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This study investigates the impact of supply chain governance (SCG, which includes relational governance and contractual governance) on supply chain resilience (SCR) using the information processing theory. Moreover, the study also examines the mediating role of information processing capability and the moderating role of digital technology (DT) deployment.

A total of 288 questionnaires were collected from the Chinese manufacturing industry, and hierarchical regression was used to empirically test the proposed model.

This study reveals that SCG positively impacts SCR. Moreover, information processing capability plays a mediating role between SCG and SCR. Furthermore, the breadth of DT deployment positively moderates the effect of relational governance on information processing capability, and the depth of DT deployment positively moderates the effects of both relational governance and contractual governance on information processing capability.

This study offers a novel perspective that helps to understand the importance of the supply chain-wide information acquired by SCG in respect of improving SCR. Furthermore, this article extends the application of information processing theory by providing empirical evidence of the mediating role of information processing capability and elucidating the moderating role of DT deployment.

The construction of digital supply chains to integrate internal and external resources is becoming an important path for manufacturing enterprises to gain competitiveness. However, at present, research on the internal mechanisms of digital supply chain capabilities (DSCC) and enterprise sustainable competitive performance (ESCP) has not been sufficiently studied. Based on contextual ambidexterity theory, this study investigates whether DSCC could enable the realization of supply chain ambidexterity and further explains the mediating role of supply chain ambidexterity on DSCC and ESCP, and the boundary conditions of supply chain governance on supply chain ambidexterity and ESCP.

With a survey data set of 232 Chinese manufacturing enterprises from different industries, the study empirically tests a moderated mediating model and conducts hierarchical linear modeling and bootstrap to test the study's hypotheses.

The results demonstrate that: (1) DSCC positively enhance ESCP; (2) supply chain ambidexterity, which can be regarded as a synergic ability of supply chain alignment and adaptability, partially mediates the positive relationship between DSCC and ESCP; and (3) supply chain governance such as incentive governance positively moderates the association between supply chain ambidexterity and ESCP, but there is no evidence that relational governance moderates their relationship.

This paper proposes a new interpretive perspective to understand digital supply chains. More importantly, it reveals the importance of DSCC in contributing toward supply chain ambidexterity and ESCP, and demonstrates the differential regulating action of incentive and relational governance on the association between supply chain ambidexterity and ESCP, with implications for both academics and practitioners.

Driven by increasing concerns for sustainable development and digitalization, intermediaries have emerged as relevant actors who can help supply chains tackle grand societal challenges. They can also trigger significant changes in structure, shape and governance models of supply chains. The goal of this research is to advance the understanding of supply chain intermediation and digital governance as coordinating mechanisms for enabling multi-level collective action to address the world's grand challenges.

This is a conceptual research paper that uses a vignette approach, where real examples are described to help question and expand theoretical insights and provide a basis for future research. The examples are drawn from past and ongoing extensive primary and secondary data collection efforts in diverse types of supply chains.

Three contexts are proposed to illustrate how intermediaries and digital governance can play a key role in helping supply chains tackle grand challenges. The first and second context highlight the differences between material and support flow intermediaries in a triadic supply chain relationship. The third context illustrates intermediation within a multi-level network which can be industry-specific or span across industries. The three contexts are evaluated on the level of intervention, the focus on material or support flows, and traditional or digital governance. The specific Sustainable Development Goals which can be tackled through intermediary intervention are also indicated.

Intermediaries are often hidden actors in global supply chains and have received limited attention in the academic literature. The conceptual foundation provided in this manuscript serves as the basis for future research opportunities. Three main avenues for further research in this domain are proposed: (1) novel forms of intermediation beyond economic and transactional arrangements; (2) novel forms of digital governance; and (3) translating multi-level collective action into sustainable development outcomes. Research on intermediation driven by sustainable development and digitalization trends can spur empirical advances in sustainable supply chain and operations management with important societal impact.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether brokered network governance, run by the manufacturer, affects relational embeddedness and thus contributes to yielding the Coleman rent in the triadic supply chains.

Building upon the theoretical tenets of transaction cost analysis, complemented by the underpinnings of social capital theory, this study involves an empirical investigation that uses survey data collected from the triadic supply chains in Europe. The research covers a two-step analysis. In the first step, the Coleman rent was estimated through the regression analysis with the interaction effects. Then, partial least squares–structural equation modeling was used to estimate the reflective-formative nature of higher component model and test the research hypotheses.

