Discussion

The theoretical framework for this study presented the basis of modern CSR and its development especially in the recent years where it has clearly been elevated as relevant topic in company strategies (Russo & Perrini, 2010, 208). This point was validated also in the interviews as it was mentioned that the sustainability culture can be seen as implemented to company in a way where sustainability discussion is not only reserved to those that work directly with the issue, but also implemented to every

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stakeholder across the company. The raise of CSR issues to an integral part of corporate strategic orientation (Russo & Perrini, 2010, 208.) is truly illustrated well in the case company, as Neste was highlighting true power of collaboration to serve the sustainability cause.

Fontaine (2013, 112-114) argued that modern CSR actions are preventative rather than obligatory for companies and this can be seen in palm oil supply chain as well.

Due to the pressure that palm oil industry has received, this development has been ongoing for some time longer than for example other agricultural industries. This brings interesting point of view to evaluate the effects of media pressure that companies are dealing with, as that pressure can both further the CSR cause causing positive change, but the discussion can easily become black and white and focus only on the negativity, skewing the reality of the issue. In the case industry, this pressure has helped to carve company CSR strategies to more open and transparent direction and this change highlights the need of fluent information sharing between buyer and supplier.

Information sharing in general was seen as important and has been developing along with the development of both CSR topics and with the increased data gathering, enabling fluent exchange of valuable information. As awareness of the effects of businesses to environment and social wellbeing have increased (Awaysheh and Klassen, 2010, 1248), it can be assumed that more data and thus more information must be gathered and shared. These cannot be stated as the only motivators for sustainability related information sharing. The disperse global supply chains (Egels-Zandén, 2017, 515) create a need to develop information sharing as a concept as visibility is needed in order to handle financial risk, reputation risk, environmental risk, and supply chain risk (Fontaine, 2013, 115). Sustainable supply chain can also act as stating company values not only to customers and investors, but directly to suppliers.

In case company, collaborative strategy was mentioned to be one of the keys of achieving the sustainability related goals as efforts done together can truly be more than their sum together. Suppliers must share information regarding their actions and buyers must support this by sharing their demands and linking them together to create joint goals. Sustainable supply chain can be seen as big value creator of business and it can be achieved through persistent collaboration and ongoing discussions.

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Collaboration was mentioned as one of the biggest motivators for furthering CSR matter, but not only through dyadic relationship between one buyer and supplier. The interviews mentioned that one company cannot do everything alone, meaning that it is necessary that other buying entities invest into the matter as well, creating similar message to all supplier tiers, even in the case where information is not shared horizontally. Collaboration between buyers was not excluded as an option, although mentioned that it would require plenty of process development and resources to create interfaces and thus regulations.

One of the discussions in this thesis was the possible implementation of blockchain technology to improve the information flow. The core idea of blockchain is the validity it brings to the data, theoretically enabling parties that do not know to exchange information (Cearley et al. 2019, 40). In chapter three, four barriers of companies adopting blockchain based system was presented; inter-organizational, intra-organizational, external and systems related (Saberi et al. 2019, 2124.). As the case company in this thesis was already at the stage were such possibility of implementation was considered, for such company, challenges are mainly outside the company. This highlights the immaturity of the technology, as it can be stated to be in its pilot stage, not only in the case company, but most likely in other companies as well, as clear regulatory system seemed to be missing.

When it comes to the blockchain technology, as mentioned, technology is still in early stages. Initiatives such as SUSTAIN in the case company gives hope for the future that companies are more willing to test the technology and give it the needed proof of concept. The immaturity of overall technological adoption must be taken into account in general, as done in case company, as they were recognizing the different levels supplier companies can be in their technological development. Thus, one of the key takeaways would be tailoring the offers to the needs of each company. As mentioned in theory, and verified by the interviews, resource for any company are always limited and thus acknowledging this from early on helps to minimize the friction in the business.

The main takeaways about information sharing and technological development are presented in table 4. It highlights well the themes that Neste has proven to serve the CSR matters best, when deciding information sharing strategy.