Haskayne School of Business, U. of Calgary, Canada
The shortcomings in environmental stewardship within institutionally weak and socially fragile contexts, such as artisanal and small-scale mining communities (ASM), epitomize the grand challenges identified by the UN Sustainable Development Goals of providing clean water and reducing pollution. As multinational enterprises (MNE) become increasingly responsible for the entirety of their global value chains (GVC), managers become highly motivated to address these issues. However, the primary approach of using cascading compliance appears ineffective in the furthest reaches (i.e., the “first mile”) of GVCs. Therefore, we ask what alternative tactics can upgrade environmental stewardship in the first mile of GVCs that often consist of informal suppliers. Extending Kano (2018), we adopt a more inclusive approach than typically found in international business research, using a relational GVC governance lens that engages non-traditional entities, e.g., informal suppliers. Based on a rare dataset of African gold ASM and using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), we find multiple pathways to improved environmental stewardship, thereby demonstrating novel, feasible solutions to address environmental grand challenges in the furthest reaches of GVCs. By assessing an NGO’s intervention that engages informal suppliers, we demonstrate that environmental upgrading is attainable even in those challenging contexts.