The results of the study demonstrate that the distribution of three mechanisms in network governance is relatively even; however, market and hierarchy still emerge as the most impactful dimensions. Interestingly, though, this study shows that social capital can actually coexist with market and hierarchy in the triadic supply chains with the structural hole. Likewise, the research indicates that the impact of brokered network governance on the strength of network relational embeddedness is significant, but relatively weak, whereas network relational embeddedness has a strong and positive effect on the Coleman rent.

This study makes three major contributions. First, this study is one of very few that explicitly considers brokered network governance, run by the manufacturer positioned on the structural hole in its triadic supply chain. Second, as the triadic perspective is still uncommon in the supply chain studies, this research investigates a triad with the structural hole within the manufacturing setting. Third, the paper seeks to investigate the ability to yield the Coleman rent in the triadic supply chains with the structural hole, although this type of rent is typically linked to another arrangement called closure.

Given the increasing attention paid to the role of social capital within supply chains, this study investigates how relational embeddedness can be used by the manufacturer, sitting on the structural hole and running the network governance mechanism, to yield the Coleman rent in the triadic supply chain.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the introduction of private label (PL) foods upon the governance of the food supply chains.

The authors conducted a multi-case study research examining the launch and development of PL cheeses in four large national-wide retail chains. The paper focused on the category of Products of Designated Origin (PDO) cheeses, including the popular feta cheese. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews and secondary sources of information. Data analysis involved single-case and within-case analyses.

There is a strong motive to launch and develop PL cheeses due to increasing consumer demand. Retailers choose suppliers based on criteria such as: compliance to quality assurance standards, modernisation of processing facilities, implementation of legislation, credibility, experience, and reputation. Retailers use contracts and prefer small suppliers than medium-sized companies. Supply chain governance turns from market to hierarchy status, which performs better in terms of supply chain cost, food quality, and consumer satisfaction. The structure of food industry is also affected by pressure put on medium-sized food companies.

The paper is based on a multiple case study design that does not provide static generalisations, yet it offers a stepping stone to building new theory about supply chain governance, how it evolves and its effects on supply chain performance.

The introduction of PL cheeses favours small and dynamic cheese processing units willing to adopt retailer standards and prices over larger units, which poses a real threat to the survival of regional-wide food companies.

Few studies have examined how supply chain governance evolves and what triggers a change in governance structures.

Contemporary supply chain relationships inherently rely on delegation of work between organizations and, thus, are subject to agency problems for which a wide range of governance mechanisms exist. This review of agency theory (AT), across four distinct fields, explains the connection between governance mechanisms and supply chain relationship types.

The study uses a systematic literature review (SLR) of articles using AT in a supply chain context from the operations and supply chain management, general management, marketing, and economics fields.

The authors categorize the governance mechanisms identified to create a typology of agency relationships in supply chains.

The developed typology provides parsimonious theory on different forms of supply chain agency relationships and takes a step towards a “supply chain-oriented agency theory” explaining and predicting relationship types and governance in supply chains. Furthermore, a future research agenda calls for more accurate measuring of agency costs, to examine residual gains alongside residual losses, to take a dual-sided perspective of agency relations and to adopt AT to examine more complex supply networks.

The review provides a menu of governance mechanisms and describes situations under which these mechanisms could be deployed to guide managers when developing their supply chain relationships.

The first review to combine and elaborate views from four major disciplines using AT as a lens to supply chain relationships. Expanding the traditional set of governance mechanisms provides academics and practitioners with a bigger “menu” of options to consider.

While the literature on multitier supply chain management traditionally assumes that first-tier suppliers belong to the visible proportion of the supply base, intermediaries might limit focal firms' visible horizon already at this stage. High power asymmetries promoting centrality and complexity in the supply network are seen as a particular root cause that limits the impact of governance mechanisms for sustainability. To map the space for governance mechanisms in a network-sensitive context more comprehensively, the study analyzes supply network characteristics from a power perspective.

This research is conceptual. To better understand power imbalances and mutual dependencies from network centrality and complexity, network configurations were constructed drawing on resource dependence theory. These configurations allow deducing the impact of (non-)mediated governance mechanisms for a sustainable development in the supply network. An agenda to stimulate future empirical and model-based research is accordingly presented.

