Den växande e-livsmedelshandelns Supply Chains har studerats genom hållbarhetsglasögon där syftet var att ”[…] ge en fördjupad förståelse över hur svenska elivsmedelsaktörerarbetar med frågor rörande Sustainable Supply Chain Management”. Syftet fullgjordes genom en kvalitativ studie av tre organisationer, i vilka totalt 9 beslutsfattare intervjuades enligt ett semi-strukturerat intervjuförfarande. De data som samlades rörande e-livsmedelsaktörernas arbete med SSCM har i sin tur analyserats med hänvisning till en i förväg fastställd teoretisk referensram. Vår studie avslöjar att två av de svenska e-livsmedelsaktörerna är exemplariska och framstående med att införliva hållbarhet i sin Supply Chain. De engagerar sig aktivt i de initiativ för Sustainable Supply Chain Management som i litteraturen identifierades som nödvändiga för en verkligt hållbar Supply Chain. De har en allomfattande och övergripande strategi för att minimera den sociala risken, reducera resursutnyttjande och förorenande biprodukter i hela Supply Chain samt för att förbättra organisatoriskt inbäddade ohållbara vanor. Det tredje företaget saknar emellertid kapacitet och marknadsinflytande att engagera sig i SSCM. Studien åskådliggör även att en klimatneutral e-livsmedelsdistribution osannolikt förverkligas inom en snar framtid, såvida inte marknaden interveneras och företagen tvingas internalisera kostnaderna för utsläpp.

Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) is an evolving discipline, and incorporates the environmental and social performance dimensions of sustainability with the traditional measure of economic performance; current SSCM research indicates a skew towards economic performance and its interaction with environmental performance, while social performance is underrepresented (Pagell and Wu, 2009, Schaefer, 2004, Sharma and Ruud, 2003). The UK clothing industry represents a relevant research focus due to its supply chain complexity, and scale and scope of its environmental and social impacts; this thesis further recognises the tendency for academic research to focus on Large Enterprises (LE) (Curran and Blackburn, 2001) and investigates how SSCM is implemented in UK SME clothing supply chains to understand how and why they address economic, environmental and social performance and the potential contribution to developing the SSCM concept. An inductive case study methodology is employed and the research focuses on 4 UK clothing SMEs with primary data collection a series of semi-structured interviews, supported by observation, company documentation and archival data. Three theoretical lenses are applied and the findings indicate that SMEs manage their supply chains for sustainability in ways that strongly align with their specific characteristics and apply a greater emphasis on long-term, trust-based and mutually beneficial supplier relationships. A rich view of SSCM practice in SMEs is developed, which reflects the more intangible and human components of sustainability and supply chain relationships, and how these can be harnessed to achieve firm specific commitments. This thesis fulfils an identified need to study how sustainability is addressed in SME supply chains within a single industry; SSCM research to date has focused on large organisations and multiple industry perspectives. It contributes to knowledge in both the SSCM and SME research fields by identifying key gaps within the combined literature, critiquing sustainability models and developing a conceptual framework from the findings, which aims to embed social performance and offer a more integrated approach to SSCM in this context.

A major challenge for supply chain managers is how to manage sourcing relationships to ensure reliable and predictable actions of existing suppliers. The extant research into sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has suggested the transactional (e.g. monitoring and auditing) and collaboration (e.g. supplier development) as the main two approaches by which buyers can sustain an acceptable level of suppliers' internal social performance. A successful implementation of such approaches, and hence improving suppliers' social performance, often requires a level of cooperation that can be difficult to establish, particularly on the part of suppliers. Despite the recent proliferation of SSCM research, little efforts have been devoted to exploring the factors that increase the effectiveness of the two approaches. This research aims to examine the individual and combined effect of socially sustainable transactional practices (SSTPs) and socially sustainable collaboration practices (SSCPs) on supplier's internal social performance and buyer's operational performance. The study also sets out to examine the moderating effects of social capital dimensions (i.e. relational, cognitive and structural) on the relationships among SSTPs, SSCPs and supplier's internal social performance. A mail survey was administered to 1,250 stratified randomly selected large manufacturing companies operating in the UK. An analysis of 119 responses using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation modelling (PLS-SEM) revealed that SSTPs are ineffective in driving supplier's internal social performance, whilst SSCPs are more effective. Moreover, although the interaction effect of SSTPs and SSCPs is non-significant, the data suggested that the simultaneous implementation can be detrimental to supplier's internal social performance. Furthermore, social capital dimensions were found to play different roles on the implementation of SSTPs and SSCPs. Relational capital plays a unique role by increasing the effectiveness of both SSTPs and SSCPs, while cognitive capital is critical for SSCPs, and structural capital is vital for SSTPs. This study contributes to SSCM literature by exclusively focusing on the social dimension of sustainability, examining the joint implementation of SSTPs and SSCPs and featuring the centrality of social capital in the implementation of SSCM practices. The study sets a foundation for new research avenues in the SSCM context and provides a set of managerial implications that support informed decision-making by supply chain managers.

