Suchergebnisse

AbstractCorporate social responsibility has become a strategic asset for food firms to demonstrate their good environmental conduct. The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of the implementation of corporate social responsibility activities on the reorganization of vertical relationships within food supply chains. Applying content analysis techniques to the Global Reporting Initiative reports, we collected qualitative data on investments in environmentally friendly options, the adoption of standards, stakeholder engagement, information searches, impact‐monitoring activities, and chain coordination to transform it into quali‐quantitative data. We find that the variables affecting chain coordination relate to the presence of sourcing standards, effort in discussing with chain partners ways to prevent and manage chain environmental impacts, and costs related to stakeholder feedback collection. The results of the analysis confirm corporate social responsibility as a strategic tool to improve supply chain relationships through an augmented vertical coordination and to integrate environmental policy.

AbstractMeso‐institutions offer a promising theoretical approach for assessing the way in which firms govern their activities and transactions while embedded in the macro‐institutional environment. The concept of meso‐institutions also offers theoretical support when evaluating a wide variety of voluntary standards that have been introduced within value chains in recent decades. Such tools can be considered meso‐institutions because of their features, and because of their role in translating general normative rules into specific mechanisms that delineate the domain of activities of supply chain agents. While various aspects of meso‐institutions have been investigated, little is known about their relationship with micro‐level structures and the determinants of firm's voluntary participation. The present paper investigates the association between a private standard, different forms of transaction governance in the supply chain, and the role that internal and external risks play in voluntary participation in the standard. The analysis draws upon secondary data taken from a representative sample of firms that form part of the European soybean supply chain. Our findings show that firms that participate in this standard have fewer hybrid forms and higher levels of spot markets. This suggests that some of the functions of hybrid forms are fulfilled by the meso‐institution. The results also show that risks associated with firm's behavioral uncertainty are more conducive to the participation in the standard than environmental‐related risks.