The implementation of sustainability strategies in the entire entrepreneurial supply chain is becoming an increasingly central competitive factor. Stakeholders require both distinctly directed economic  targets from companies and, increasingly, the anchoring of ecological or social aspects in their target hierarchy. Sustainability strategies here should not only focus on possible increased profits, but at the same time incorporate societal and ecological concerns in the companies' economic responsibility. This research area deals with topics pertaining to sustainable corporate management because comprehensive anchoring of sustainability aspects in the supply chain confronts several economic players with major challenges.

An initial publication on the topic of "Sustainability in the corporate supply chain" (published by Verlag Fördergesellschaft Produktmarketing e.V., edited by Fröhlich/Weber/Willers 2011) provides a successful combination of theory and practice. The functional areas of Procurement, Production and Sales are the main focus. In particular the Procurement function area holds further interesting research questions. An analysis of the DAX30 companies’ sustainability reports conducted recently at the CBS related to procurement policy activities provided an interesting insight into the variety of challenges facing procurement managers (published in Best in Procurement 2012).

A further research focus on the topic of "Sustainable consumer behaviour" is in its development phase. Studies show that consumers would always give preference to products which are produced and marketed sustainably. However, the market segmentation approaches used currently demonstrate clearly that the majority of potential "green customers" are difficult to reach via the sustainable application of marketing policy instruments for a variety of reasons (risks). The willingness to pay higher prices, repeatedly postulated from the customers' view, only exists seldom in practice. It also appears important from a corporate view to give thoughts to future means of "educating consumers".

In addition to the structure of the procurement organisation, the responsibility in the supply chain and the procurement management function were isolated as decisive factors pertaining to change in the procurement function. This results in numerous research questions which are addressed in this research field. In the meantime, the possible value contribution of the strategic procurement function is no longer questioned. The means of organisation for this function or the relationships to high-performance suppliers still remains unanswered to a large extent in research. Regarding this question, an initial publication already appeared in 2010 with the title "Does an optimum procurement organisation exist as such?" (Fröhlich/Lingohr Gabler Verlag). Important contents of the planned second edition are in the establishment of strategic value-added partnerships, the question of optimum organisation for the implementation of strategies, the reorganisation of global organisation structures or the build-up and use of cross-functional procurement teams.

The question as to how the extent to which organisation structures can be changed and how in order to improve strategy implementation in the functional area of procurement is treated by an external doctorate project at the Cologne Business School. Together with a prestigious consultancy, it is intended to develop a consultancy approach from the empirical results, also enabling small and medium-sized businesses which normally have fewer distinctive resources to face the challenges of strategic change in procurement and implement procurement strategies successfully.

A further research question deals with the establishment of a theoretical procurement framework in order to change or adapt organisational structures in procurement. At the same time, it should be shown when an organisational change is necessary and under what conditions it is necessary in order also not to endanger the competitiveness of a company in the future. Parallel to this, the global aspect also ought not be ignored. In particular, globally operating concerns are repeatedly confronted by the challenge to adapt and optimise their global procurement structures.