Abstract
Companies are increasingly being asked to take responsibility for the social and environmental impacts of their operations. These pressures from the market and consumers have led to an increase in demand for sustainable certification of processes and products, making the Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) an issue present in businesses and global value chains (GVC). The adoption of voluntary standards provides mechanisms to face the threats and opportunities faced by companies in increasingly global environments that demand greater corporate social responsibility (CSR) mainly due to the interest of society and consumers for safe goods and services that do not harm the environment. In addition, consumers and companies are more likely to make purchase decisions based on ethical criteria, posing new governance challenges to improve transparency, accountability, and sustainability across chains. Participation in multi-sector sustainability alliances with diverse actors with a reputation for social and environmental responsibility helps to reduce accusations of “greenwashing” and a clear allocation of rights and responsibilities among market actors. Studies addressing VSS have been substantial and multidisciplinary and appear in many disciplines. Companies are increasingly being asked to take responsibility for the social and environmental impacts of their operations. These pressures from the market and consumers have led to an increase in demand for sustainable certification of processes and products, making VSS an issue present in business and GVC. The adoption of voluntary standards provides mechanisms to face the threats and opportunities faced by companies in increasingly global environments that require greater CSR, mainly due to the interest of society and consumers for safe goods and services that do not harm the environment. In addition, consumers and companies are more likely to make purchase decisions based on ethical criteria, posing new governance challenges to improve transparency, accountability, and sustainability across chains. Participation of the GVCs in multi-sector sustainability alliances with diverse actors with a reputation for social and environmental responsibility helps to alleviate charges of “greenwashing,” legalization, and a clear allocation of rights and responsibilities among market actors. Studies addressing VSS have been substantial and multidisciplinary and appear in many disciplines, including value chain management and operations, strategy, accounting, economics, and political science. This chapter links VSS to CSR and their contributions, including value chain management and operations, strategy, accounting, economics, and political science. This chapter links VSS to CSR and its contributions.
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Notes
- 1.
They comprise several companies that contribute intermediate inputs for the final good or service (Partiti, 2019).
- 2.
It refers to when a company is proactive in considering its external impacts before making decisions that have long-term impacts for any sustainability pillar. This is carried out by the company following appropriate procedures, such as risk assessments and others that ensure that stakeholders are informed, engaged, and respected (Liu, 2009; ITC, 2011; UNFSS, 2020).
- 3.
In VSS, it is related to who defines the requirements and their applications (Castka & Corbett, 2016), and the aspects of ownership and management. In GVCs, it is related to the exercise of control along the chain, the relationship of authority and power, generating prescriptions and rules that will be applied across national borders.
- 4.
Value paid more for a sustainable product due to differentiation and higher quality (DIE, 2017)
- 5.
Agreements that avoid the use of nontransparent or non-grounded technical standards or regulations based on internationally accepted standards or arising from the adoption of nontransparent and/or excessively costly conformity assessment procedures (Thorstensen et al., 2019).
- 6.
In 2018, UTZ merged with the Rainforest Alliance. Since then, a new, more complete, and unified program has emerged called the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Program.
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Martins, K.F., Teixeira, D., Batalhão, A.C.S. (2023). Voluntary Sustainability Standards for Corporate Social Responsibility. In: Singh, P., Milshina, Y., Batalhão, A., Sharma, S., Hanafiah, M.M. (eds) The Route Towards Global Sustainability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10437-4_5
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