Multi-tier sustainable supply chain management: The role of supply chain leadership

Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) has been considered increasingly important by both industry and academia in recent years. Among the main streams of SSCM research, little is known on how multi-national corporations (MNCs), assuming leadership in their supply chain, have been able to facilitate their supply chain members to learn sustainability practice in an emerging economy context. To answer this research question, a multiple-case study was designed. Multi-tier supply chains of three MNCs were selected to investigate their proactive sustainability projects in China. A framework was proposed based on the constructs of supply chain leadership, multi-tier supply chain governance, multi-tier supply chain structure and supply chain learning. We found that the combined effect of supply chain leadership and governance mechanisms affects both supply chain structure and supply chain learning and MNCs change their supply chain structure to facilitate supply chain learning. Three sets of propositions are advanced and implications for future research are elucidated.