Corporate Social Responsibility increases in importance, especially in the context of Supply-Chain Management. This is anchored in the rising competitiveness between entire supply-chains, as a competitive shift from individual companies to supply-chains as entities is taking place. Hence, the entire supply-chain becomes more critical in the creation of a competitive advantage. Corporate Social Responsibility has the potential to create legitimacy in the eyes of stakeholders and thus, also may contribute to the creation of this competitive advantage for entire supply-chains. Therefore, changing societal demands and stakeholder pressure stimulate the necessity for supply-chains to integrate Corporate Social Responsibility and thus, the three dimensions of the Triple-Bottom-Line (People, Planet, Profit) approach (as opposed to the traditional economic paradigm) into their operations.   With regards to this necessity it becomes worthwhile to explore how individual actors within supply-chains perceive pressure and whether the shift from inter-firm competition to inter-supply-chain competition is accompanied by a similar shift in stakeholder pressure (based on the Triple-Bottom-Line) from individual companies to entire supply-chains. A set of four interrelated theories, namely ‘business as open systems’, ‘social contract theory’, ‘stakeholder theory’ and ‘legitimacy theory’, is used to approach this topic. Then, the perceived pressure is investigated by means of a series of qualitative interviews with representatives of seven companies within the clothing industry, located at different positions of supply-chains. These positions include Suppliers of Raw Material, Manufacturer, Logistics and Retailers. Findings show that primary stakeholders, especially employees and customers, are perceived to be the most influential sources of CSR-related pressure. This pressure includes a wide range of demands, covering all three dimensions of the Triple-Bottom-Line. The assumption that supply-chains as entities perceive stakeholder pressure is not yet supported by these findings. What can be identified is a noticeable ‘trickle-up’ effect, meaning that pressure flows upstream from retailers to suppliers of raw materials. The shift in stakeholder pressure onto chains as entities is not identified due to the sample available to the authors. Further research should investigate this shift by means of examining single supply-chains instead of various companies from different chains.

This thesis is a critical evaluation of the theory and practice of Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM). It seeks to understand why SSCM theory has so little to say about environmental sustainability and to explore how SSCM practice is contributing towards the transition towards sustainable development. I conjecture that SSCM scholars have not engaged sufficiently with the broader sustainability literature and other constructions of sustainability, which has led to a lack of theory development within SSCM. The sustainability paradigms framework that forms the core of the thesis was developed in order to broaden the discussion around sustainability within SSCM. Specifically, it embraces the contested nature of the concept of sustainability and uses multiple sustainability paradigms to construct future directions for theory development. In order to put the concept of environmental sustainability at the centre of SSCM theory, the concept of ‘environmental effectiveness’ was developed which seeks to differentiate between environmentally sustainable strategies and those that merely seek to achieve reductions in unsustainability. In order to evaluate the practice of SSCM, a case study was conducted. The concept of ‘environmental effectiveness’ is operationalized through the use of non-perceptual measures related to carbon emissions and evaluates the extent to which SSCM practices contribute towards climate stabilization, a key sustainability objective. It is found that those SSCM practices that have been shown to improve ‘environmental performance’ within the extant SSCM literature did not deliver ‘environmentally effective performance’ within the case study. This raises the possibility that the literature has mistaken reductions in unsustainability for sustainability proper and that we may need to go back to basics. The findings are discussed with reference to the sustainability paradigms framework and multiple opportunities for theory development within SSCM are explored.

