Sustainable Supply Chains of Pharmaceutical Companies in Germany. Comparison to the Gap Frame Criteria

Academic Paper from the year 2017 in the subject Business economics - Supply, Production, Logistics, grade: 90.0, Cologne Business School Köln, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the pharmaceutical industry in terms of sustainable supply chains and comparing this to the Gap Frame Framework. Two companies, Bayer and Roche, will be analyzed to provide a look into current practice. The Gap Frame is a framework that translates the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) into nationally relevant issues and indicators for business. The aim of this framework is to aid companies in shifting their behavior and strategic perspectives by showing both the inside-out and outside-in perspectives of environmental challenges a country is facing. By using the Gap Frame from an outside-in perspective, businesses can address the challenges highlighted by the circle model and use an integrative approach to better align their operations in order to reach the SDGs. The four sustainability dimensions in the circle model are Planet, Society, Economy and Governance. The focus of this research will be on the economy dimension, which includes several issues: Innovation, Employment, Resource Use, Sustainable Production, Sustainable Consumption.