DFG Project Academy "Sustainability in global value chains"

As part of the DFG Project Academy on the topic of "Sustainability in global value chains", professors are prepared at an early stage of their careers to write targeted research proposals and thus start carrying out research projects. For example, participants will gain insights into application formalities, important aspects during the application process, suitable funding opportunities and the implementation of research projects. All participants bring their own research ideas with them, which are discussed together and developed further in a cooperative manner during the course of the project academy. The results will be published in a joint anthology in April 2020.

The aim of this project academy is to give professors the opportunity to start conducting research projects at an early stage of their career. Professors at universities of applied sciences who have been appointed to a professorship for the first time within the last six years are eligible to participate. In order to ensure professional and scientific coverage of the value chain, all participants are experts in their respective fields, e.g. purchasing, logistics, production, supply chain management (SCM), sustainability or business ethics. Univ.-Prof. Dr. habil. Michael Henke, Chairholder and Institute Director at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML, coordinates and manages the project academy in collaboration with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Kohl, Head of the "Sustainable Corporate Development" department at TU Berlin.

The overarching topic of "Sustainability in global value chains" will be examined in more detail in the following three sub-topics as part of the project academy.

Which ethical aspects of the sustainability concept must be taken into account as framework conditions?

This question examines what ethically correct behaviour means in the context of global value chains and whether it is mainly a matter of certification and standardization standards of international institutions or whether one must start with more fundamental (economic) ethical principles. The aim is to clarify to what extent global standards can be enforced in geographically dispersed value chains and by whom such standards should be defined, demanded and reviewed. Furthermore, it will be examined how multinational companies can economically and responsibly fill governance gaps in failed states or crisis regions.

Which parameters and activities should be improved and how can progress be measured?

his topic area focuses on the critical parameters for comparability between industries, countries and companies and looks for new approaches to documenting these parameters. The aim is to clarify the extent to which sustainable supply chain management indicators have been used in Germany to date and where they rank in comparison with other countries in terms of implementation status. In addition, the extent to which these indicators are collected (only from the direct upstream supplier, through to primary production, through to the end consumer or even to disposal or recycling? -> "Cradle to Cradle", "Circular Economy" or "Closed-Loop Supply Chains") and what the connection is between the sustainability of production and supply chains and the behavior or reaction of complex social and economic systems.

What measures can be used to achieve sustainable value chains and anchor them more effectively in practice?

This topic area deals with best practice solutions that should make it possible to develop dynamic capabilities within companies and value chains that enable autonomous and continuous improvement of sustainability performance. Furthermore, it will be investigated which measures for improving sustainability performance can be successfully integrated into practice and which structural characteristics of the value chains and actors are conducive to dissemination. The aim is to find out how global value chains can be made more sustainable overall, which governance mechanisms are available to focal companies with regard to the management of sub-suppliers and how an efficient, effective and resilient value network can be developed. Another focus is on classifying the role of digitalization, especially big data analysis and artificial intelligence, in defining measures to improve sustainability.

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