Background: Since the 1960s, the notion of sustainability has gained worldwide significance, including environmental issues, and advocating for sustainable economic development. Businesses have a crucial role in reducing environmental effects, motivated by pressure from stakeholders such as governments and shareholders. While environmental and economic sustainability receive significant attention, the social aspect often receives less attention. Social sustainability involves creating equitable social systems and ensuring ethical practices, employee well-being, and diversity. Sustainability Consultancy Companies (SCCs) assist firms in integrating sustainability into their daily operations. Nevertheless, SCCs must comply with social sustainability principles, ensuring that they implement the same values they advocate for to maintain their reputation and establish industry benchmarks.   Purpose: The purpose of this research is to determine the extent to which Sustainability Consulting Companies (SCCs) are implementing sustainable practices within their daily operations.  We are investigating whether SCCs possess the necessary knowledge, expertise, and in-depth understanding of issues related to social sustainability practices. Our research aims to provide practitioners with knowledge and awareness of how SCCs perceive social sustainability and to what extent they implement social sustainability practices.    Method: This thesis employed a qualitative research approach, incorporating relevant literature, peer-reviewed articles, and semi-structured interviews. Through the semi-structured interviews conducted with various Sustainability Consultancy Companies (SCCs), employees, and a CEO, we were able to gather varying perspectives and professional insights on social sustainability issues.   Conclusion: The findings of this research indicate that although most SCCs had knowledge on social sustainability issues and practices, only a limited number of levels in Carroll’s CSR Pyramid were fulfilled. Furthermore, while the SCCs consider social sustainability as the missing pillar, there is a limited focus on implementing social sustainability in comparison to the other pillars of sustainability.

Purpose: The increasing importance given to sustainability issues by governments, companies, consumers, suppliers, researchers, students and the authors of this paper in addition to the scarce empirical studies on the topic of sustainable last mile logistics operations in the food retail industry in Sweden provides relevance to the choice of topic. This paper presents an exploratory single-case study on a Swedish food retailer with a strong sustainability-oriented decision-making body, and will seek to understand how they manage to adopt best sustainable practices and which drivers and most responsible for it. Objective: The aim of this study is to present through an empirical study, how food retailers operate their last mile logistics operations according to the triple bottom line approach, contributing to this young field where a profusion of data to confirm the existing theory remains deficient. Furthermore, the focus is placed on the different drivers for food retailers to adopt sustainable practices in their transportation operations from the distribution warehouse to their stores located in urban areas. Approach: A Swedish food retailer that strives for best practices will be studied in order to obtain key empirical data, which will allow the authors to compare theory and empirical data.  The study will focus on the sustainability-oriented operations approach in the Last Mile Logistics of the chosen retailer and observe the different drivers regarding their operations following all aspects of the triple bottom line. A single-case study analysis of a leading company in terms of sustainability-driven operations will provide more insight on how this “category” of food retailers manages to operationalize their environmental-friendly culture and strategy for inbound Last Mile Logistics successfully, without losing their competitive edge and remaining economically sustainable. Findings: After juxtaposing the secondary data issued from the existing theories on sustainable LML in the food retail industry to the primary data obtained from Axfood, a Swedish food retailer, the results have demonstrated that a business cannot neglect economic drivers to be financially sustainable, (cost optimization, enhanced efficiency, etc.) it remains important and cannot be overridden to enable a shift towards optimal sustainability practices in LML operations. However, the drivers that have proven to make the cut in order to succeed in achieving best sustainable practices are; a highly proactive management, stakeholder pressure (particularly consumers and NGOs amongst others) and innovative technology (including those that imply a short-term economic trade-off for long-term greater good to the TBL dimensions). Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainable practices; Last Mile Logistics; Sustainable Last Mile Logistics; Triple Bottom Line; Food Retailers; Food Retail Industry; Drivers.

