Does Firm Size Influence Sustainable Performance in Food Supply Chains: Insights from Greek SMEs

According to Carter and Rogers (2008), sustainable supply chain management (SCM) is “the strategic, transparent integration and achievement of an organisation’s social, environmental, and economic goals in the systemic coordination of key interorganisational business processes for improving the long term economic performance of the individual company and its supply chains”. They posit that a deliberate long-term strategy combining environmental and social aspects of sustainability, which extend beyond a firm’s boundary with economic objectives, helps firms to mobilise those supply chain activities that directly support sustainability. Similarly, performance measurement systems that include sustainability considerations can be a driver for sustainability performance improvement (Angell and Klassen, 1999). Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are not immune from these pressures, particularly given that their total (cumulative) impact on sustainability is high (Gadenne et al., 2008). Moreover, many SMEs have not progressed in the adoption and development of sustainable supply chain practices due to the upfront cost of greening and although the literature is rich on supply chain performance measurement in general (e.g., Gunasekaran et al., 2004), and there is a dearth when more specific contexts are considered.