Collaborate for what: a structural topic model analysis on CDP data

The aim of this paper is to understand why firms engage with their suppliers to collaborate for sustainability. To this purpose, we use the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Supply Chain program and apply the Structural Topic Model to 1) identify the topics discussed in an open-ended question related to climate-related supplier engagement and 2) estimate the differences in the discussion of such topics between CDP members and non-members, respectively focal firms and first-tier suppliers. The analysis highlights the differences between the two groups, and allows to allocate CDP Members into focal firms and Non-Members into first-tier suppliers.