When did you last buy something from a supermarket? Chances
are it wasn’t long ago: most retail spending goes through a supermarket
checkout. In a recent article, we
present a detailed case study of one UK supermarket’s long reach down its
supply chain, examining its work on embedding sustainability in the (nine-step)
supply chain for lamb. We use the concept of governmentality to examine
systematic ways of exercising power and authority, paying attention to the way
sustainability is promoted within the company. We explore how senior
decision-makers frame and use sustainability accounting to embed sustainability
in the supply chain, but find that they reformulate their arguments primarily
in economic (rather than social or environmental) terms. Whilst this is
unsurprising, the inability of a supermarket publicly committed to
sustainability to change the conversation suggests that using ‘sustainability’ to reconfigure
business priorities could turn out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Spence, L. and Rinaldi, L. (2014) Governmentality in Accounting
and Accountability: A case study of embedding sustainability in a supply chain,
Accounting, Organizations and Society.
39(6): 433-452.
Links: Open access version; published article.
Click to read more about this paper below the cut
