Balancing core enterprises’ triple bottom line challenge: Considering the involvement of NGOs

Abstract

In light of the triple bottom line (TBL) challenges of the core enterprise in promoting sustainable supply chains, we examine how non-governmental organisations’ (NGOs) involvement influences on the motivation and decision-making of core enterprises in supply chains. We analyse the optimal decisions when the price of a unit product is endogenous and exogenous. We find that the core enterprise considering NGO involvement may set a higher price but make a lower eco-effort. We further determine which features of the market are the least affected by NGOs and which features of the core enterprise have the most motivation to lead sustainable innovations. Using numerical examples, we further extend our results by differentiating the diverse types of core enterprises as market players. We find that a hybrid market composed of multiple players appears to have more certain sustainable policy. We provide decision-making implications for core enterprises to operate sustainable supply chains and contribute further knowledge in terms of collaborative sustainable governance to balance the TBL challenge. We hope to provide further insights into the link between the operation of supply chains and the public involvement of NGOs and consumers.