceuticals, vaccines and contraceptives, represents 26.9% of total spend across the 22 IAPWG organizations. 27
Table 2: Percentage of total spend across major procurement categories of 22 IAPWG organizations Source: Van De Gronden et al., 2007 In terms of procurement rules and procedures, there are differences applied across UN agencies, but what is common for all is that the UN operates with public funds. This requires that equal opportunity is available to potential suppliers from all the member countries, for instance allowing producers from developing countries to get the same opportunities as Western ones. Overall the UN has to ensure an extremely high level of equity,
integrity and transparency in all parts of their procurement practices. Given that the UN is operating on behalf of their member states, it has a great responsibility in ensuring fairness and ethical use of their financial resources. Furthermore, it aims at providing best value for money and on time delivery of goods, service and capacity (United Nations, 2014). Table 3 below represents some of the barriers for procurement activities within the UN (Van De Gronden, Bloch, Ramm, Jensen, Harland, & Walker, 2007). 28 Barriers to UN procurement activities:
• Lack of funding for procurement activities. • Complexity and difficulty of harmonization across UN organizations. • Stagnating trend in sourcing from developing countries. • It is hard to combine accountability and transparency with a thorough and results-‐ oriented approach. • The decentralized arrangements make it difficult to have central control over procurement policies. • Inappropriate use of e-‐procurement solutions, due to lack of IT capability at local offices, insufficient funding, the organizational culture, and other priorities taking precedence over it. Table 3: Main barriers to UN procurement
activities Source: Van De Gronden et al., 2007 In her master thesis for Copenhagen Business School, Ævarsson (2010) looks at UNOPS and their efforts to change towards a supply chain management (SCM) perspective in their procurement practices. This change includes potential benefits, such as having a more coherent approach to suppliers, increased economies of scale, and more synergy between projects. She also points out that UNOPS has to abide by the principles of public procurement, which according to her are transparency, accountability and effective competition. However, she notes that
public procurement is known for being bureaucratic, and often times corrupt, self-‐serving and with extensive favoritism. In particular, the UN has been criticized for having high administrative costs and being inefficient and bureaucratic, especially compared to philanthrocapitalists like Bill Gates or other cost-‐efficient NGOs (Ævarsson, 2010). In terms of sustainable procurement, The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has played a major role in promoting that within the UN. For instance, they have initiated a global consensus on the integration of sustainable development considerations
in all levels of procurement. Furthermore, they have developed training tools for procurement officers in the UN. They have also worked on related areas such as initiatives for environmental management tools, cleaner production and sustainable product design (Clark, 2006). 29 3.34 Summing up the literature on public procurement and the UN The existing literature covers some research on public procurement practices, mainly at country level or at the EU level. Within this topic, there are also certain scholars who have looked specifically into green procurement practices
of public authorities. Some literature covers procurement within the UN system, but this is either at an overarching, general level, or through narrower research on one specific agency. Furthermore, most of the research is on UN procurement practices in general, rather than on sustainable procurement specifically. There appears to be room for a lot more research on green procurement within this global, complex organization. 3.4 Research Gap The reviewed literature has addressed the political power of MNCs, and their potential to make real differences to the world’s environmental issues.
It is argued that the purchasing power of large MNCs can bring them to change their industries, and this is especially the case for large retailers facing pressures from their customers. However, there is no doubt that global MNCs also have a highly negative environmental impact on the earth, due to the inevitable scale of their production, and that their legitimacy can be fragile in the face of scandals. Numerous authors have contributed to the discussion on sustainable procurement and GSCM. The topics that are particularly emphasized in this
regard are the drivers and barriers the firms face in deciding on GSCM practices, as well as supply chain types, a product’s life cycle, and supply chain collaboration. Finally there have been a number of contributions over the past two decades in the field of public procurement, and within this topic, green public procurement. However, the focus has tended to be on government authorities, and to a lesser extent, the European Union. There is also some research covering procurement within the United Nations system, though more often than not, the focus is on
general procurement practices rather than on sustainable purchasing. 30 Putting all of this together, there is a research gap on the study of green procurement practices in the UN, through the use of the UN’s massive global purchasing power in sectors related to development and humanitarian aid. The health sector is a highly relevant one, and thus the UN’s Sustainable Procurement in the Health Sector (SPHS) initiative will be the case study for this research. The discussion will be centered on how the UN can use its purchasing power and scale in the
same ways as the above-‐mentioned MNCs, in order to change the health sector through procurement innovation and standard setting. Can the model developed in the private sector be replicated in the sector for multilateral aid? Can this potentially be a new way to improve sustainability practices on a global scale, with the UN acting as frontrunners for green purchasing strategies? What prevents the UN to take the lead as a frontrunner? Is it issues such as bureaucracy and lack of transparency stemming from its public nature? 4. Methodology This chapter
will describe the choice of methodology for this study, including research philosophy, approach and design. Following Saunders et al’s (2006) research ‘onion’ (see figure 2 below), the investigator needs to make a number of decisions before deciding on the data collection and analysis techniques. These different choices will be discussed in the following sections. This chapter also describes the sample chosen and the ethical considerations that were made by the researcher throughout the data collection process. 31
Figure 2: The research ‘onion’ Source: Saunders et al. (2006) 4.1 Research philosophy and approach In this study I have applied an abductive strategy, defined as a reflective way to generate theory side by side with data collection and analysis. With this research strategy, the investigator moves back and forth between theory and data collection, in order to construct theoretically sound propositions that reflect the range and nature of the empirical evidence in an accurate way. This differs from the inductive or deductive approaches
highlighted in the second layer (counting from the outside) of figure 2 above, where the researcher moves from empirical evidence to theoretical conclusions, or from theory to empirical evidence, respectively (Davies & Hughes, 2014). In this research project I have moved back and forth between reviewing the literature on the one hand, and gathering evidence through interviews and secondary data on the other, and making comparisons. Although some preliminary research questions were outlined from day one, they were not clearly defined until after a pilot interview was
conducted, with my first interviewee Volker Welter. Given Volker’s interesting comments and reflections I ended up using the pilot interview as part of my main data as well. Thus, the literature and the empirical findings both played a highly relevant role in shaping the research questions. This type of research is also in line with the interpretive 32 phenomenological analysis (IPA) or the interpretive approach to research, where the investigator looks for themes in the early emergent data, makes connections between them, and seeks further evidence through interviews
and observations. From the completed analysis, the researcher seeks to find patterns and infer meanings (Davies & Hughes, 2014). The themes spotted early on in the research project, through the literature review and the preliminary research, played a major role in my decision on the types of questions to be asked in the interviews. For example, the critique on public procurement depicted in parts of the literature lead to interesting questions in the interview process. Another example is the focus on a product’s life cycle in the GSCM literature, which also
produced interesting discussion points on the procurement practices of the UN. The most interesting evidence in the first few interviews have further affected the questions asked and the themes investigated in the following interviews. This strategy has proved to be an appropriate method for gathering interesting and relevant findings in the subject area. I have been able to add to existing research by highlighting a research gap, and trying to find empirical evidence within it. Interpretivism (first layer in figure 2) reflects an epistemology that seeks to understand
humans in their roles as social actors. Some argue that interpretivism is especially appropriate to use in the research of business and management, particularly when looking at organizational behaviors. This is due to the uniqueness of complex business situations, which are a function of a particular set of individuals and circumstances. The interpretivist researcher would thus argue that such situations are subject to change over time, and hence does not generalize her findings (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2006). 4.2 Research design The part of the methodology titled ‘research
design’ is represented in the lighter part of figure 2 above. Before choosing a research strategy, which is highlighted in the third layer of the research ‘onion’, the investigator needs to decide on a research purpose. As highlighted by Saunders et al. (2006), a research purpose can be classified as exploratory, explanatory or descriptive. This thesis follows an exploratory purpose, as the researcher is seeking to learn and gain new insights of the subject area. The main advantages of exploratory research are that it is flexible and adaptable to change,
allowing the researcher to change direction as a 33 result of new data or new insights. There are three main ways of conducting exploratory research: Extensive literature review, interviewing ‘experts’ in the subject area, and conducting focus groups (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2006). In this project I have conducted the first two. In addition to the literature review in previous sections of this paper, I have interviewed a sample of individuals. Due to their extensive involvement in the UN initiative, either internally within the UN or externally as
members of partner organizations or the private sector, these people are known to be experts in the field, as well as highly relevant stakeholders in the project. Having decided on a research purpose, the investigator can then move to the choice of a research strategy, the third layer of the research ‘onion’. A case study strategy is often used within an exploratory study. This is particularly suitable to answer why, what and how questions, and is thus very relevant for this project (see research questions in section 4.24) A case study seeks to
empirically investigate a contemporary phenomenon within its real life context, using multiple sources of evidence (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2006). This fits well with the research method applied for these research purposes. Within the case study strategy, Yin (2003) defines two different dimensions: • Single versus multiple case; • Holistic versus embedded case. This case study is directed towards a single case, which is the UN’s SPHS initiative. Given that the unit of analysis includes logical sub-‐units such as the different UN agencies and smaller organizations,
the study can be defined as an embedded case (Yin, 2003). The fourth layer of the ‘onion’ represents the choice of method to be used. Given that a single data collection technique and corresponding analysis procedures are used, the research is one of a mono method, focusing solely on the qualitative data gathered from interviews and documents. Finally, the fifth layer represents the time horizons to be applied in the research As this research is time limited and the interviews are conducted over the period of one month, the project is necessarily
cross-‐sectional, rather than longitudinal. The final layer in the middle of the onion represents techniques and procedures used in data collection and 34 analysis (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2006). I will address this layer in the rest of this chapter, and look into aspects such as the choice of sample, the use of interviews and secondary data, and ethics in qualitative research. The choice of research philosophy and design allowed me to get a detailed account of the SPHS initiative, and to freely choose the angle I wanted to have
for the thesis. It allowed me to draw conclusions based on the UN staff’s and partners’ own reflections, and to really understand their intentions, mindset and goals. The weakness of my methodology is that I do not have a representative sample, and thus I cannot generalize for all the stakeholders of the initiative. If the scope of the thesis had been sufficiently large, I could for instance have used both qualitative and quantitative (survey) methods. This may have allowed me to reach more people, whilst still keeping the detailed accounts of a few selected
interviewees. Furthermore, I could have included participant observations within my qualitative approach, which could have given relevant insights that may not have been captured through one-‐to-‐one interviews. For instance, I may have been able to capture group dynamics and how the different UN agencies interact with one another. 4.21 Sample When a researcher chooses a sample for a specific reason, it may be referred to as ‘strategic sampling’. This method differs greatly from the probability and non-‐probability sampling methods often used in statistical methods (Davies
& Hughes, 2014). “You are aiming quite explicitly to select people, objects, situations or experiences that will help you explore your question, enable you to develop theoretical ideas, and give you the opportunity to test them before reaching a conclusion.” (Davies and Hughes, 2014, P 172) The choice of interview subjects was initially based on recommendations from key focal points within the Joint UN Programme. After conducting the first few interviews, further relevant interview subjects were identified based on a ‘snowball sampling’ technique. This research
method is defined as a way of gathering research participants through the identification of initial subjects who are further used to provide names of other relevant 35 actors (Atkinson & Flint, 2004). In order to increase the validity of the findings, I chose a diverse sample, including representatives from different UN agencies, as well as from partner NGOs, a consulting company and a supplier firm. In total eleven interviews were conducted with an average length of 40 minutes. The number of interviews was not decided on from the
beginning. Rather, I stopped conducting further interviews when there did not seem to be anything more particularly useful to learn from the interviews, and when they started to become slightly repetitive. At that point, I concluded that the information from the completed interviews was adequate to answer the research questions. Although some of the interview subjects were more involved in the SPHS initiative than others, they all provided new and relevant viewpoints to the research topic. I tried to have a balance of interviewees, so that the sample consisted
of a mix of people working for different UN agencies, as well as some external people. The sample includes the following interview subjects: Name Title Volker Welter Senior Procurement Advisor New York, USA at UNDP’s Location Procurement Support Office Dr. Christoph Regional Practice Leader of Istanbul, Turkey Hamelmann HIV, Health and Development and SPHS Coordinator at the UNDP Regional Centre for Europe and the CIS Mirjana Milic Associate Coordinator for the Istanbul, Turkey Secretariat of the informal Interagency Task Team on Sustainable Procurement in the Health
Sector (iIATT-‐ SPHS/UNDP) 36 Anja Leetz Executive Director, Health Brussels, Belgium Care Without Harm Europe Ignacio Sanchez Diaz Former project coordinator, Istanbul, Turkey sustainable procurement, UNFPA (currently working for UNDP since May 2015) Morten Sørensen Deputy Chief of Procurement, Copenhagen, Denmark UNFPA Katarina Veem Director of Swedish Water Stockholm, Sweden House at Siwi Martin Hansen Consultant at Implement Copenhagen, Denmark Consulting Group Francesca Racioppi Senior Policy and Programme Copenhagen, Denmark Advisor at the Environment and Health Policy and Governance
