Eliciting Supplier Cooperation for Value Chain Decarbonization: A Field Experiment with Smallholder Farmers in India
中文摘要
许多企业承诺减少其整个价值链中的温室气体排放。然而，这要求其供应商也采取更气候友好的做法以实现脱碳。这不仅涉及弥合供应商在采用此类做法方面的能力缺口，还涉及其意愿缺口；如果供应商认为这些做法有风险或可能损害其经济福祉，这将颇具挑战。我们考察关系型投资对缓解这一挑战的有效性，并论证此类投资可以作为企业致力于共同价值创造的信号。在一项针对某跨国企业印度农业供应链中供应商农户开展的田野实验中，我们考察了两种关系型投资的影响，这些投资为农户提供其所重视的定制化农业服务。在第一种干预中，企业的田间工作人员为农户提供与其向企业供应的作物相关的专门支持。第二种干预在此基础上还引入专业农学家，为农户提供其感兴趣的更广泛农业事务方面的支持。相对于农户仅接受相关气候友好做法培训的控制条件，两种干预都提高了农户对推荐做法的采用率。第二种干预在提高农户的做法采用率及其在该企业的留存方面均比第一种干预更具影响。探索性中介分析以及实验后的田野访谈表明，这些发现在一定程度上源于农户对企业关系型投资的积极感知。本文由 Anita McGahan（商业战略）接收。资金：作者感谢 INSEAD 的资金支持 [Kurt Björklund 研究基金]。补充材料：在线附录和数据文件可从 https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2024.05744 获取。
Abstract
Many firms are pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across their value chains. However, this requires their suppliers to also adopt more climate-friendly practices for decarbonization. This can involve addressing gaps in not only the suppliers’ ability but also, their willingness to adopt such practices, which can be challenging if the suppliers perceive the practices as risky or potentially detrimental to their economic well-being. We examine the effectiveness of relational investments to help mitigate this challenge, arguing that such investments can serve as a signal of the firm’s commitment toward joint value creation. In a field experiment conducted with supplier farmers in a multinational firm’s agricultural supply chain in India, we examine the impact of two kinds of relational investments in providing the farmers with customized agricultural services that they valued. In the first intervention, the firm’s field officers offered the farmers support specific to the crop that the firm sourced from them. The second intervention additionally involved bringing in expert agronomists to also provide the farmers with support on broader agricultural matters of interest to them. Relative to a control condition in which the farmers only received training on the relevant climate-friendly practices, both interventions improved the farmers’ adoption of the recommended practices. The second intervention was more impactful than the first in improving the farmers’ practice adoption as well as their retention with the firm. Exploratory mediation analysis and post-experiment field interviews suggest that these findings are partly driven by the farmers’ positive perception of the firm’s relational investments. This paper was accepted by Anita McGahan, business strategy. Funding: The authors acknowledge financial support from INSEAD [Kurt Björklund Research Fund]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2024.05744 .