Recatechizing codes of practice in supply chain relationships: discourse, identity and otherness / created by Nick Ellis and Mathew Higgins

Continuing calls by fair trade groups for higher ethical standards in supply chain management present a significant challenge for the marketing/purchasing managers who must make sense of and labor within inter‐organizational relationships. This paper considers the role of Codes of Practice in offering assurance to stakeholders in these relationships. Situating Codes within the discourse of relationship marketing, we analyze claims that the rhetoric and reality of Codes differ and, furthermore, we examine what this alleged gap means for decision‐making by individual managers. Whilst conventional ‘rhetoric and reality’ critiques outline some of the problems with Codes, the solution appears to be a call for a universalised code, improved drafting and policing. Although this dichotomy provides some insight, we believe that a more productive line of enquiry is to view Codes, and the discourses surrounding them, as texts.