Investigating sustainable procurement practices in Manufacturing industry in the Nordics

Abstract

Procurement plays a vital role in all industries supply chain and sustainability is a growing topic where industries are becoming aware of the impacts their activities leave on the environment. Moreover, business tries to include sustainability into procurement decisions. This study investigates sustainable procurement practices within Nordic manufacturing industries while focusing on how sustainable procurement (SP) is becoming a more significant tool for coordinating procurement with goals related to economic, social, and environmental sustainability. To offer insights on SP practices the research uses a comprehensive traditional literature review methodology by summarizing journals, scholarly articles, books, online databases and case studies. The findings demonstrate sustainable procurement is seen as achievng sustainable development goals which tries to balance the environmental and social and economic factors aligning them the triple bottom line framework. Supplier selection, circular economy concepts, ethical sourcing, and fair labor practices are all major practices of the study, which attempts to clarify the present trends, difficulties, and benefits of sustainable procurements. In addition to highlighting the integration of circular economy concepts to move away from conventional linear models, the study also shows the changing role of life cycle assessment (LCA) in identifying high-impact items and implementing sustainable practices. The effects of ethical sourcing on brand reputation and supply chain integrity are also discussed. However, challenges include, high cost, lack of knowledge and notwithstanding these challenges the study highlights some important benefits of adopting SP such as waste reduction, increased brand reputation, cost savings as well as create room for innovations the study also presents some prosperous case studies from Nordics manufacturing industries such as Volvo, Neste and IKEA. In order to balance environmental, social, and economic sustainability, the conclusion highlights how the Nordic manufacturing sector has the potential to take the lead in sustainable procurement.