【公开学术报告-第157期】Supply Chain Washing: Strategic Disclosure of Corporate Suppliers

Supply Chain Washing: Strategic Disclosure of Corporate Suppliers

【供应链漂绿：企业供应商的战略性披露】

Speaker: Yilin Shi (Ph.D. candidate in Business Administration, CUHK)

Date & Time:  Fri. 9, January, 2026, from 10:00 to 11:30 AM (Beijing Time)

Location: Tongji Building A2101

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how firms manage their disclosure of suppliers to create a favorable green image of their supply chain. We find that firms selectively disclose relationships with environmentally responsible (high-ESG) suppliers while withholding relationships with low-ESG ones, ceteris paribus. Our analysis suggests that this selective disclosure is driven by greenwashing rather than by a genuine effort to communicate improvements in supply-chain ESG performance. Further, we document that firms are more likely to feature green suppliers in the 10-K’s Business section and ESG reports, while less environmentally responsible suppliers tend to appear in the 10-K’s Risk Factors section. Moreover, the extent of this strategic disclosure decreases as regulations on environmental information transparency become stricter. Additionally, we observe that companies that strategically disclose green suppliers have higher stock returns and asset turnover in the short term, although these effects diminish over time. This suggests investors and consumers need time to understand strategic supply chain disclosures.

Keywords: strategic disclosure, environmental, social, and governance (ESG), supply chain management, supply chain washing