at WHO Regional Office for Europe Helene Møller Chief, Health Centre, Technology Copenhagen, Denmark Unicef Supply Division MK Goh CEO of Karex, a Malaysian Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia condom manufacturer Table 4: List of interview subjects 4.22 Interviewing a small sample Conducting interviews is a useful way to get valuable information, and allows the subjects to talk freely about a topic (Kvale, 2007). There are some practical advantages to studying a small sample, such as the fact that it’s easier than organizing a large survey sample, and that the researcher can
easily get involved through face-‐to-‐face encounters. There are also some theoretical advantages, for instance the fact that it can appear more ‘human’ than surveys, and 37 that the material obtained may seem closer to the interviewee’s reality. This makes it possible to explore the respondents’ feelings and experiences, and gives the interviewee more room for directing the flow of conversation rather than solely answering pre-‐defined questions. Finally, it gives increased validity of the process, as the researcher can observe what the interviewee says and does as
opposed to just reading from a survey (Davies & Hughes, 2014). Given that a small number of people have a broad, in-‐depth knowledge of the UN initiative and the subject matter, doing qualitative interviews with a small sample proved to be the most suitable method. This approach allowed me to ask detailed questions to each respondent, and to explore their reactions, opinions and experiences in more detail. That said, the sample was large enough to allow me to explore different and comparative views relevant to the research questions, and to bring in information
that challenged the assumptions made previous to the data collection process. This is further emphasized in the literature as an important issue (Davies & Hughes, 2014). For instance, using a broad guideline of questions (see appendix 10.3) I chose to ask those that I deemed most relevant for the particular interview subject. The level of detail in each question depended on the knowledge of the interviewee. The answers given to me provided a basis for further questions, that I asked in the following interviews. However, the most relevant questions were asked in
every single interview. All the interviews were undertaken via video calling through Skype. Video calling is in many ways equivalent to a face-‐to-‐face interview, and is an easy and affordable way to do interviews from a geographical distance (Davies & Hughes, 2014). Furthermore, when interviewing busy professionals that are located in various locations around the globe, it also allowed them to be very flexible, as they could talk from anywhere. There were no issues of connectivity or bad sound, which allowed for outstanding communication. The only minor drawback from
using such a method was that several of the interview subjects chose not to have their camera on (among other things due to suboptimal connection when the web cameras are used), which prevented me from observing the interviewees’ body language during the interviews. All the interviews were audio recorded, which provided two advantages in particular: a) It provided a learning tool, in order for me to re-‐listen to the interviews several times, and b) it allowed me to focus completely on what was said during the interviews, as I didn’t have to worry about
writing everything down immediately. 38 4.23 Doing research with secondary data A researcher may conduct content analysis on anything that is written down or otherwise recorded (Davies & Hughes, 2014). As I was working part-‐time as an intern in UNDP during some of the time period of doing the research, I had access to a wide scope of written information – secondary sources – of the SPHS initiative. When doing such research it is highly important to be rigorous in interpreting the data, so as to not let one’s prejudices affect the
data collection. It is particularly important to be careful of what one already knows, as well as what one expects or wishes to find. Furthermore, it is important to keep in mind that the origin of the information itself is biased (Davies & Hughes, 2014). As the documents used in the data collection was written and published by the UN, I was particularly careful when interpreting the data. I tried, as often as I could, to cross check the information from different sources. This may have increased the reliability of the data to a certain extent
That being said, the information is fairly new and not published by any external sources yet, so all my sources are internal. The likelihood of some form of bias is thus inevitable, and this may, to a very minor extent, affect the answer to my research questions. 4.24 Research questions When doing a qualitative study it is important for the researcher to have the research question(s) clearly in mind throughout the data selection process. Instead of just using a single question, one may use several research questions in order to try to solve an
‘intellectual puzzle’ upon which you will develop an empirically and theoretically grounded framework (Davies & Hughes, 2014). In this study, three main subject areas were particularly focused on, and formed the basis for the questions asked. The research questions are: 1. How is the UN initiative similar or different from the private sector model of green procurement and sustainable supply chain management? 2. What are the main (internal and external) drivers and barriers that are faced by the UN agencies when working towards sustainable procurement in the health sector? 39
3. How do the findings on the UN initiative relate to the critique in the literature on public procurement? 4.3 Ethics 4.31 Ethical treatment of the interview subject In the qualitative interview, it is important for the researcher to recognize that it is an unusual situation for the interviewee, one that may feel like an interrogation. In the beginning of the interview, it is important to specify to the interviewee why it is important that he/she partakes in the interview. It is also essential to explain what the interview subject can get out of his/her partaking, for
instance by thoroughly explaining the research, its aims and its potential uses. This is known as informed consent It should also be mentioned whether there is a risk involved in participating in the interview (Kvale, 2007) (Davies & Hughes, 2014) (Orb, Eisenhauer, & Wynaden, 2000). Furthermore, it is important to consider confidentiality (Kvale, 2007). I started every interview by introducing the topic, and informing the interviewee about his/her right to remain anonymous, and their right to double-‐check their quotes prior to the thesis being officially submitted. The interviewees were
also informed that the interview would be recorded, for research purposes only. None of the interview subjects chose to remain anonymous, but most of them requested to have an overlook of the quotes to be used in the final paper before submission. Everyone was comfortable with being recorded Finally, when conducting qualitative research, it is important to avoid the abuse and exploitation of people, and to adhere to the concept of beneficence, or preventing harm (Orb, Eisenhauer, & Wynaden, 2000). Due to my affiliation with UNDP, and the joint collaboration between the organization
and the researcher for the study, the subjects seemed comfortable with expressing their true opinions. Furthermore, a number of them seemed to value the research being done. That being said, if the interviewees had been anonymous, they may have been more comfortable with providing even more honest answers. For the purpose of this thesis it made more sense to use the interviewees’ real names and titles (due to their roles as experts and stakeholders), but doing an anonymous study could be an option for further research. 40 4.32 Risk of bias
during interviews In qualitative research, it is important to recognize that the researcher is located in a subjective context and thus cannot claim neutral or scientific objectivity. Every researcher is affected by his/her own background and position prior to the research. This bias needs to be overcome in order to be able to grasp the personal view of every single interviewee, and answer the research questions as correctly as possible. As mentioned in section 423, this ‘researcher bias’ is especially a risk when one does research in a setting in which one
is already familiar (Easterby-‐Smith, Thorpe, & Jackson, 2012). Given my internship experiences in UNDP, as well as my acquaintance to some of the interview subjects, these issues were important to keep in mind during the data collection process. Furthermore, given this familiarity and previous knowledge, one can never say for certain whether the research is to a small extent affected by this so-‐called ‘researcher bias’. That being said, my knowledge and familiarity of the UN system also allowed each interview to be open, with an (often) informal tone. 5.
Analysis and discussion In this chapter I will present the main findings, analyze them and discuss them in relation to the literature and research questions. In the first section I shall briefly describe the initiative and its recent updates. In the second section I will discuss the first research question, comparing the SPHS initiative with the private sector model on green procurement and supply chain management (the ‘Walmart approach’). In section three I will discuss the second research question, and identify and discuss the main drivers and barriers identified in the
initiative. In section four I will address the third research question and compare the findings from the UN with some of the existing literature on public procurement. Finally in section five I will discuss the other relevant findings. 41 5.1 Broad overview of the UN initiative 5.11 The environmental burden of the health sector The environmental burden of the health sector is an emerging global issue. For instance, the health sector contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, resource depletion and chemical pollution (iLATT-‐SPHS Secretariat (UNDP), 2014). Research from the United States
shows that 8% of GHG emissions derives from the health sector, while studies in England find that the National Health Service contributes around 25% of public sector GHG emissions. In addition, the health sector contributes to environmental health impacts deriving from the procurement, use and disposal of products. These include hazardous drugs, radiation, chemicals, infectious and environmental hazards, water and air pollution, as well as risks from inappropriate health-‐care waste disposal and incineration practices. Furthermore, the procurement of goods and services is one of the largest
GHG contributors within the health sector (World Health Organization, 2013). The health sector is of undisputable importance worldwide, however for that same reason, the health sector often gets a ‘free pass’ regarding its impact on the environment. Numerous studies have argued that there is a clear link between environmental hazard and certain types of diseases. This calls for a bad circle, which will not solve itself without environmental intervention (Welter, 2015). The topic of sustainability has not gained substantial momentum within health. Certain ratings systems applied in
the consumer products sector, such as energy ratings, do not yet exist in the health sector. Furthermore, eco-‐innovative products are still rare in the health sector (iLATT-‐SPHS Secretariat (UNDP), 2014). 5.12 The SPHS initiative “The SPHS initiative use procurement as a strategic tool to advance on the climate change and sustainability agenda. In my opinion, procurement is a very useful tool to influence the private sector on sustainability aspects.” (Diaz, 2015) During the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012, leaders from around the world renewed their commitment
to progressing sustainable development, and re-‐ 42 affirmed that acting on this is the only solution in addressing the world’s growing social, economic and environmental issues. In this regard, the UN system was seen as vital in facilitating related efforts to promote sustainability. Given its humanitarian nature, the UN is a significant global buyer amongst health care products, and procurement of health materials is seen as a major vehicle in promoting sustainable development practices. The UN health sector procurement is a large market-‐shaping system that constitutes around US$
3 billion in annual procurement (UNDP, 2014). The Sustainable UN (SUN) programme has developed a number of tools and guidelines to support UN procurement activities. However, this guidance does not include the procurement of health products and services. Thus different UN agencies addressed this gap, and initiated the informal Inter-‐Agency Task Team for Sustainable Procurement in the Health Sector (SPHS) in May 2012 in Copenhagen, Denmark. This approach is built upon the principle that the UN organizations should lead by example, by way of including social and environmental sustainability
principles into its own practices (World Health Organization, 2013). The team currently consists of the agencies UNDP, UNOPS, UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO, UNHCR, UNEP, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, UNITAID and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance (Milic, 2015). The SPHS Task Team is particularly focusing on three environmental dimensions: greenhouse gas emissions, resource depletion and chemical pollution. Furthermore, three key pillars of the initiative are defined as: establishment of evidence-‐based standards; implementation of environmental product specifications and procurement criteria;
and the engagement with key stakeholders from the global health aid market (global health financing agencies, suppliers and manufacturers). A particular focus of the SPHS Task Team is on the third pillar, where they recognize the importance of collaborating with suppliers and manufacturers on introducing sustainable procurement in the market for health aid. Through an envisaged transparent and inclusive process, the Task Team can see a great potential in lowering the environmental impact of their procurement, with a final aim of improving human health and well-‐being. They
see this as a win-‐win scenario, as they are trying to build a business case for suppliers and manufacturers that can include both environmental-‐ and, when feasible, financial benefits. Experiences show that financial benefits can be achieved in different ways 43 For instance it can be achieved through energy efficiency, by introducing renewable sources of energy in the production process. Furthermore, it can be achieved through waste management, by decreasing the packaging of products (Milic, 2015). The UN is mandated to ‘walk the talk’ and to lead by
example in an objective and transparent way, with the hope that other large global purchasers of health supplies will follow suit (UNDP, 2014) (UNDP, 2014). In the end, the UN’s aim for this initiative is to buy more sustainable health care products, by collaborating with suppliers and manufacturers on how they can make their products more sustainable. The UN wants their suppliers to look at anything from energy consumption, the use of chemicals, the treatment of waste and wastewater, and other sub-‐factors of production in order to make the entire manufacture
and supply process more sustainable (Sørensen, 2015). In the future, the initiative hopes to be able to signal to the whole UN system that green procurement can be a possibility, also in other sectors (Veem, 2015). The initiative was established in May 2012 in Copenhagen, Denmark. However, in February 2015 the SPHS Secretariat was relocated to the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub in Turkey (Milic, 2015). In 2015, UNDP has been successful in two resource-‐mobilization calls and has received funding from the Skoll Foundation and the United Nations Foundation,
as well as from the UNDP Innovation Facility. This has been granted in order for them to continue their work on the engagement process with suppliers, manufacturers, and green health products and services within the global health aid market. The grants have also opened up opportunities of scaling up the above-‐mentioned projects (Welter, 2015) (Milic, 2015). 5.13 The GPHS Programme Among other things, the task team has established a Joint UN programme on Greening Procurement in the Health Sector (GPHS), which has currently been signed by the UN agencies UNDP,
UNFPA, and UNOPS. Furthermore, UNEP and WHO are currently in the process of signing it (Milic, 2015). The official joint UN programme is currently focusing on the following practices: 44 • Establishing joint procurement standards. • Engaging in capacity building with various suppliers. • Enlist organizations that finance global health initiatives to apply green procurement standards. • Develop and implement practice based tools for the UN and for their suppliers. • Develop and promote innovative green procurement solutions among health care associations (UNDP, 2014).