Bakgrund och problematisering Under 90-talet flyttade många företag sin produktion till lågkostnadsländer långt bort för att minska sina produktionskostnader och därmed öka konkurrensfördelarna. Nu menar forskare att denna trend börjat vända, och företag väljer att flytta tillbaka sin produktion till hemlandet eller i ett närliggande lågkostnadsland då det visat sig att totalkostnaden inte blev lägre. En produktion i eller nära hemlandet kan resultera i minskad totalkostnad, minskade risker och ett ökat värde för kunden. Valet av produktionsland kan också starkt influeras av företagets hållbarhetsarbete. Majoriteten av forskningen är fokuserad kring jämförandet av Sverige med ett lågkostnadsland i Asien men väldigt lite forskning finns som jämför Sverige med ett lågkostnadsland i Europa. Syfte och metod Syftet för studien är att jämföra strategierna inshoring och nearshoring genom att undersöka svenska hållbara mikroföretags val av produktionsland. För att jämföra strategierna kommer vi undersöka dessa utifrån faktorerna kostnad, risk och värde. Det empiriska materialet samlas in med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer med företag som har sin produktion i antingen Sverige eller Portugal. Resultatet kommer sedan att analyseras och kopplas till den teoretiska referensramen kring Supply Chain Management, hållbarhet och de tre faktorerna ovan för att kunna besvara syftet. Resultat och slutsats Efter att den empiriska datan analyserats kom vi fram till att företagen till en hög grad delade forskarnas syn på att en produktion i Sverige på många sätt var mer kostnads effektiv, mindre riskfylld och ökade värdet för konsumenterna då varumärket och produkterna sågs mer hållbara. Däremot märkte vi också att design spelade en stor roll in på vilket produktionsland man väljer, något som litteraturen inte tagit upp. Vi konstaterade att det inte finns en sourcingstrategi som ansågs vara bäst, utan företagets storlek, framtidsplaner, produktdesign och materialanvändning istället påverkar vilket produktionsland som är mest lämpligt. / Background and problematisation During the 1990’s many companies moved their production to remote low cost countries to reduce their production costs and create an increased competitive advantage. Research has now shown that this trend is reversing and companies are now starting to move their production to their home country or a close by low cost country due to the revelation that the total cost did not increase. Placing the production in or near the home country can result in a lower total cost, reduced risks and an increase of value to the consumer. The production location choice can also strongly be influenced by the companies’ sustainability work. The majority of research is focused around the comparison of Sweden and a low cost country in Asia but very little research has been done comparing Sweden and Europe. Purpose and method The purpose of the study is to compare the strategies inshoring and nearshoring by investigating Swedish sustainable micro companies’ choice of production location. To compare the strategies we will evaluate these through the factors cost, risk and value. The empirical material will be collected through semi-structured interviews with companies producing in either Sweden or Portugal. The result will then be analysed and connected to the theoretical framework around Supply Chain Management, sustainability and the three factors above to answer our research questions. Result and conclusion After the empirical data had been analysed we saw that the companies more or less shared there searchers’ views on that a production in Sweden in many ways was more cost effective, less prone to risks and increased the value to the consumers due to the brand being perceived as more sustainable. Also the design of the product played a big part in the choice of production location, something the literature did not bring up. Our conclusion was that none of the sourcing strategies were considered the best, but the size of the company, product design and the choice of material affected which production country that was deemed the most suitable. This thesis is written in Swedish.

Maintaining the current course of the global society is threatening the human civilization. The urgency of the situation, understood from empirical research, has caused many researchers to call for more prescriptive research as a necessary supplement, to better support decision making for sustainability. While policymakers need to direct and stimulate sustainable production and consumption through, e.g., legislation and market phenomena such as eco-labelling, business represents a significant proportion of the necessary resources, capabilities and mechanisms for the innovation needed for a transition towards sustainability. However, while businesses more and more realize the self-interest in working proactively with sustainability, there is a desire for better support for how to do this also from this end. Such support needs to consider a significant shift going on in business; that individual businesses tend to no longer compete as autonomous entities, but rather as supply chains. Thus, no company is more sustainable than its supply chain partners. Therefore, sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) as a business function, and sustainable procurement as a subset thereof, plays an increasingly pivotal role for sustainable development. The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute to sustainable development by studying how three phenomena; eco-labelling, procurement and supply chain management are related to each other and to a strategic sustainability perspective, and to suggest how these phenomena can be integrated with such a perspective to provide better support for decision making and innovation for sustainability. For this purpose, a framework for strategic sustainable development, including a definition of sustainability and generic guidelines to inform stepwise strategic plans towards sustainability, is used as a foundational methodology. The development of new approaches is also based on case studies with eco-labelling and sustainable public procurement bodies, businesses and public institutions. Information is collected by shadowing of criteria development and collaboration processes, interviews and literature studies. While the findings point to a clear rational for all of the phenomena and several strengths in existing schemes and practices, the findings also point to several shortcomings. Sustainability is not defined, and as a result, there is no foundation for strategic and proactive approaches. Furthermore, decisions are not based on considerations of all dimensions of sustainability, the whole life cycle of products, all relevant stakeholders and a long-term perspective. As a result, the full potential of these phenomena for contributing to sustainable development is not utilized. This thesis prescribes enhanced processes for eco-labelling, sustainable procurement and SSCM, and shows how these can support organisations in developing from reacting individually on known sustainability-related problems to acting proactively and collaboratively in supply chains, in a coordinated and economically viable way, on society’s remaining gap to the full scope of ecological and social sustainability.