O enfoque de sustentabilidade em cadeias de suprimento tem recebido atenção crescente na área acadêmica e no meio empresarial, nos últimos anos. A pesquisa acadêmica sobre sustentabilidade em cadeias de suprimento iniciou-se há aproximadamente uma década e a literatura aponta carência de abordagem sobre a dimensão social da sustentabilidade, com recomendação para o desenvolvimento de frameworks específicos para identificar práticas de sustentabilidade social em cadeias de suprimento. Visando contribuir para o preenchimento desta lacuna, tem-se como objetivo desenvolver e verificar a eficácia de um framework para esta finalidade. Tendo-se como referência uma revisão de literatura, propõe-se um framework composto por critérios e indicadores, que abrange a empresa produtora de bens e/ou serviços, fornecedores, distribuidores, atacadistas, stakeholders, comunidades e clientes. Para viabilizar a aplicação prática do framework, busca-se propor indicadores que sejam ao mesmo tempo, relevantes e simples. A aplicação do framework é realizada em uma cadeia de suprimento formada por três empresas do setor sucroenergético, que foi escolhido em função da representatividade desta atividade na economia brasileira, pelo volume significativo de mão de obra empregada, por registros existentes na literatura sobre condições severas de trabalho e violações de direitos humanos no setor, além do interesse internacional por sustentabilidade social na produção de etanol no Brasil. O cálculo dos indicadores nas empresas selecionadas confirmou a eficácia do framework na identificação de práticas sociais sustentáveis em cadeia de suprimento. Além desta utilidade, o framework auxiliou no diagnóstico de aspectos carentes na abordagem de sustentabilidade social, podendo apoiar na priorização de pesquisas e no estabelecimento de metas para o desenvolvimento sustentável. / Sustainability in supply chains has received increasing attention in academic and business communities, in recent years. Academic research on sustainable supply chain management has begun about a decade ago and the literature indicates scarcity of studies on the social dimension of sustainability, with recommendation for the development of explicit frameworks to inform the implementation of social sustainability in supply chains. To assist filling this gap, based on a literature review it is proposed a framework to identify social sustainability in a focal company supply chain, encompassing internal operations, its suppliers, stakeholders, wholesalers, distributors and customers. It was attempted to propose indicators that are both relevant and simple, in order to enable framework practical application. The framework is applied in a sugar cane industry supply chain, which has been chosen due to its representativeness in the Brazilian economy, the significant employed workforce, literature records on severe labor conditions and human rights violations in the sector, as well as due to international interest in social sustainability in bioethanol production in Brazil. The indicators calculation confirmed the effectiveness of the framework to identify sustainable social practices in a supply chain. Besides this utility, the framework helped to diagnose social sustainability scarce aspects in a supply chain and it may assist to prioritize research, as well as to set goals for sustainable development.

O enfoque de sustentabilidade em cadeias de suprimento tem recebido atenção crescente na área acadêmica e no meio empresarial, nos últimos anos. A pesquisa acadêmica sobre sustentabilidade em cadeias de suprimento iniciou-se há aproximadamente uma década e a literatura aponta carência de abordagem sobre a dimensão social da sustentabilidade, com recomendação para o desenvolvimento de frameworks específicos para identificar práticas de sustentabilidade social em cadeias de suprimento. Visando contribuir para o preenchimento desta lacuna, tem-se como objetivo desenvolver e verificar a eficácia de um framework para esta finalidade. Tendo-se como referência uma revisão de literatura, propõe-se um framework composto por critérios e indicadores, que abrange a empresa produtora de bens e/ou serviços, fornecedores, distribuidores, atacadistas, stakeholders, comunidades e clientes. Para viabilizar a aplicação prática do framework, busca-se propor indicadores que sejam ao mesmo tempo, relevantes e simples. A aplicação do framework é realizada em uma cadeia de suprimento formada por três empresas do setor sucroenergético, que foi escolhido em função da representatividade desta atividade na economia brasileira, pelo volume significativo de mão de obra empregada, por registros existentes na literatura sobre condições severas de trabalho e violações de direitos humanos no setor, além do interesse internacional por sustentabilidade social na produção de etanol no Brasil. O cálculo dos indicadores nas empresas selecionadas confirmou a eficácia do framework na identificação de práticas sociais sustentáveis em cadeia de suprimento. Além desta utilidade, o framework auxiliou no diagnóstico de aspectos carentes na abordagem de sustentabilidade social, podendo apoiar na priorização de pesquisas e no estabelecimento de metas para o desenvolvimento sustentável. / Sustainability in supply chains has received increasing attention in academic and business communities, in recent years. Academic research on sustainable supply chain management has begun about a decade ago and the literature indicates scarcity of studies on the social dimension of sustainability, with recommendation for the development of explicit frameworks to inform the implementation of social sustainability in supply chains. To assist filling this gap, based on a literature review it is proposed a framework to identify social sustainability in a focal company supply chain, encompassing internal operations, its suppliers, stakeholders, wholesalers, distributors and customers. It was attempted to propose indicators that are both relevant and simple, in order to enable framework practical application. The framework is applied in a sugar cane industry supply chain, which has been chosen due to its representativeness in the Brazilian economy, the significant employed workforce, literature records on severe labor conditions and human rights violations in the sector, as well as due to international interest in social sustainability in bioethanol production in Brazil. The indicators calculation confirmed the effectiveness of the framework to identify sustainable social practices in a supply chain. Besides this utility, the framework helped to diagnose social sustainability scarce aspects in a supply chain and it may assist to prioritize research, as well as to set goals for sustainable development.