Figure 3: Virtuous circle of Green Procurement in the Health Sector. Source: UNDP, 2014 45 McCrudden (2004) argues that sustainable procurement encompasses both green and social aspects. In the case of the UN, the initiative is targeting sustainability as a whole, given its focus on both green and social aspects. However, the official GPHS programme is more environmentally related, and does not include the social components (Milic, 2015). For the time being, Unicef and UNHCR have decided not to sign on to be part of the official GPHS programme.
According to a representative of Unicef, the agency has made this decision because sustainability is not as much part of their main agenda compared to the other agencies, but rather an integrated part of all their activities. Furthermore, they do not wish to duplicate the work of the other UN agencies. That said, they fully support the programme and wish to continue partaking in the sessions and learn from the work of the other agencies (Møller, 2015). Through joint task team initiatives and individual agency-‐level practices, the different UN agencies
have taken numerous steps towards green procurement in the health sector (see table 5). UNDP functions as the task team’s current secretariat (World Health Organization, 2013). Organization Joint Task Team Initiatives Examples of practices undertaken • Framing the “Guidelines for Green Procurement of Health Products and Services”. • Liaising with the Capital Region of Denmark and consultancy firms regarding carbon foot printing methods and environmental auditing of suppliers. • Integrating lists of hazardous chemicals to substitute in technical specifications to suppliers. United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) • Conducted a pilot carbon foot printing analysis in Montenegro and Tajikistan. • Reporting the carbon footprint of sea and air fright of health products. • Listing questions to suppliers regarding 46 sustainability measures. United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) • Developed a sustainable procurement strategy. • Made an online training tool on sustainable procurement for UN staff. • Initiated an awareness-‐raising campaign on sustainable procurement. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) • Developed requirements for packaging in
factories making the health products. • Integrating green criteria into ISO contraceptives standards. • Developed requirements for suppliers to provide information about chemical content in procured products. World Health Organization (WHO) • Implementing the WHO Prequalification Programme into the context of the joint UN initiative. • Developed several quality assurance guidelines on manufacturing practices for pharmaceutical products, blood and plasma collection, water for pharmaceutical use, and quality assurance of pesticides in the health sector. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) •
Coordinating an initiative with the World Bank and other international organizations, to facilitate a global consensus on integrating sustainable development at all levels of public sector procurement (not exclusively focused on the health sector). • Initiatives to raise awareness on eco-‐labeling. • Writing reports regarding ongoing sustainable procurement activities around the world. Table 5: Examples of practices by the different UN agencies in the joint UN programme. Source: World Health Organization (2013) 47 5.2 The UN initiative and the ‘Walmart approach’ In
this section I will address the first research question, by comparing the SPHS initiative to the private sector model depicted in chapters 2 and 3. 5.21 Comparing the SPHS initiative with the ‘Walmart approach’ “Because Walmart have so enormous procurement volume, they can really make a shift in the way manufacturers are producing. And my point is, this I believe we can also do in the health care sector at the UN Because we can gradually push manufacturers in the right direction. And I think, once we get more manufacturers to see
that they are actually also saving money, then I think it becomes sort of a – it’s like a wheel or snowball you push down a hill, right? It may be a little bit hard in the beginning, but it will accelerate when manufacturers start to see that they are saving money.” (Sørensen, 2015) The UN is undoubtedly inspired by the private sector, and Walmart’s approach to sustainability in particular (Sørensen, 2015). For instance, UNFPA has worked on getting their condom and contraceptives suppliers ISO 14001 certified. Through a workshop held in Malaysia, UNFPA grouped
manufacturers together based on geographical locations and encouraged group discussions and learnings. Furthermore, they have collaborated with manufacturers on how to improve their product specifications and guidelines in a greener direction (Goh, 2015). This is very much in line with Walmart’s Sustainability 360 strategy, where the company reduces its environmental impact by guiding its suppliers and promising cost reductions for producers through reduced energy use (Chhabara, 2010) (Walmart, 2015). That being said, to date the UN’s model is solely based on influencing their
suppliers and manufacturers through discussion and collaboration. There has not been any case of supply chain monitoring, or controlling the environmental or social consequences of the product along the entire supply chain. The distinction between using one’s purchasing power to influence suppliers in a greener direction, and on the other hand monitoring systems along the international supply chain, was mentioned as important (Welter, 2015). 48 “So far the Joint UN initiative has almost exclusively focused on the aspect of how we can basically combine the purchasing
power or engage in a structural dialogue with suppliers in order to change their practices. We have not yet touched at all in the initiative [on] the whole issue of monitoring implementation of politics along the international supply chain. Actually I would say this is an extremely weak feature in the whole UN system.” (Welter, 2015) One issue may be that the SPHS initiative is still in its early phases. There have been talks of supply chain monitoring in the future. For instance the UN is currently engaging in research with PhD candidates from European universities
on improving the supply chains (Milic, 2015). However, nothing of that sort has been done to date (Veem, 2015) Another issue may be that the programme is based on voluntary participation from the suppliers, and thus it has not been possible to push for changes if the suppliers are not interested in collaborating. The UN has tried to develop some questionnaires and become more engaged in their suppliers’ strategies, in order to obtain some more information on their sustainability performance. But one of the challenges is the different level of readiness
and interest among the suppliers. Given the voluntary nature of the initiative, it can sometimes get difficult for the UN to obtain information from the suppliers (Diaz, 2015). In comparison, several private sector companies have gone beyond merely discussing with suppliers. Some are encompassing the entire supply chain and requiring suppliers to be sustainable in order to be part of it. For instance, BMW has changed their practices along the entire supply chain, making their end product much more energy-‐efficient. The company has even considered the consumer-‐end of the supply
chain, and developed mobile applications for greener alternatives (BMW Group, 2015). Nike imposes strict rules on commitment to sustainability and lean management for manufacturers to qualify to be part of their supply chain (Nike Inc., 2014) On the other hand, many MNCs are so focused on keeping sales up that they feel pressured to become sustainable as a means of keeping a good reputation. A number of retailers have to deal with adversity regarding their brand image, and are forced to make strict changes to 49 keep a good
reputation (Ganesan, George, Jap, Palmatier, & Weitz, 2009). According to Leonard (2010) Walmart’s reputation pre-‐Sustainability 360 was highly critical, and one might thus argue that the company has needed this drastic change in order to keep sales up. This pressure is very private sector related, and is not as significant for a large intergovernmental organization like the UN. This is because the organization is not driven by profits and sales, but rather by its mandates as well as requirements of its member states. Operating with public funds, the UN faces
completely different challenges within its procurement departments. For instance they need to deal with issues such as non-‐ discrimination of suppliers (Van De Gronden, Bloch, Ramm, Jensen, Harland, & Walker, 2007), allowing producers from developing countries to get the same opportunities as Western ones. Furthermore, they have to ensure an extremely high level of equity, integrity and transparency. These requirements are potentially stricter than those of the private sector, given that the UN is operating on behalf of their member states. Because of its public nature, the UN is
bound by strict requirements and can perhaps not act as fast as multinationals, who in the end have no one to please but their investors. In other words it may be a longer and more difficult process for the UN to make robust changes in their supply chains. That being said, there is undoubtedly a lot of room for improvement in the SPHS initiative, as was mentioned by several of the interviewees. 5.22 A cradle-‐to-‐cradle vision Addressing the requirements identified by Arrowsmith and Davies (1998), which are a) product-‐related environmental requirement,
b) affirmative purchasing, and c) process and production methods (see page 26), the UN initiative is at the time being mostly related to the second and the third requirement type. This is because the initiative is currently focused on the production part of the supply chain, either by addressing the product directly, or addressing the overall production location (Goh, 2015) (Sørensen, 2015). The UN initiative has still not been able to address the first requirement, by addressing a product’s post-‐ procurement environmental performance. That said, the UN hopes in the
future to be able to include other aspects of a product’s life cycle as well. The intention is to introduce and start using the concept of whole life cycle and total cost of ownership during the procurement process (Diaz, 2015). 50 Linton et al. (2007) mentions the importance of keeping in mind the product design, the by-‐ products, the product’s life extension and end-‐of-‐life within sustainable supply chain management. Other authors argue for the cradle-‐to-‐cradle approach (Braungart, McDonough, & Bollinger, 2007) (Alston, 2008) (Kumar & Putnam, 2008).
