Tesi etd-11282024-172501
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Tipo di tesi
Dottorato
Autore
GHEZZI, FRANCESCO
URN
etd-11282024-172501
Titolo
Natural resource scarcity implications for the firm and the supply chain: strategies for managing natural resource dependence
Settore scientifico disciplinare
SECS-P/08
Corso di studi
Istituto di Management - Ph.D. in Management Innovation, Sustainability and Healthcare - PON
Commissione
relatore Prof. FREY, MARCO
Presidente Prof. RIZZI, FRANCESCO
Membro Prof.ssa LAURA ALBAREDA
Membro Prof.ssa ILENIA CONFENTE
Membro Prof.ssa RUBINA ROMANELLO
Presidente Prof. RIZZI, FRANCESCO
Membro Prof.ssa LAURA ALBAREDA
Membro Prof.ssa ILENIA CONFENTE
Membro Prof.ssa RUBINA ROMANELLO
Parole chiave
- sustainability
- environment
- natural resource
- scarcity
- supply chain
- firm
- management
Data inizio appello
10/07/2025;
Disponibilità
parziale
Riassunto analitico
This thesis originates from the willingness to put the scarcity of natural resources at the core of the management of the organization. Natural resource scarcity (NRS), driven by climate change and anthropic overexploitation of ecosystem services, is ever increasingly affecting the organization’s performance and survival whenever it is dependent on the scarce natural resources. This in turn affects the strategic management of the organization and its supply chain, as dependence on natural resources frequently manifests in inter-organizational relationships along the supply chain. Throughout the thesis, physical and non-physical drivers of organizational responses to NRS are enquired, as well as the strategies adopted at the supply chain level to manage dependence on scarce natural resources.
The first chapter deals with the search for legitimization in the eyes of stakeholders from natural resource-intensive firms belonging to the mining sector. The mining industry is well known for its huge environmental, social and governance (ESG) negative impacts, and consequently has a long history of ESG information disclosure, as a way to compensate for its impacts and restore license to operate in the eyes of its stakeholders. Through a systematic literature review, I collect previous studies on sustainability reporting in the mining industry and analyze the deviations from neutrality in ESG reports. I identify these systematic deviations and enlighten their rationale, linked to a scale-blindness bias. The chapter shows that exploitation of scarce natural resources creates legitimacy threats for firms, hampering their ability to be accountable for sustainability and influencing the stakeholders' value-generation process.
The second chapter analyzes the strategic responses at a supply chain level to natural resource dependence. I focus on the rare earth elements (REEs) permanent magnets supply chain in Europe, key technology for the clean energy transition. A qualitative inquiry, employing a multiple case study, leads to the identification of supply chain strategies, strategic drivers and strategic levers adopted by firms for managing natural resource dependence. Elaborating on the natural resource dependence theory (NRDT), I theorize that the institutional logic of the firm (economizing vs. ecosystemic) and the autonomy acquired in the supply chain drive two opposite strategic responses, namely buffering and bridging strategies. Moreover, I show the use of strategic levers (supplier substitutability, discretion over the resource and importance of the resource) in the different solutions identified.
The third chapter is a quantitative investigation which takes the cue from the first two chapters to analyze simultaneously how physical (ecological uncertainty, i.e. regarding the uncertain physical availability of natural resources) and non-physical (market, regulatory and stakeholders’ uncertainties, i.e. regarding the uncertain consequences of the firm’s impact on natural resources) drivers of NRS affect the relationship between green supply chain management (GSCM) practices and financial performance (FP). I show the long-term positive relationship between GSCM practices and FP, further highlighting how NRS moderates this relationship. Particularly, ecological uncertainty weakens the positive effect of GSCM on FP, while regulatory and stakeholder uncertainties strengthen it.
The first chapter deals with the search for legitimization in the eyes of stakeholders from natural resource-intensive firms belonging to the mining sector. The mining industry is well known for its huge environmental, social and governance (ESG) negative impacts, and consequently has a long history of ESG information disclosure, as a way to compensate for its impacts and restore license to operate in the eyes of its stakeholders. Through a systematic literature review, I collect previous studies on sustainability reporting in the mining industry and analyze the deviations from neutrality in ESG reports. I identify these systematic deviations and enlighten their rationale, linked to a scale-blindness bias. The chapter shows that exploitation of scarce natural resources creates legitimacy threats for firms, hampering their ability to be accountable for sustainability and influencing the stakeholders' value-generation process.
The second chapter analyzes the strategic responses at a supply chain level to natural resource dependence. I focus on the rare earth elements (REEs) permanent magnets supply chain in Europe, key technology for the clean energy transition. A qualitative inquiry, employing a multiple case study, leads to the identification of supply chain strategies, strategic drivers and strategic levers adopted by firms for managing natural resource dependence. Elaborating on the natural resource dependence theory (NRDT), I theorize that the institutional logic of the firm (economizing vs. ecosystemic) and the autonomy acquired in the supply chain drive two opposite strategic responses, namely buffering and bridging strategies. Moreover, I show the use of strategic levers (supplier substitutability, discretion over the resource and importance of the resource) in the different solutions identified.
The third chapter is a quantitative investigation which takes the cue from the first two chapters to analyze simultaneously how physical (ecological uncertainty, i.e. regarding the uncertain physical availability of natural resources) and non-physical (market, regulatory and stakeholders’ uncertainties, i.e. regarding the uncertain consequences of the firm’s impact on natural resources) drivers of NRS affect the relationship between green supply chain management (GSCM) practices and financial performance (FP). I show the long-term positive relationship between GSCM practices and FP, further highlighting how NRS moderates this relationship. Particularly, ecological uncertainty weakens the positive effect of GSCM on FP, while regulatory and stakeholder uncertainties strengthen it.
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