The theory of affinities applied to the suppliers' sustainable management

Abstract

Diverse scientific studies emphasize that the dialogue with stakeholders is one of the most important points in the area of sustainability in the companies. From the Theory of Stakeholders we will try to analyze the corporate sustainability and the process of suppliers' management of a company that owns the code of conduct in accordance with The Ten UN Global Compact Principles. With the accomplishment of an empirical study one tries to know the degree of fulfillment of the code of conduct on the part of the suppliers and the utility of a tool that facilitates decision making by the employer on the issue. To reach the proposed aim we will resort to the Theory of Affinities, across a model who allows the homogeneous group of variables certain levels. We will use basic elements of decision theory, notably the concepts of relation, as the affinities in the families of Moore and its representation through Galois lattices. The results will provide inputs to the theory of affinities bring to the sustainable management of suppliers. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.