Common for all of the aforementioned authors is the life-‐cycle approach within sustainable supply chain management. Thus, for an organization to be completely sustainable it is crucial to consider a product’s entire life cycle, not just the production. One of the UN’s visions for the future is to follow a cradle-‐to-‐cradle approach to whichever extent possible. For instance, it has been mentioned that they wish to use a better mapping of the entire supply chain, and focus on making sustainable changes along the way. However, one of the challenges
is that the products are so different in terms of their potential. For instance, it is easier to focus on responsible disposal of an intrauterine device that is inserted and removed at hospitals, compared to a condom that is used on a one-‐time basis by people during sexual intercourse. While it is easier for hospitals to decide on a way to dispose of their used products in a green and safe way, environmental considerations are unlikely to me made by an individual who disposes of a condom. One of the things the UN want to do in the future
is to provide guidelines on how people can sustainably dispose of medical and pharmaceutical products (Sørensen, 2015). Furthermore they want to use sustainability criteria to select manufacturers, and develop a supply chain team that works with the suppliers and manufacturers on making sustainable changes. For now, they are still lacking funding to work on all these activities, but they hope to be able to expand on this in the future (Sørensen, 2015) (Diaz, 2015). “The cradle-‐to-‐cradle, it’s more like a vision. It’s not something I think realistically we
will achieve any time soon. But I still think we should talk about it And I still think we should take good initiatives and elements from it. Because, you know, you may not achieve it completely But even if you do some of the things along the way, you are still saving the environment.” (Sørensen, 2015) 51 5.23 Switching options for suppliers When looking at the examples of Walmart, BMW and Nike, it is undeniably the companies’ purchasing power that makes them able to push for green changes. The UN’s list of suppliers in the health sector includes
everything from large global companies to small factories. For instance, UNFPA is the biggest male condom procurer in the world, and purchases more than 70% of the production of certain suppliers (Diaz, 2015). In these cases they have a lot of influence, and applying a typical ‘Walmart approach’ to sustainability would be achievable. In other cases they represent only a small percentage of a factory’s production volume, and in that case, the bargaining power is on the manufacturer (Sørensen, 2015). According to Gereffi et al. (2005) value chain governance can
be categorized into five types, which determine the potential for a lead firm to apply sustainable procurement standards upon its suppliers. Those five types are markets, modular-‐, relational-‐ or captive value chains, or a hierarchy (see page 20). The UN case can be defined as markets, modular or captive, depending on each of the different relationships between the UN and its suppliers. “Where we are big, and where we have big procurement muscles, we get a lot of airtime with the management of the factory. And where we are small, they I’m not saying they are
not listening to us, but we can certainly not come with strict requirements or anything. Then they will say, ‘yeah we hear what you are saying, we will put it into our overall corporate social responsibility strategy’. And that is kind of the standard answer we receive from them, very often” (Sørensen, 2015) Among the interviewees it was also argued that, more than anything, the UN has a unique symbolic value. Regardless of the UN’s size as a buyer, manufacturers and suppliers may consider the UN as being good for their portfolio
(Leetz, 2015). 5.24 Summing up answer to research question 1 The findings show that the UN is inspired by large MNCs’ political power to make global changes (Strange, 1991) (Fuchs, 2005) towards sustainability, and they are especially inspired by the so-‐called ‘Walmart approach’. Like the large private companies, the UN uses 52 its purchasing power and large size to push suppliers for changes in a greener direction. The UN initiative is still in its early stages though, and thus they have not yet started any type of supply chain monitoring or life
cycle considerations. Furthermore, up until now the manufacturers and suppliers have purely been involved in the initiative through voluntary participation, which also limits the prospective for change. As addressed by several of the interviewees, there is a lot more that can potentially be done. That being said, the UN is working with public funds, and face different challenges and responsibilities than profit-‐ driven companies. For the future, the UN is working towards a cradle-‐to-‐cradle goal where, over time, they should be able to address all aspects of a
product’s life in order to make green improvements. Finally, compared to large MNCs in the private sector, the UN has different types of relationships with suppliers, depending on its relative size as a customer. In some cases, the UN is by far the largest customer, and thus inhibit large bargaining power vis-‐à-‐vis their suppliers. In this case there is room for the UN to demand green changes along the value chain. In other cases, the UN is a rather small buyer, in which case their suggestions may become part of the company’s CSR strategy, at
best. 5.3 Drivers and barriers In this section I will address the second research question, identifying the main drivers and barriers encountered in the UN initiative. 5.31 Drivers 5.311 Driver: The UN’s sustainability agenda and mandate The UN’s overall sustainability agenda, which has been gaining increasing prominence worldwide, was recognized as one of the main drivers. Following a mandate from Ban-‐Ki Moon in 2007 (Milic, 2015) (Sørensen, 2015), the UN system at large has worked on greening its own operations (Hamelmann, 2015) (Diaz, 2015) (Racioppi, 2015). UNDP in
particular have put sustainability as one of their main strategic focus points for the future (Welter, 2015). One of the main proposals in this regard is the Sustainable Development Goals (Hamelmann, 2015) following the Millennium Development Goals that are set to expire in the 53 fall of 2015. This is in line with the literature, where an organization’s values are identified as a driver (Walker, Di Sisto, & McBain, 2008). With the focus on being ‘One UN’ (Leetz, 2015) and integrating activities between the different UN agencies, the initiative
is a great opportunity for jointly working towards sustainability goals, “walk the talk” and “practice what we preach” (Racioppi, 2015). It was emphasized that many staff members within the UN has a general interest in the subject matter and its potential within the UN, and has a will to bring it forward in their day-‐to-‐day work (Sørensen, 2015). This trait is also identified as a driver in the literature (Walker, Di Sisto, & McBain, 2008) (Grandia, Groeneveld, Kuipers, & Steijn, 2014) (Thomson & Jackson, 2007). Finally, the UN’s
credibility and competence was also mentioned as an important factor. Given the organization’s large size, even an incremental change can have a huge impact on an industry such as the health sector (Milic, 2015). This capability of the UN can be linked with the findings by Bowen et al. (2001), which showed that an organization’s capability was an important predictor for GSCM. 5.312 Driver: A business opportunity The business opportunities that exist for the suppliers and manufacturers were also identified as a driver. The main benefits of switching to more sustainable alternatives were
considered to be the lower use of resources, lower production costs, market demand and the potential of entering new markets (Diaz, 2015) (Racioppi, 2015). “We actually also want to help them to save raw material, save wastewater, save energy. Because we strongly believe, and we have a lot of evidence to support that, that by saving this, they will also save money. And a lot of it is very intuitive But we have even found that areas where manufacturers initially came and were very critical, and said: ‘Oh, you are trying to, you know, take our
money, and it will be more expensive for us.’ But we actually found that a lot of them have saved a lot of money by going green.” (Sørensen, 2015) Cost reductions were also identified in Walker et al.’s (2008) study on common drivers and barriers within private and public companies. This is also in line with Zhu and Sarkis’ studies, 54 which found that supplier firms and manufacturers often became more sustainable for business reasons (Zhu & Sarkis, 2006) (Zhu, Sarkis, & Geng, 2005). 5.313 Other drivers Initiatives from other international organizations and
private companies to become more sustainable, was recognized as a driver. For instance, many MNCS have showed a strong drive in ensuring that their business model is environment-‐ and health conscious (Welter, 2015), and this has been considered highly positive and inspiring for the UN. Furthermore, the initiation of reporting requirements from the UN’s headquarters in New York was also considered a driver, although it was mentioned to be moving at a slow pace (Sørensen, 2015). 5.314 Comparing with drivers from the literature The main drivers identified in the UN
case differ from private sector companies, where brand image and reputation (Ganesan, George, Jap, Palmatier, & Weitz, 2009) (Seuring & Müller, 2008) tends to be one of the main drivers for environmental improvement. Other main drivers have been identified in the literature as regulatory compliance (Giunipero, Hooker, & Denslow, 2012), pressure or encouragement from customers, and environmental risk minimization (Walker, Di Sisto, & McBain, 2008), none of which were identified in the UN initiative. Thomson and Jackson (2007) recognized increased information sharing
as a driver from sustainable procurement. Although this wasn’t explicitly mentioned among the interviewees in the UN case when asked about drivers and barriers, it was later mentioned as something that could be done better (Veem, 2015) (Goh, 2015). While economies of scale were not explicitly specified as a driver in the UN program, it is implicit in the way that the initiative is based. This case is thus consistent with Min & Galle’s (2001) findings, which show that economies of scale help justifying green procurement programs. 55 5.32 Barriers
5.321 Barrier: Conservatism of procurement professionals A number of the interviewees highlighted the conservatisms of the procurement profession, implying that procurers have a certain resistance to doing things in a new, or greener way (Welter, 2015) (Milic, 2015). “So this, a little bit conservative approach, you could see for instance with our own procurement department in Copenhagen Because they are so submerged in their operational constraints and the classical implementation of rules, that these new topics claiming to change the policy and the rules are perceived
as making the world more complicated.” (Welter, 2015) However, another interviewee highlighted that procurement professionals are often tasked with the implementation of procurement policies, and not necessarily with the formulation of the broad values and policies that are needed to introduce important changes. Hence this strict aspect of their work goes beyond ‘conservatism’, and should in fact be appreciated (Racioppi, 2015). Although the critique towards the procurement professionals differed among certain interviewees, it is still clear that this conservatism was mainly seen as a barrier
in the work of the initiative. 5.322 Barrier: Lack of funding and resources Lack of time-‐, personnel-‐ and financial resources was considered a barrier (Leetz, 2015). A lack of funding has also been recognized as a common barrier in the literature (Walker, Di Sisto, & McBain, 2008). For instance, it was mentioned that there was a lack of targeted funding from donors. “The donors often drive the internal UN money. If the donors for example said to the UN that they earmark 2% of our contribution to green initiatives, then I can
assure you that we would really quickly get concrete things we would be measured on in relation to green procurement. But donors are not saying that, they come with vague statements, like ‘green procurement is important’, or something like that. But they don’t quantify it and say ‘we want you, the UN, to 56 spend 3 % of all your procurement volume on greening the supply chain or making more ecological production’ or something like that. [It] would help a lot if they did, but they don’t” (Sørensen, 2015) The lack of funding from
UNDP to proposals from its partners was also mentioned as a frustrating barrier, making it difficult to move the initiative forward. “We actually created a proposal for how to proceed, but that did not receive funding from UNDP. So it’s not our fault, it’s UNDP that chooses to not fund its own initiative There is no money for anything. And this is, you know, an initiative that could have huge impact But they do not fund it.” (Veem, 2015) 5.323 Barrier: Complexity of a cross-‐cutting initiative The complex, crosscutting nature of the initiative was
also identified as a barrier. For instance, it was difficult for the UN to find donors and private companies who were tuned to such a cross-‐sectional multidimensional programme as the SPHS initative. This often resulted in numerous meetings taking place with the wrong people, who were looking at only one aspect. “So it’s procurement, but it’s not just procurement. It’s environment, but it’s not just environment. It’s health, but it’s in a certain way a very unusual feature of the health sector So when you talk to potential donors or
partners, we were always facing the problem: What is the right department to talk about? Are you talking to the procurement department, are you talking to the health professionals? Are you talking to the sustainability professions? also from the private sector side, there is a very different pool of companies dealing with all these types of products. For instance you cannot talk to Johnson & Johnson or Novo Nordisk about condoms And you cannot talk to the condom suppliers about pharmaceuticals . you have to play with a very diverse group of stakeholders on
the private sector side.” (Welter, 2015) This complexity was also identified across the different UN agencies, as well as across different functions within them (Racioppi, 2015). There is no doubt that the large number of activities, subject areas, organizations and UN agencies make harmonization of activities 57 challenging. This is in line with some of the previous research on procurement in the UN, where the difficulty of harmonization has been recognized (Van De Gronden, Bloch, Ramm, Jensen, Harland, & Walker, 2007). 5.324 Barrier: The lack of environmental
considerations in the health sector The health sector, and in particular the WHO, is seemingly lacking a focus on environmental aspects in their assessment schemes and guidelines. This apparent conflicting philosophy on human health proved to be a barrier for some of the UN staff members in terms of moving the initiative forward (Hamelmann, 2015) (Welter, 2015). “Here obviously we are running against a professional mentality that has developed over centuries, and where the medical profession says ‘our main issue here is the patient, and then all the other things are not of concern’
. For instance, WHO is still accepting, for several countries, the use of DDT in the fight against malaria. This has been forbidden in most countries of the world, due to its disastrous effect on the environment, including human health, babies etc. This has been forbidden for obvious reasons for some 40 or 50 years.” (Welter, 2015) However, the staff of WHO do not seem to consider this to be an issue. An official WHO report states that DDT is one of 12 recommended insecticides to be used for indoor residual spraying (IRS) in malaria control. There exists strict
global regulations on the production and use of DDT, but there is an exemption given for the production and public health use of DDT on indoor application to vector-‐borne diseases. This is mainly due to the absence of equally effective and cost-‐efficient alternatives. According to the report, WHO actively supports the global reduction and eventually elimination of DDT use, but considers it necessary to keep using DDT for IRS in malaria control until a suitable substitute product is introduced in the market (World Health Organization, 2011).