The research shows that those networks with densely interconnected first-tier suppliers promote network centrality and complexity, leading to an inverted U-shape relationship between the focal firm's exertion of coercive power and the sustainability performance in the supply network. The findings allow a more comprehensive theoretical grounding for mapping governance approaches in a network-sensitive context and provide insights on how to avoid negative effects from power asymmetries.

The findings suggest the need for accompanying, indirect governance mechanisms already at the stage of first-tier suppliers based on non-mediated forms of power, such as referent power, also promoting disintermediation. Purchasing companies may also consider using digital platform technologies that foster disintermediation, such as blockchain technology.

By studying intermediaries from a power and network perspective, the conceptualization adds to the discussion on governance in multitier sustainable supply chain networks in various industries. Furthermore, it contributes to the increasing efforts of middle-range theorizing in logistics and supply chain management. The results partially challenge previous assumptions on the moderating role of specific network characteristics.

This study aims to investigate the conditional direct and indirect effects of supply chain relational capital (RC) on supply chain sustainability via sustainability governance.

In line with the study’s aims, a quantitative survey-based approach was adopted. This study uses a random sample of 272 manufacturing firms from the apparel industry in Bangladesh. This study assesses the measurement model using partial least square-based structural equation modelling and test the proposed hypotheses using the Hayes PROCESS.

The results reveal that the indirect effect of supply chain RC on supply chain sustainability via sustainability governance is significant. While at low levels of network complexity (NC), the conditional indirect effect of supply chain RC on supply chain sustainability via sustainability governance is significant, this study finds that such indirect effects are insignificant at high levels of NC. This study further shows that NC positively moderates the relationship between supply chain RC and supply chain sustainability.

While previous studies have demonstrated the role of RC in adopting sustainability practice, this study explores this link further by investigating the conditional direct and indirect effects of supply chain relational capital on supply chain sustainability via sustainability governance.

The aim of this paper is to explain the organizational changes along supply chains when a geographical brand, i.e. a place name that has value for commercial purposes, becomes a geographical indication (GI).

Using a case study research design, this paper compares GI vs non-GI supply chains in the European Union and describes the organizational changes that occur in supply chains when a GI is adopted.

When a GI is adopted, an additional “public” level of governance is added along the supply chain that forces it to reallocate and specialize quality controls between the public and private levels of governance to avoid redundancies and to adopt more market-oriented mechanisms of governance in dyadic relationships. The paper argues that these changes occur because the private and public levels of governance complement one another.

More aspects of supply chain management (the power balance or relationship stability) and a more systematic longitudinal analysis using supply chains in various agrifood industries should be considered to generalize the conclusions. An econometric analysis formally testing the main conclusions (propositions) is also required.

The changes needed to successfully adopt a GI are identified, and an explanatory map of these changes is offered.

The structural governance tensions created by the use of common-pool resources within supply chains are explored. It is hypothesized, first, that when a “common-pool resource”, namely, a geographical name, is used in a supply chain, some type of public level of governance that promotes cooperation is required to preserve its value. Second, this public level of governance complements the dyadic mechanisms of governance, requiring the specialization and reallocation of quality controls and the move toward more market-oriented transactions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes in governance structures that evolved as reverse logistics systems were developed. The UK car crash repair sector was used as a case study.

The value‐chain governance framework proposed by Gereffi et al. was used to assess changes in governance systems as firms developed a reverse logistics flow and three transactional variables were used to determine how supply chains are governed and change. Both forward and reverse product flows for two supply chains were assessed to determine what changes in governance of the supply chain took place as reverse logistics operations developed.

The authors' analysis documents how relationships between the focal firm and other supply chain members altered as the new reverse logistic system developed. The modular governance structure that developed through increased supplier capability coupled with higher levels of knowledge and information codifications were shown to be important factors in the establishment of a reverse logistics system. Supplier capability, knowledge codification and transaction complexity were found to be moderating variables which can enrich the traditional models on buyer‐supplier relationships based on trust and ongoing commitment.

Reverse logistics continues to be a major issue for business. Our findings provide an insight into some of the governance and knowledge management developments as focal firms respond to growing pressures to re‐use materials and parts. In total, six factors were identified which can assist firms in assessing their current governance structures and the development of a pathway for implementation of reverse logistics.

Little research has been conducted into supply chain governance structures needed to manage the new reverse logistics systems for the re‐use, recycling and repair of products.