Reporting Corporate Social Responsibility in the Supply Chain

In this paper, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports published by a sample of European Union companies are analyzed in order to investigate how CSR issues are implemented and controlled along a supply chain. In particular, the following issues have been examined: the adopted CSR standards; the principles that suppliers are requested to respect and adopt; the standard implementation process; CSR practices towards suppliers such as communication, training and monitoring; the definition of prospective corrective action plans. Since few papers in the literature have investigated CSR issues in supply chain management, the paper fills a gap in the literature. Results can also be used as a reference for managers willing to implement CSR along their supply chain.