Regarding environmental concerns in general, the interviewee from WHO stated that the organization does in fact have an important duty to minimize the environmental impact of its own operations: 58 “For example, when we implement projects in partnership with certain partners, we may in fact be requested to provide an analysis of our environmental impact. So there is an issue of corporate responsibility here that comes into place. Secondly, the protection and actions related to environment and health are an inherent component of the work of our
organization.” (Racioppi, 2015) A staff member of Unicef also mentioned this. She claimed that sustainability is an integrated part of her agency’s work, although it isn’t their primary mandate in the same way as agencies such as UNDP (Møller, 2015). The various UN agencies’ sustainability focus seems to be perceived very differently among the interviewees. 5.325 Barrier: Slow pace in a public organization Working for a large, public organization includes having to deal with slow processes and bureaucracy (Diaz, 2015). For example, the long time it can take to
make a decision or to move an agenda forward was considered a barrier. However, it was also mentioned that once a change has been introduced, even an incremental one, it can have a huge impact (Milic, 2015). 5.326 Other barriers Several other barriers were mentioned, though without the same emphasis as the aforementioned ones. For instance, it was mentioned the lack of strict monitoring systems in the UN’s procurement departments (Hamelmann, 2015). This is in line with the findings in section 5.21, which highlights the lack of supply chain monitoring as
a part of the UN’s procurement practices. Furthermore, it was mentioned that the initiative could be seen as a potential hinder to suppliers and manufacturers in developing countries, mainly due to the requirement of high initial investments (Milic, 2015). However, given that this subject was only mentioned briefly in one of the interviews, it is not deemed as highly relevant. 59 5.327 Comparing with barriers in the literature In addition to the ones mentioned above, high costs were mentioned as a barrier in the literature (Walker & Brammer, 2009).
Although a general lack of funding was mentioned as a barrier within the UN initiative, the word cost was never explicitly mentioned. I thus assume that, while funds were not always fully allocated to the proposals and initiatives, the costs associated with green procurement were not directly seen as a barrier. In the literature, Van de Gronden et al. (2007) identify a list of barriers to procurement in the UN (see page 29). Of those listed, only “Complexity and difficulty of harmonization across UN organizations” and “The decentralized arrangements make it difficult
to have central control over procurement policies” was positively recognized by the interviewees as a barrier (Welter, 2015) (Racioppi, 2015). However, it was also mentioned that today, many UN agencies have centralized control of procurement policies, so that the latter was not a big problem anymore (Welter, 2015). Furthermore, some interviewees mentioned the “Lack of funding for procurement activities” as an issue (Sørensen, 2015) (Veem, 2015). All in all, it is clear that some of the barriers to procurement within the UN system are confirmed both in the
literature and in this study. To be specific, three out of the six barriers listed were in some way recognized in the SPHS initiative as well, with some barriers being emphasized more than others. That being said, this UN initiative is quite different from previous UN procurement activities. This is for instance due to its informal and crosscutting nature, as well as its sustainability focus. Thus it also includes several different barriers from those previously identified in studies of the UN. 5.33 Summing up answer to research question 2 The main drivers and barriers identified
in the UN initiative are highlighted in table 6 below. Whilst the drivers were quite evenly spread between internal and external ones, the barriers were mainly internal ones, with only one external barrier mentioned. 60 Internal Drivers • The UN’s sustainability agenda and Barriers • Conservatism of mandate. procurement • Motivated staff members. professionals. • The initiation of reporting • resources. requirement from the UN’s headquarters in New York. Lack of funding and • Complexity of a cross-‐cutting initiative. • The lack of environmental considerations in agencies
of the health sector. • Slow pace in a public organization. • The lack of strict monitoring systems in procurement departments. External • A business opportunity for suppliers. • Initiatives from other international be seen as a organizations and private companies. potential hinder to • The initiative could suppliers and manufacturers in developing countries. Table 6: Main drivers and barriers identified in the UN initiative 61 Comparing with the literature, and particularly that of private sector companies, there are a number of similarities with the barriers, but less so
with the drivers. One of the main reasons for this is that private companies are driven by sales and profit, whilst the UN is driven by the requirements and objectives of their donors. This will serve as a major difference when it comes to the drivers. For instance, brand image and gaining a competitive advantage are considered as important drivers in the private sector. In the UN, their mandate and agenda is their top driver. 5.4 Relating the findings to the critique of public procurement In this section I will address the third and final research
question by comparing my findings with the existing literature on public procurement, and in particular the most common critique of it. 5.41 (Lack of) efficiency within public procurement According to the OECD (2009), weak governance in public procurement hampers market competition and raises the price paid by the administration for goods and services. Public procurement is also known for being bureaucratic (Ævarsson, 2010), difficult to implement (Tyrrell & Bedford, 1997) and have a slow speed of environmental improvements (Bauer, Christensen, Christensen, Dyekjær-‐Hansen, &
Bode, 2009). Thus, within public procurement, efficiency is deemed to be one of the most important objectives (Arrowsmith, Linarelli, & Wallace, 2000). On the background of this, I asked several of the interviewees to rate their perceived level of efficiency of the UN initiative. The rating was done on a scale from 1 to 10, from low to high levels of efficiency. Out of seven answers given (where six of them were UN staff members, and one was from outside), the mean number was 7.07 and the median was 7 None of the answers were below 5. Many
of the interviewees argued that due to the informal nature of the initiative, it was more efficient than many other UN projects and programmes (Sørensen, 2015). For instance, it was argued that the staff members involved in the initiative had more flexibility, opportunity for creativity, and ability to make concrete decisions, compared to what they usually have in the formal programmes and projects within the UN. This has offered 62 many opportunities to the SPHS secretariat and members when it comes to moving forward on the greening agenda (Milic, 2015). “If you
would ask me to give a mark from 1-‐10, I could not give 10, as the structures and regulations of the UN are still very bureaucratic. Nevertheless, the mark for our initiative would still be rather high.” (Milic, 2015) Regardless, there were also some interviewees who were less satisfied with the speed of the project. “ from an abstract level, things could go a lot faster. So I would say, given the complexity of our environment on this topic and the complexity of the organizations involved, I would say we are moving maybe at kind of a medium
speed, maybe 5?” (Hamelmann, 2015) The interviewee who was external to the UN also commented on this: “It took two years just to define the programme. That sounds like a long time But I do recognize that there are different agencies who need to come together, agree, and then go back and consult internally.” (Leetz, 2015) All in all, the interviewees pointed to different (positive and negative) aspects of the initiative’s rate of efficiency, but no one was altogether negative to it. Compared to the critique on public procurement in the literature,
this points to a much more positive and optimistic view. It should off course, be kept in mind that many of the interviewees were UN staff members themselves, and therefore likely to be biased to a certain extent. However, more than anything it was the specific characteristics of the initiative that was highlighted as the most positive aspect. 5.42 Transparency issues in public procurement Of all public activities, the OECD (2009) states that procurement is the most vulnerable to fraud and corruption. In the organization’s Principles for Enhancing Integrity in Public
63 Procurement they point out procedures that, among other things, enhance transparency, good management and accountability. Hawkins et al (2011) found that leaders in the not-‐for-‐profit sector were more willing to turn a blind eye to opportunistic behavior and exhibited greater willful ignorance. Tyrrell and Bedford (1997) stated that EU procurement was based on corrupted states. That being said, other authors point out that public authorities have been thoroughly committed to sustainability, for instance by compiling and disseminating sustainability information through environmental policies
and applying environmental risk assessments for key contracts (Preuss, 2009). Furthermore, within the UN system there is a large focus on ensuring transparency, equity, integrity (Van De Gronden, Bloch, Ramm, Jensen, Harland, & Walker, 2007) and accountability (Ævarsson, 2010). According to my findings, there is not a lot of evidence supporting low levels of transparency within the UN initiative. It was argued that, because the UN is a public organization, they have a duty to make all their work highly transparent. However, given the early stage of the initiative so far, the
transparency level is somewhat sub-‐optimal at this point in time (Milic, 2015). Three of the interviewees from external companies (two partner organizations and one supplier) were asked about the easiness of getting information from the UN initiative. The responses were mainly positive. “I think it’s been pretty easy to get information. I work close together with the team we have had a lot of meetings, and internal workshops on what our success criteria were and how we wanted to get there. And they were really willing to share any sort of
documentation or information about the programme with us. Overall it was a pleasant collaboration between Implement Consulting Group and the programme.” (Hansen, 2015) “So far, it’s been OK. The communication could have been more, today we only communicate through conferences and workshops Hopefully more workshops like that could happen. But it doesn’t have to be workshops like that, it could also be closer meetings for example.” (Goh, 2015) Only one of the interviewees had a clearly negative perception of the information sharing with the UN: 64 “Oh, I think it’s
very difficult, very difficult. Like, the UN again is notorious about saying that they are transparent. But you have to seek like a crazy person on their websites to find the information you need. Very, very difficult and impenetrable” (Veem, 2015) Overall my findings do not show evidence of big transparency issues with the UN initiative, but do no disprove it either, given that one interviewee commented on the lack of it. However this latter comment was more towards the UN in general, as opposed to the initiative as such. I thus assume that transparency is
not a big issue within the initiative, but that there is room for improvement. 5.43 Summing up the answer to research question 3 The literature generally criticizes public procurement for being bureaucratic and lacking transparency. My findings do not support this Although the UN as an organization has a tendency to include slow and bureaucratic processes, this is not proven to be a big problem within the UN initiative. On the other hand, due to its informal nature, there is evidence that the work processes can in fact be faster than what is normally the case
within public procurement. Secondly, there is no clear evidence supporting a lack of transparency Though the different answers contradict each other, there is not enough evidence to support a transparency issue within the UN initiative. But it is noted that there are improvements that can be done to better inform the different stakeholders. 5.5 Other findings 5.51 A strong interest from suppliers and manufacturers Several of the interviewees mentioned the positive response that has been met by the suppliers and manufacturers following the UN initiative. This surprised many of the
UN staff members, who initially thought most of the suppliers would be skeptic to change (Sørensen, 2015). According to the literature, this is a trait that has become more and more common among suppliers in the past few decades (Falkner, 2003). There is also research which states that collaboration in the supply chain can lead to improvement in performance (Vachon & 65 Klassen, 2008) (van Bommel, 2011). All in all, the positive response and willingness to collaborate among the suppliers was considered a very positive aspect of the UN initiative. “The
current suppliers definitely could see that there might be some good reasoning in greening their production methods, and that reducing your CO2 footprint or water or energy consumption not necessarily is a bad thing, but can also save money for your business as well there was some willingness among the suppliers who wanted to engage with the UN and to think of ways to get there They were saying that if the UN wanted to produce something in a certain way, they would go ahead and do it.” (Hansen, 2015) One of the interviewees, the CEO of the
world’s biggest condom manufacturer and a supplier to UNFPA, could confirm this picture. The Malaysian company will be the first in the world to be LEED1 certified, and all their factories are ISO 14001 certified as well. Some of the green initiatives they have in their day-‐to-‐day work are: • When building new factories, they send the trees that are cut down to biomass factories, where they are used to regenerate energy. • Their factories are built from steel that is made of recycled materials. • They have a rainwater harvesting system, where
the rainwater is used for irrigation, cleaning the floors or for watering the plants inside the building. • Given the large amount of sun in Malaysia, they plan to have solar panels installed on the roof, in order for the company to generate its own energy (Goh, 2015). “We try to be green from all the way from scratch when making a factory. We look into ways of cutting down energy consumption. At the end of the day, it makes corporate sense for us, because energy today is very expensive. So we all want to cut down costs Potentially [the factories] will
