Cluster E – Sustainability Assessment

Sustainability in global supply and value chains of B2B products

Background

Today, companies in many sectors operate in global supply and value chains (GSVCs). As these are associated with negative environmental and social impacts¹, various stakeholder groups are increasingly calling for the implementation of greater sustainability². This is also reflected in a number of new legal requirements for greater transparency and compliance with due diligence obligations. Making GSVCs more sustainable is particularly challenging due to their complexity, the lack of available and high quality data, suppliers’ unwillingness to disclose information and insufficient internal resources³. The research work in the cluster supports companies in meeting these challenges. It focuses in particular on the German medical technology sector.

Description of the cluster

The research work within Cluster E is geared towards three overarching project goals:

With the research results, companies should be supported in

understanding the complex structures of their GSVCs,
creating data bases for evaluating and managing the sustainability of their GSVCs, and
knowing measures for a more sustainable design of their GSVCs.

To achieve these goals

a guideline for conducting GSVCs mappings will be designed based on case studies (i.e. participatory mappings with selected companies),
a manageable catalogue with relevant, implementable and effective criteria and indicators for evaluating and managing the sustainability of GSVCs will be developed, and
a collection and presentation of measures and business model approaches for more sustainable GSVCs will be made.

Research questions that will be answered include, for example:

What challenges do different actors in GSVCs face when creating transparency?
What are solution and coping strategies?
What are relevant, implementable and effective criteria for evaluating sustainability in GSVCs?
What connections exist between the various criteria (conflicts, complementarities, cause-effect-relationships)?
What measures and innovative business models support companies in improving the sustainability performance of their GSVCs?
What barriers and supporting factors exist and how can these be reduced or respectively strengthened?

A mix of research methods is used to answer the research questions, which particularly include the following:

Participatory research approach: research as a collaborative process between researchers and stakeholders or their representatives
Case studies: Cooperation with 3 companies in the German medical technology sector
Literature analyses
Qualitative and quantitative research methods (e.g., interviews, focus group discussions, surveys)

Team

Work packages

WP 1: Participatory project design

Participatory development of the project design, taking into account practical requirements.

WP 2: Status quo of medical technology GSVCs

Recording the status quo of the sustainability in medical technology GSVCs of German companies with the help of qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey.

WP 3: Structures of medical technology GSVCs

Participatory mapping of the GSVCs of selected products in cooperation with three German medical technology companies and various stakeholders.

WP 4: Sustainability evaluation of medical technology GSVCs

Analysis, check, supplementation and consolidation of existing criteria and indicators for evaluating the sustainability performance of GSVCs in an integrated framework.
Investigation of the relevance, effectiveness and implementability of the criteria using qualitative and quantitative research methods and involving various stakeholders.
Determination of interdependencies between criteria (complementarities, trade-offs, cause-effect-relationships).
Practical test of the final set of criteria using case studies in companies.

WP 5: Measures for sustainable medical technology GSVCs

Collection and detailed presentation of selected measures and business model approaches that enable more sustainable GSVCs.

WP 6: Evaluation & outlook

Participatory evaluation of the research work and effects achieved.

References

¹Gerdes, L., Rengs, B., & Scholz-Wäckerle, M. (2022). Labor and environment in global value chains: an evolutionary policy study with a three-sector and two-region agent-based macroeconomic model. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 32(1), 123–173.

²Velázquez Martínez, J.C., & Arnold, V. (2024). State of Supply Chain Sustainability 2024. Cambridge, Mass. and Lombard, Ill.: MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

³Integrity Next (2025). Studie Zwei Jahre deutsches Lieferkettengesetz. Erkenntnisse, Fazit und Ausblick. https://web.integritynext.com/de/ressourcen/whitepaper/zwei-jahre-deutsches-lieferkettengesetz-erkenntnisse-fazit-ausblick