Understanding corporate social responsibility with the integration of supply chain management in outdoor apparel manufacturers in North America and Australia

This paper investigates how supply chain management issues feature in the understandings of corporate social responsibility (CSR) held by managers of outdoor apparel manufacturing firms and whether outdoor apparel manufacturing firms engage in sustainable supply chain management practices. Data were collected using two methods: through semi-structured interviews with nine managers from nine manufacturing firms in the outdoor apparel industry; and through a review of the sustainable supply chain management practices of 27 firms that manufacture and retail outdoor apparel. Interviewed participants articulated their understandings of CSR in terms of three perspectives on sustainability (financial, environmental and social issues). A small number of firms were found to engage in multiple types of sustainable supply chain management practices, and a larger number of firms either did not engage in any sustainable supply chain management practices or used only an industry administered code of practice to guide the way they worked with their suppliers.