be there for the next 50 years. And you want to make sure that whatever you build, will have to fit its purpose also after 50 years. So we have to really look into the future” (Goh, 2015) There are also findings in the existing literature highlighting green changes among suppliers in Asia (Zhu & Sarkis, 2006). However, my findings are not consistent with the observation 1 Leadership of Energy and
Environmental Design, http://www.usgbcorg/leed 66 that Asian manufacturers are doing this only for business reasons (Zhu, Sarkis, & Geng, 2005). For instance, the quote above shows that the CEO of the company understands the long-‐term purposes of going green. That being said, it has also been mentioned that the responses from the suppliers and manufacturers are varied, with some being much less cooperative and willing to change in a greener direction. It has been a process, where the UN has gradually convinced a number of the suppliers to become more sustainable in
order to improve performance. Over time, many of the suppliers have recognized that they can save money, especially in terms of energy (Sørensen, 2015). 5.52 Predictions for the future It has been argued in the literature that global environmental governance lies in the hands of states, organizations and private companies (Levy & Newell, 2002). So what is the future of sustainability in the health sector? In order to keep the health sector going in a green direction, it was argued that it is important to have the presence of (international or
national) legislation or demand from the market (Leetz, 2015) (Veem, 2015). These arguments are in line with the literature Historically, public incentives have proven to be an efficient mechanism for changing firms’ behaviors in a greener direction (Kolk & Pinkse, 2004). The potential role of public laws was also emphasized by one of the interviewees: “If you talk to a business person, it’s actually risk reduction. So if you see coming that we are going to have certain EU laws, then it makes business sense to reduce the risk. And for
instance BPA was one of the substances that was a lot talked about, and a lot in the discussion, as it is harmful for babies. So now you’re getting plastic bottles that says ‘BPA free’ Or medical products that would say ‘BPA-‐free’ From the company side if there is no external reason to switch, why would they?” (Leetz, 2015) 67 However, it is also argued in the literature that with globalization and increased politics of businesses, global environmental politics is moving towards market-‐oriented systems of governance (Falkner, 2003). The
demand created from the market was also highlighted as a major contributing effect to change in the health sector: “I think huge amounts can be changed. You need to have critical mass demanding that type of change. It’s the same way that it is true for organic food, it is the same in the health sector, people need to demand for it. If nobody demands the change and create critical mass to generate that change, it’s not going to happen.” (Veem, 2015) It was also mentioned that the UN initiative could serve as a catalyst for change, through
signaling and spreading awareness. Two of the interviewees from the partner organizations stated the important need for the UN to make changes within sustainability in the health sector: “ I think [the UN] have an obligation to do so. Because it is public funding through taxpayers’ money, and [the UN] should be at the forefront for these kinds of reforms. And since they are such a big buyer, their impact will be absolutely fundamental. It can really be one of those, you know, tipping points for a lot of sectors When you extend that to other UN areas,
the impact could be enormous.” (Veem, 2015) “ It really depends on motivated individuals. Now that this project is in place, we need to have people driving it forward. So, if we have the right people in the UN working on it, and they are good at raising the funds, then it could be a success. But if it just sits there as a document, and doesn’t get implemented, then it might be a different story.” (Leetz, 2015) 5.53 Summing up the other findings For private healthcare companies to become more sustainable there is a need for either legislation or market
demand. Through the development of procurement standards and guidelines, the UN provides further incentives for their suppliers and manufacturers to go green. 68 With a growing interest from suppliers and manufacturers to cooperate, there is an immense potential for the future of the UN initiative. However it is crucial to have motivated UN staff members to push the initiative forward, in order to turn the organization’s aspirations into reality. 6. Contributions and limitations 6.1 Theoretical and practical contributions The power of businesses and their
ability to make global environmental impact is clearly stated in the literature reviewed. Large MNCs’ potential to change their industries by use of their large scale and purchasing power has been highlighted. This thesis adds another dimension to this topic, by introducing the same concept in the sector for multilateral aid. Furthermore, it contributes to the topic by identifying the drivers and barriers that are present in this setting, and discussing how the case of the UN differs from the private sector. In the reviewed literature there is clear evidence
of research on sustainable and green procurement practices, both within the private and the public sector. There exists some research on general procurement within the sector for multilateral politics, in particular that of the EU, and some, quite limited, studies within the UN. This thesis has combined these two dimensions, by looking at sustainable procurement practices within the UN. There is very limited existing research on that exact topic, and hence this thesis may serve as a guideline for others who are researching green procurement practices within the UN or other
multilateral organizations. This research also contributes to the overall topic of sustainability. This very broad topic includes several subtopics, where global environmental governance, the power of businesses and sustainable procurement practices are a few of them. This research suggests that, through the SPHS initiative, the UN has a power to make real impact in the global sector for health aid. Furthermore, it suggests that the UN’s large purchasing power is a possible road for a more 69 sustainable global health sector, and that this model may also be implementable in
other sectors where the UN are involved as a large purchaser. In terms of practical contributions, this qualitative study offers some interesting insights into how the UN initiative is perceived by some of its major stakeholders. The semi-‐structured, open-‐ended form of interview allowed the interviewees to speak freely about the initiative, and thus provided an arena for open reflections on its current state. Hopefully this will turn into useful material for those involved in the UN’s initiative, and can provide some form of learning for the future. In
particular, the main drivers and barriers can provide valuable insights and form a useful part of the strategy forward for the initiative. 6.2 Limitations This study provides certain limitations. First of all, given that the data is based on answers from eleven interviewees, the sample is not representative for all the relevant stakeholders within the joint UN initiative. There are many different types of stakeholders involved in this programme, and the findings cannot be generalized for all of them. For instance, there are likely to be relevant opinions on this
topic that have not been included in the study. Furthermore, the sample is based on recommendations from my main contact people within the UN system, and thus is likely to be slightly biased, painting a more positive picture than what may be the reality for all of the stakeholders. The interviewees were either UN staff members or close partners with the UN, which also adds to the degree of biasedness of the sample. For a more objective sample, the sample could have included competitors to the UN, such as other large procurers of pharmaceutical products
and medicines. Another alternative could have been to make a combined approach with both qualitative and quantitative data, so that the sample could have been more representative. If the scope of the master thesis had been larger, such as over the course of a whole year, I could have dedicated some of the time to participant observation, partaking in meetings and workshops during my internship at UNDP. This may have provided even more insights to the analysis, and considered changes to the initiative over time. 70 For future research in this area, I
suggest looking deeper into the technical details of the procurement practices within this initiative. There is a lot of literature on GSCM strategies, and more detailed research done on how to implement sustainable improvements. For example within the subject of supply chain management, there are a number of interesting topics that can be explored from the UN’s SPHS initiative. Furthermore, given the global emphasis on sustainability today, there are several other topics that can be researched within the fields of sustainable procurement. For instance, it can be
interesting to look at other multilateral or public programmes, and compare that with the SPHS initiative or with the private sector. Several of the negative features of public procurement have been addressed in this thesis. This is a very broad and generalized picture that does not necessarily represent the true picture all over the world. For instance, there are various municipalities, not the least in Scandinavia, which have done a remarkable job at changing society in a greener direction. A future study may look at the positive aspects of public
procurement, and draw conclusions on the main success factors in this field. Finally, an interesting topic could be to thoroughly research the supply chain of one or more the UN’s health products, and find out how sustainable it really is. Does the UN actually have sustainable supply chains, or is it ‘all talk and no action’? 7. Conclusion The aim of this thesis has been to compare the UN’s SPHS initiative with the ‘Walmart approach’ to sustainable procurement. By addressing different strands of literature, such as global environmental
governance and the private sector, green procurement and supply chain strategies, and public procurement and the role of the UN, I have sought to analyze the UN initiative. Through eleven qualitative interviews with UN staff members and other relevant external stakeholders, I have compared the UN with procurement in both the private and the public sector, and mapped out the UN initiative’s position vis-‐à-‐vis these sectors. 71 I have answered three research questions. The first one compares the UN initiative with the ‘Walmart approach’ and the private sector
model for sustainable procurement. The second one addresses the main drivers and barriers in the initiative, and relates to the literature on GSCM strategies. The third question compares the UN initiative with procurement in the public sector, and addresses in particular the critique found on public procurement in the literature. My findings show that the UN initiative is highly inspired by the ‘Walmart approach’ and the above-‐mentioned MNCs’ way of approaching sustainable procurement. That being said, certain aspects of GSCM is not yet focused on by the UN,
such as supply chain monitoring and consideration of a product’s entire life cycle. The main drivers were identified as the UN’s global mandate for sustainability and the unexplored business opportunities that exist for suppliers. The main barriers were recognized as the following: The conservatism of procurers, the lack of funding, the complexity of the initiative, the slow pace of the organization, and the health sector’s lack of environmental consideration. Compared to the critique on public procurement found in the literature, the UN initiative was not found to
be either bureaucratic or intransparent. That being said, there is still room for improvement in those areas. Moreover, my findings show that a number of the UN’s suppliers were motivated to collaborate on the SPHS initiative and improve their sustainability profile. Finally, it was emphasized that the future for sustainability in the health sector will largely depend on the implementation of environmental laws or high market demand for sustainable products. The UN can play a significant role on this road to sustainability, assuming that they have motivated individuals to
push the initiative forward in concrete ways. Given what I have learned from this research, I offer a four-‐pronged future strategy of the UN’s SPHS initiative: 1) The UN should have a clear focus on improving the life cycle of their products, with an aspiration for a cradle-‐to-‐cradle approach. They have a number of suppliers who are motivated to learn and willing to improve their products. Together I believe they can make big improvements in the life cycles of the products in their mutual supply chains. 72 In the best-‐case scenario,
this could also spill over to the suppliers’ other products, and potentially also provide learnings for the UN’s suppliers in other sectors as well. 2) The UN agencies that are involved in the initiative should become more integrated in their joint work, and communicate better among each other. Given the complexity of the initiative, and the interviewees’ at times contradicting views on the same topics, I believe improved integration and communication could make a real change in the initiative. For instance, the initiative may become more efficient if the different UN
agencies share the same understanding of the work being done, the specific mandates of the agencies and the strategy forward. 3) Given the differing views on transparency among the interviewees, I believe increased information sharing with partner organizations and the public should be a key focus point for the initiative. For example, the UN can follow up with the partners through newsletters or other types of recurrent reporting, or it can keep an updated website with information on the initiative that is available to the public. 4) To solve some of the
issues related to funding, the UN should communicate to their member countries that they are interested in getting more earmarked funding, specifically targeting the SPHS initiative. There is still one issue that remains in terms of the current informality of the initiative. On the one hand, its informal nature allows staff members to work independently, without having to deal with many of the bureaucratic procedures typical of the UN’s formal programs. On the other hand, if the initiative was formal, there may have been more resources – both human, financial and
time – dedicated to it. The question of whether the initiative should become more formalized into the UN’s mandate or stay informal is thus difficult to answer with the findings of this thesis. I hope this thesis has provided some valuable learning for the UN staff members, and that certain new aspects of the initiative have been uncovered. For future research specifically on this initiative, I suggest looking more into the technicalities of product life cycle 73 improvements, and exactly how the UN can move further on this agenda. I