[pt] Dado o surgimento de uma nova ordem econômica, as empresas em todo o mundo perceberam que precisam estar comprometidas com a sustentabilidade. As pressões externas vão desde o governo, com a criação de regulamentações socioambientais, até os empregados e a sociedade - mídia, ONGs e clientes - que estão cada vez mais conectados, atentos e exigentes a essas questões. Empresas sustentáveis devem satisfazer as necessidades do presente (gerar lucro) sem comprometer o futuro (respeitando o meio ambiente e os preceitos de responsabilidade social). A indústria de manufatura, foco dessa dissertação, tem muito a contribuir para a sustentabilidade, pois impacta socio-economico-ambientalmente os locais onde opera, de forma significativa. Geração de gases de efeito estufa e de resíduos tóxicos estão entre os grandes vilões, mas não se limitando a eles. No âmbito interno, as empresas necessitam absorver o conceito de sustentabilidade no seu processo de produção, a partir de práticas de gestão ambiental relacionadas, por exemplo, à otimização do uso dos recursos ambientais (ex. reuso de água e utilização de energias alternativas), à redução de gases poluentes e às alternativas para descarte de resíduos; assim como às práticas de gestão social tais como medidas para aumentar saúde e segurança no ambiente de trabalho e criação de programas ligados ao bem estar dos funcionários. As ações, porém, devem ser ampliadas para toda a cadeia do processo e devem ser adotadas medidas colaborativas com os fornecedores para que sejam comprometidos e também responsáveis. No entanto, para a empresa se tornar sustentável, investimentos adicionais e aumento de custos são necessários para incluir em sua estrutura pessoal e processos responsáveis pelo incremento da sustentabilidade, seja ela econômica, social ou relacionada ao meio ambiente, o chamado triple bottom line, em inglês. / [en] Companies worldwide realized that being committed to sustainability is becoming a source to competitive advantage. Empirical evidence exists in the literature validating a positive link of sustainable manufacturing practices with organizational performance. However, there is a lack of rigorous empirical studies directly examining the impact of both environmental and social practices on operational manufacturing performance, especially in four main competitive operational capabilities: cost delivery, quality, and flexibility. This study analyses these relationships with literature review and the backdrop of the resource-based view and of the natural resource-based view of the firm. For this purpose, structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to build the measurement model and hierarchical stepwise multiple regression is used to test the research hypotheses. The data used were obtained from the sixth round of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS-VI) which includes responses from 931 manufacturing plants within the assembly industry in 22 countries. Our findings suggest that internal and external sustainability management practices are complementary. Manufacturing plants can increase their quality and flexibility performance, by implementing internal sustainable practices, such as water and energy consumption reduction, environmental and social certifications, work/life balance policies and sustainability communication, and can increase their cost efficiency and delivery performance by promoting supplier s sustainability management. Overall, this study contributes to the investigation of strategies for sustainable management, highlighting important implications for both practice and future research.