also suggest researching the initiative from an organizational management or human resources point of view, for instance by looking at the interaction of staff members from different UN agencies over time. 8. Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Hans Krause Hansen, for supporting me along the way, and always providing me with feedback that lifted the thesis up to a new level. I want to thank all the eleven interviewees for taking time out of their busy schedules to assist me with their knowledge, experiences and views. I particularly want to thank Volker
Welter and Mirjana Milic for providing me with valuable assistance from the very beginning. I thank my former colleague Michael Toft for helping me get started on the thesis and providing me with ideas on relevant topics within the UN. Finally I would like to thank my family for always being there for me, and giving me their full support when I have needed it the most. My greatest appreciation of all goes to my father Christian, who has been my rock throughout all my years of studying. 74 9. References Ageron,
B., Gunaseparan, A, & Spalanzani, A (2012) Sustainable supply management: An empirical study. Int J Production Economics , 140, 168-‐182 Alston, K. (2008) Cradle to Cradle Design Initiatives: Lessons and Opportunities for Prevention through Design (PtD) . Journal of Safety Research , 39, 135-‐136 Arrowsmith, S., & Davies, A (1998) Public Procurement: Global Revolution London: Kluwer Law International Ltd. Arrowsmith, S., Linarelli, J, & Wallace, D (2000) Regulating public procurement : National and international perspectives. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Law International Atkinson, R., & Flint, J
(2004) Snowball Sampling i M S Lewis-‐Beck, A Bryman, & T F Liao, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods (ss. 1044-‐1045) Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc. Ævarsson, F. (den 10 12 2010) UNOPS: A Central Procurement Resource UNOPS: A Central Procurement Resource . Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, Denmark: Copenhagen Business School Bauer, B., Christensen, J, Christensen, K, Dyekjær-‐Hansen, T, & Bode, I (2009) Benefits of Green Public Procurement. Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers Beske, P., Koplin, J, & Seuring, S (2008) The Use of Environmental and Social
Standards by German First-‐Tier Suppliers of the Volkswagen AG . Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management , 15, 63-‐75. Better World Campaign. (den 03 07 2015) The UN Budget Process Hämtat från Better World Campaign: http://www.betterworldcampaignorg/issues/funding/the-‐un-‐budget-‐ process.html?referrer=https://wwwgoogleno/ den 03 07 2015 Birch, S. (den 06 07 2012) How activism forced Nike to change its ethical game Hämtat från The Guardian: http://www.theguardiancom/environment/green-‐living-‐ blog/2012/jul/06/activism-‐nike den 30 06 2015 BMW Group. (den 08 04 2015) Responsbility Using Todays Success
to Create Tomorrows Values. Hämtat från BMW Group: http://www.bmwgroupcom/com/en/responsibility/indexhtml den 08 04 2015 Bowen, F. E, Cousins, P D, Lamming, R C, & Faruk, A C (2001) The Role Of Supply Management Capabilities In Green Supply. Production and Operations Management , 10 (2), 174-‐189. 75 Braungart, M., McDonough, W, & Bollinger, A (2007) Cradle-‐to-‐cradle design: creating healthy emissions a strategy for eco-‐effective product and system design. Journal of Cleaner Production , 15, 1337-‐1348. Chhabara, R. (den 03 06 2010) Communications and Reporting Hämtat från
Ethical Corporation: http://www.ethicalcorpcom/communications-‐reporting/wal-‐mart-‐giant-‐ retailing-‐shakes-‐supply-‐chain den 08 04 2015 Clapp, J. (1998) The Privatization of Global Environmental Governance: ISO 14000 and the Developing World. Global Governance , 4 (3), 295-‐316 Clark, G. (2006) Evolution of the global sustainable consumption and production policy and the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) supporting activities . Journal of Cleaner Production , 15, 492-‐498. Dauvergne, P., & Lister, J (2010) The Power of Bix Box Retail in Global Environmental Governance: Bringing Commodity Chains
Back Into IR. Millenium -‐ Journal of International Studes , 39 (145), 145-‐160. Davies, M., & Hughes, N (2014) Chapter 11: Studying a small sample i M Davies, & N Hughes, Doing A Successful Research Project: Using qualitative or quantitative methods (ss. 167-‐178) New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Davies, M., & Hughes, N (2014) Chapter 12: Qualitative research interviewing i M Davies, & N. Hughes, Doing a Successful Research Project: Using quantitative or qualitative methods (ss 179-‐196). New York: Palgrave Macmillan Davies, M., & Hughes, N (2014) Chapter 13: There is
more to qualitative research than interviewing. i M Davies, & N Hughes, Doing a Successful Research Project: Using qualitative or quantitative methods (ss. 197-‐215) New York: Palgrave Macmillan Davies, M., & Hughes, N (2014) Chapter 15: A qualitative researchers briefing sheet i M Davies, & N. Hughes, Doing a Successful Research Project: Using qualitative or quantitative methods (ss. 235-‐248) New York: Palgrave Macmillan De Boer, L., Labro, E, & Morlacchi, P (2001) A review of methods supporting supplier selection. European Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management , 7, 75-‐89
Diaz, I. S (den 06 05 2015) Project coordinator, sustainable procurement, UNFPA (N Thommessen, Intervjuare) Easterby-‐Smith, M., Thorpe, R, & Jackson, P (2012) The Politics and Ethics of Management Research. i M Easterby-‐Smith, R Thorpe, & P Jackson, Management Research (4 uppl, ss 75-‐ 100). London: Sage Publications Edler, J., & Georghiou, L (2007) Public procurement and innovationResurrecting the demand side. Research Policy , 36, 949-‐963 76 Fahimnia, B., Sarkis, J, & Davarzani, H (2015) Green supply chain management: A review and bibliometric analysis. Int J Production
Economics , 162, 101-‐114 Falkner, R. (2003) Private Environmental Governance and International Relations: Exploring the Links. Global Environmental Politics , 72-‐87 Fuchs, D. (2005) Commanding Heights? The Strength and Fragility of Business Power in Global Politics. Millenium -‐ Journal of International Studies , 33 (3), 771-‐801 Ganesan, S., George, M, Jap, S, Palmatier, R W, & Weitz, B (2009) Supply Chain Management and Retailer Performance: Emerging Trends, Issues, and Implications for Research and Practice . Journal of Retailing , 85 (1), 84-‐94 Gereffi, G., Humphrey, J, &
Sturgeon, T (2005) The Governance of Global Value Chains Review of International Political Economy , 12 (1), 78-‐104. Giunipero, L. C, Hooker, R E, & Denslow, D (2012) Purchasing and supply management sustainability: Drivers and barriers. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management , 18, 258-‐ 269. Goh, M. (den 02 06 2015) CEO of Karex (N Thommessen, Intervjuare) Grandia, J., Groeneveld, S, Kuipers, B, & Steijn, B (2014) Sustainable Procurement in Practice: Explaining the Degree of Sustainable Procurement from an Organisational Perspective. i G Piga, M Frey, & F Decarolis, Public
Procurement’s Place in the World Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Hamelmann, C. (den 27 04 2015) Regional Practice Leader of HIV, Health and Development and SPHS Coordinator at the UNDP Regional Centre for Europe and the CIS. (N Thommessen, Intervjuare) Hansen, M. (den 21 05 2015) Consultant at Implement Consulting Group (N Thommessen, Intervjuare) Hawkins, T. G, Gravier, M J, & Powley, E H (2011) Public Versus Private Sector Procurement Ethics and Strategy: What Each Sector can Learn from the Other. Journal of Business Ethics , 103, 567-‐586. Hervani, A. A, Helms, M M,
& Sarkis, J (2005) Performance measurement for green supply chain management. Benchmarking: An International Journal , 12 (4), 330-‐353 iLATT-‐SPHS Secretariat (UNDP). (2014) Eco-‐innovative production and procurement of first line anti-‐tubercolosis medicines and hormonal implants. Copenhagen: iLATT-‐SPHS Secretariat (UNDP). 77 ISO. (den 11 03 2015) ISO 14000 -‐ Environmental Management Hämtat från ISO: http://www.isoorg/iso/home/standards/management-‐standards/iso14000htm den 08 04 2015 Jackson, D. (den 07 05 2015) Free trade critics hit Obama over Nike visit Hämtat från USA TODAY:
http://www.usatodaycom/story/theoval/2015/05/07/obama-‐free-‐trade-‐nike-‐ oregon/70937482/ den 22 07 2015 Kolk, A., & Pinkse, J (2004) Market Strategies for Climate Change European Management Journal , 22 (3), 304-‐314. Kumar, S., & Putnam, V (2008) Cradle to cradle: Reverse logistics strategies and opportunities across three industry sectors. International Journal of Production Economics , 115, 305-‐315. Kuziemko, I., & Werker, E (2006) How Much Is a Seat on the Security Council Worth? Foreign Aid and Bribery at the United Nations . Journal of Political Economy , 114 (5), 905-‐930
Kvale, S. (2007) Ethical issues of interviewing i S Kvale, Doing Interviews (ss 24-‐33) London: SAGE Publications. Kvale, S. (2007) Introduction to interview research i S Kvale, Doing Interviews (ss 2-‐11) London: SAGE Publications. Leetz, A. (den 15 05 2015) Executive Director, Health Care Without Harm Europe (N Thommessen, Intervjuare) Leonard, A. (2010) The Story Of Stuff: How our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, our Communities, and our Health -‐ and a Vision for Change. New York: Free Press Levy, D. L, & Newell, P J (2002) Business Strategy and International
Environmental Governance: Toward a Neo-‐Gramscian Synthesis . Global Environmental Politics , 2 (4), 84-‐ 101. Linton, J. D, Klassen, R, & Jayaraman, V (2007) Sustainable supply chains: An introduction Journal of Operations Management , 25, 1075-‐1082. Møller, H. (den 22 05 2015) Chief, Health Technology Centre, Unicef Supply Division (N Thommessen, Intervjuare) McCrudden, C. (2004) Using public procurement to achieve social outcomes Natural Resources Forum , 28 (4), 257-‐267. McElhaney, K. A, & Toffel, M W (2005) Designing a Sustainability Management System at BMW Group: The Designworks/USA
Case Study. i I Demirag, Corporate Social Responsibility, Accountability and Governance. Global Perspectives (ss 103-‐117) Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing. 78 Milic, M. (den 28 04 2015) Associate Coordinator for the Secretariat of the informal Interagency Task Team on Sustainable Procurement in the Health Sector (iIATT-‐SPHS). (N Thommessen, Intervjuare) Milic, M. (den 29 07 2015) Re: Do you wish to look over your quotes before I hand in the thesis? Deadline is July 27th. Email exchanges Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey Min, H., & Galle, W P (2001) Green purchasing practices of US
firms International Journal of Operations and Production Management , 21 (9), 1222-‐1238. Mitchell, S. (2007) Big-‐Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-‐Retailers and the Fight for Americas Independent Businesses. Boston: Beacon Press Moler, T. (den 23 01 2014) Organizations Hämtat från GENI: http://geni.org/globalenergy/library/organizations/ den 15 04 2015 Nike Inc. (den 01 01 2014) Our Sustainability Strategy Hämtat från Nike Responsibility: http://www.nikeresponsibilitycom/report/content/chapter/our-‐sustainability-‐strategy den 08 04 2015 OECD. (2009) OECD Principles for Integrity in Public Procurement Organisation
For Economic Co-‐operation And Development . Paris: OECD Orb, A., Eisenhauer, L, & Wynaden, D (2000) Ethics in Qualitative Research Journal of Nursing Scholarship , 33 (1), 93-‐96. Orsato, R. J (2006) Competitive Environmental Strategies: When Does it Pay to be Green? California Management Review , 48 (2), 127-‐143. Preuss, L. (2009) Addressing sustainable development through public procurement: the case of local government. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal , 14 (3), 213-‐223 Racioppi, F. (den 10 07 2015) RE: Do you wish to look over your quotes before I hand
in the thesis? Deadline is July 27th. Email exchanges Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Racioppi, F. (den 21 05 2015) Senior Policy and Programme Advisor at the Environment and Health Policy and Governance at WHO Regional Office for Europe. (N Thommessen, Intervjuare) Riddell, R. C (2007) Chapter 5: The complexities of multilateral aid i R C Riddell, Does Foreign Aid Really Work? (ss. 77-‐89) Oxford: Oxford University Press Rolfstam, M. (2013) Public Procurement and Innovation Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. 79 Saunders, M., Lewis, P, & Thornhill, A (2006) Chapter
5: Formulating the research design i M. Saunders, P Lewis, & A Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students (ss 130-‐161) New York: Pearson Education. Sørensen, M. (den 11 05 2015) The deputy chief for procurement, UNFPA (N Thommessen, Intervjuare) Seuring, S., & Müller, M (2008) From a literature review to a conceptual framework for sustainable supply chain management . Journal of Cleaner Production , 1699-‐1710 Strange, S. (1991) Big Business and the State Millenium -‐ Journal of International Studies , 20 (2), 245-‐250. Thomson, J., & Jackson, T (2007) Sustainable
Procurement in Practice: Lessons from local government. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management , 50 (3), 421-‐444 Tyrrell, A., & Bedford, B (1997) Public Procurement in Europe: Enforcement and Remedies London: Butterworths. UIA. (den 02 07 2015) What is an intergovernmental organization (IGO)? Hämtat från Union of International Associations: http://www.uiaorg/faq/yb3 den 02 07 2015 UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (den 22 07 2015) Sustainable Development Goals. Hämtat från Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform: https://sustainabledevelopment.unorg/topics/sustainabledevelopmentgoals den 22 07 2015
UNDP. (2014) Greening Procurement in the Health Sector Copenhagen: UNDP UNDP. (2014) Joint UN Programme: Green Procurement Index in the Health Sector (GPIH) Copenhagen: UNDP. United Nations. (den 31 12 2014) About the UN Procurement Division (UNPD) Hämtat från UN.org: https://wwwunorg/Depts/ptd/about-‐us/about-‐un-‐procurement-‐division-‐unpd den 09 07 2015 United Nations. (1987) Our Common Future New York: World Commission on Environment and Development. United Nations. (den 02 07 2015) Promote Sustainable Development Hämtat från United Nations: http://www.unorg/en/sections/what-‐we-‐do/promote-‐sustainable-‐
development/index.html den 02 07 2015 Vachon, S., & Klassen, R D (2008) Environmental Management and Manufacturing Performance: The Role of Collaboration in the Supply Chain. Int J Production Economics , 111, 299-‐315. 80 Vachon, S., & Klassen, R D (2006) Extending green practices across the supply chain: The impact of upstream and downstream integration . International Journal of Operations and Production Management , 26 (7), 795-‐821. van Bommel, H. W (2011) A conceptual framework for analyzing sustainability strategies in industrial supply networks from an innovation perspective .
Journal of Cleaner Production , 19, 895-‐904. Van De Gronden, J., Bloch, K, Ramm, N, Jensen, K E, Harland, C, & Walker, H (2007) Procurement in the United Nations System. i L Knight, C Harland, J Telgen, K V Thai, G Callender, & K. McKen, Public Procurement: International Cases and Commentary (ss 160-‐ 176). New York: Routledge Varnäs, A., Balfors, B, & Faith-‐Ell, C (2009) Environmental consideration in procurement of construction contracts: current practice, problems and opportunities in green procurement in the Swedish construction industry. Journal of Cleaner Production , 17,
1214-‐1222 Veem, K. (den 20 05 2015) Director of Swedish Water House at Siwi (N Thommessen, Intervjuare) Wahba, P. (den 12 05 2015) Wal-‐Mart criticized for sourcing bottled water in drought-‐hit California. Hämtat från Fortune: http://fortunecom/2015/05/12/walmart-‐drought-‐water/ den 22 07 2015 Walker, H., & Brammer, S (2009) Sustainable procurement in the United Kingdom public sector. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal , 14 (2), 128-‐137 Walker, H., & Harland, C (2008) E-‐procurement in the United Nations: influences, issues and impact. International Journal of
Operations and Production Management , 28 (9), 831-‐857 Walker, H., Di Sisto, L, & McBain, D (2008) Drivers and barriers to environmental supply chain management practices: Lessons from the public and private sectors . Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management , 14, 69-‐85. Walmart. (den 30 06 2015) Environmental Sustainability Hämtat från Walmart Corporate: http://corporate.walmartcom/global-‐responsibility/environmental-‐sustainability den 30 06 2015 Weiss, T. G (2009) Whats wrong with the United Nations and how to fix it Cambridge: Polity Welter, V. (den 15 January 2015) Interview (N
Thommessen, Intervjuare) Welter, V. (den 14 07 2015) RE: Do you wish to look over your quotes before I hand in the thesis? Deadline is July 27th . Email exchanges New York, New York, United States World Health Organization. (2011) The Use of DDT in Malaria Vector Control: WHO Position Statement. Geneva: World Health Organization 81 World Health Organization . (2013) UN Initiative on Greening Procurement in the Health Sector: From Products to Services. Bonn: WHO Yin, R. K (2003) Case Study Research: Design and Methods London: SAGE Publications Zhu, Q., &
Sarkis, J (2006) An inter-‐sectoral comparison of green supply chain management in China: Drivers and practices . Journal of Cleaner Production , 14, 472-‐486 Zhu, Q., Sarkis, J, & Geng, Y (2005) Green supply chain management in China: pressures, practices and performance. International Journal of Operations and Production Management , 449-‐468. 82 10. Appendix 10.1 Commonly used terms Below is a list of the most commonly used terms in this essay, and their
definition. • Sustainability: Sustainability encompasses environmental, social and economic goals (see definitions on pages 5 and 16). Environmental improvements: The term is a synonym to green improvements, and encompasses only the environmental aspect of sustainability. The adjectives sustainable, environmental and green are used interchangeably in the thesis. • MNCs: Multinational companies • The ‘Walmart approach’: An unofficial term for large MNCs who use their procurement volume and purchasing power to change their industry. The terms stems from Walmart, a big American retailer
that is well known in recent years for making its supply chain more sustainable. • The UN: When described by this short acronym, it is generally described as the United Nations as a whole. Independent UN agencies, such as the United Nations Development Programme, are generally referred to with their own acronym, ie. UNDP • GSCM: Green Supply Chain Management 10.2 Overview of sample Interview Position Organization Location subject UNDP New York, Volker Welter Senior Procurement USA Advisor at UNDP’s Procurement Support Office Regional UNDP Istanbul, Christoph Turkey
Hammelmann Practice Leader of HIV, Health and Development and SPHS Coordinator Date Length of interview 20.042015 1 h 12 min 49 sec 27.042015 47 mins 51 seconds 83 Mirjana Milic Anja Leetz Ignacio Sanchez Diaz Morten Sørensen Katarina Veem Martin Hansen Francesca Racioppi at the UNDP Regional Centre for Europe and the CIS Associate Coordinator for the Secretariat of the informal Interagency Task Team on Sustainable Procurement Executive Director, Health Care Without Harm Europe Former project coordinator, sustainable procurement, UNFPA The deputy chief for procurement, UNFPA
Director of Swedish Water House at Siwi UNDP Istanbul, Turkey 28.042015 46 mins 27 seconds Health Care Without Harm Brussels, Belgium 05.052015 48 mins 21 seconds UNFPA/UNDP Istanbul, Turkey 06.052015 17 mins 55 seconds UNFPA Copenhagen, 11.052015 39 mins Denmark 43 seconds Stockholm International Water Institute (Siwi) Implement Consulting Group Stockholm, Sweden Consultant at Implement Consulting Group Senior Policy WHO and Programme Advisor at the Environment and Health Policy and Governance at WHO 20.052015 18 mins 18 seconds Copenhagen, 21.052015 20 mins Denmark 21 seconds Copenhagen, 21.052015 52 mins Denmark 51 seconds 84
Regional Office for Europe Helene Møller Chief, Health Unicef Technology Centre, Unicef Supply Division CEO of Karex, Karex MK Goh a Malaysian condom manufacturer Copenhagen, 22.052015 27 mins Denmark 24 seconds Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 02.062015 40 mins 33 seconds 10.3 Broad overview of guideline questions for the interviews Group 1: How is the joint UN initiative similar or different from the private sector model of green procurement and environmental supply chain management? • Companies like Wal-‐Mart, BMW and Nike are using their scale and purchasing power to make their supply chains
more sustainable. Would you say that the UN is doing the same thing? Are they following that same logic? How is it different in the public sector? • Comparing with multinationals such as Walmart or BMW, how has the UN used its purchasing power and large scale to make sustainable changes in the supply chain? • Has there been any use of green supply chain management from the UN’s side? Do you know if the supply chains are green or sustainable? • Can you give a couple of examples of the most well-‐known or relevant projects the joint UN programme have been
working on? • Can you describe in a few sentences, what the joint UN programme is about? • Can you describe in your own words, what the joint UN programme is about? • What do you know about the sustainability of the health suppliers’ value chains? Is the UN somehow involved in monitoring of the supply chains? • “.we define ‘sustainable supply management’ (SSM) as the extent to which supply management incorporates environmental, social, and economic value into the 85 selection, evaluation and management of its supply base.” (Giunipero, Hooker, & Denslow,
2012)(p. 260) To what extent does the Joint UN programme address this? • How easy or difficult is it for health suppliers to switch customers if the standards set by the UN are too difficult to adhere to? Is it an option for them to switch? • Which of the following parts of a product’s life cycle is environmentally considered: Product design, the manufacturing and management of by-‐products, product life extension and product end-‐of-‐life (disposition and recovery processes)? Group 2: What are some of the (internal and external) drivers and barriers that are faced
by the UN agencies when working towards sustainable procurement of the health sector? • What are some of the drivers and barriers that have been encountered in such processes? • Can you identify some drivers and barriers (both internal and external) that have been met in this initiative? Group 3: How do the findings on the joint UN programme relate to the existing critique on public procurement? • The OECD has written some principles for enhancing integrity in public procurement, does the UN use that in the project? • Are issues of bureaucracy or long, tedious
processes a problem? Has there been any cases related to corruption? • Can you specify, on a scale from 1 to 10 (low to high), the level of bureaucracy or slowness of processes you have experienced in this programme, and specified your reasoning for this? • Can you now do the same with transparency, where 1 is low levels of transparency and 10 is high levels? • Do you know how much of UNDP’s health procurement is currently following the green standards (or do you know where I can find information on it)? • Can you specify, on a scale from 1 to 10
(low to high), the level of efficiency you have experienced in this programme, and specify your reasoning for this? 86 • Here is a list of known barriers to procurement within the UN system. Which ones have been identified in the joint UN program? • What do you believe will happen in the future, regarding this Joint UN programme? How do you see the future? • What do you believe is the future of the health sector, in terms of sustainability? How much do you think can be changed? 10.4 List of figures and tables Figure 1: Decision tree for procurement
standards and practices (p. 17) Figure 2: The research ‘onion’ (p. 32) Figure 3: Virtuous circle of Green Procurement in the Health Sector (p. 45) Table 1: Drivers and barriers for selected companies in the UK (p. 18-‐19) Table 2: Percentage of total spend across major procurement categories of 22 IAPWG organizations (p. 28) Table 3: Main barriers to UN procurement activities (p. 29) Table 4: List of interview subjects (p. 36-‐37) Table 5: Examples of practices by the different UN agencies in the joint UN programme (p. 46-‐ 47) Table 6: Main drivers and barriers
identified in the UN initiative (p. 61) 87