Considerando-se a importância crescente e a complementaridade das temáticas de eco-inovação e de Gestão Sustentável da Cadeia de Suprimentos (GSCS), bem como a relevância do setor de alimentos no Brasil, este trabalho apresenta o objetivo de analisar como a eco-inovação contribui para a GSCS no setor de alimentos. Realizou-se um estudo de caso múltiplo em duas Cadeias de Suprimento Sustentáveis (CSSs) que possuem práticas eco-inovadoras: uma cadeia cuja empresa focal é eco-inovadora desde seu início (cadeia Alfa, born green); e outra cuja empresa focal está mudando seu posicionamento em prol da eco-inovação (cadeia Beta). A coleta de dados contou com materiais secundários, 20 entrevistas semiestruturadas e visitas in loco. Os resultados indicam que a eco-inovação é incorporada na estratégia da maioria das empresas. As principais práticas referem-se a produtos e processos eco-inovadores, sendo motivadas tanto por drivers internos (preocupações ambientais por parte dos gestores e busca por eficiência) quanto externos (pressões normativas e cooperação). Existe um alinhamento parcial das cadeias em favor da sustentabilidade, sendo que os relacionamentos mais próximos ocorrem entre o elo produtor e as indústrias. Foram encontradas relações com membros não tradicionais, como o terceiro setor e o governo. As principais barreiras à eco-inovação referem-se a questões técnicas, financeiras e concorrenciais. Questões relacionadas aos consumidores são vistas tanto como barreira (pelo desconhecimento e falta de atitude de compra) quanto como oportunidade (pelas tendências de sustentabilidade e alimentação saudável). Outra oportunidade refere-se à diferenciação frente a concorrentes e posicionamento da empresa. Os resultados indicam o elo produtor como o mais frágil da cadeia, pela necessidade de seguir rigorosamente a legislação, sem obter muitos incentivos governamentais que amparem perdas ou o remunerem pelos serviços ambientais prestados. O trabalho contribui ao expor a perspectiva de um país em desenvolvimento, salientando a importância da eco-inovação para uma GSCS mais competitiva, principalmente no caso de cadeias born green. A partir do investimento inicial da empresa focal em eco-inovação, esta busca ou desenvolve outros elos alinhados a estas práticas. Os dados encontrados apontam para a importância crescente do setor de alimentos eco-inovadores, que é uma ótima opção para empresas agregarem valor à sua imagem e seus produtos. / Considering the increasing importance and complementarity of the issues of eco-innovation and Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM), as well as the relevance of the food industry in Brazil, the goal of this work is to analyze how eco-innovation contributes to the SSCM in the food sector. A multiple case study was conducted in two Sustainable Supply Chains (SSCs) that have eco-innovative practices: chain Alpha, which focal company is eco-innovative since its beginning; and chain Beta, which focal company is changing its position in favor of eco-innovation. Data collection included secondary data, 20 semi-structured interviews and on-site visits. The results indicate that eco-innovation is incorporated into the strategy of most companies. The main practices refer to products and eco-innovative processes, which are motivated by internal drivers (environmental concerns by managers and search for efficiency) and external drivers (regulatory cooperation and pressures). There is a partial alignment of the chains in favor of sustainability, and the closest relationships occur between producers and industries. Relations with non-traditional members (third sector and government) were also found. The main barriers to eco-innovation are technical, financial and competitive. Consumers-related issues are seen both as a barrier (for their lack of knowledge and purchasing attitude) and as an opportunity (because of sustainability and healthy eating trends). Another opportunity is the differentiation against competitors and the positioning of the company. The results indicate that the producer is the weakest link of the chain, as it must follow strict rules, but does not have government incentives that support losses or remunerate his environmental services. The work contributes by exposing the perspective of a developing country, stressing the importance of eco-innovation for a more competitive GSCS, especially in the case of born green chains. When the focal company invests in eco-innovation, it searches or develops other links according to these practices. The findings indicate the growing importance of eco-innovation in the food sector, which is a great option to add value to the company’s image and products.

A introdução efetiva da sustentabilidade em empresas exige ações que extrapolam os limites organizacionais, abarcando o ambiente interorganizacional. Dessa maneira, as empresas deixam de ser consideradas isoladamente e passam a ser analisadas de acordo com suas cadeias de suprimentos, compostas por organizações que contribuem para o alcance dos mesmos objetivos de desempenho. Nesse sentido, uma cadeia de suprimentos é considerada mais sustentável quando insere as dimensões econômica, ambiental e social em suas operações, nas estratégias e na tomada de decisão, possuindo bons níveis de desempenho em tais dimensões. A adoção de práticas de sustentabilidade em cadeias de suprimentos pode ser analisada em um contínuo, formado por dois extremos: a resposta reativa e proativa. Nesse contexto, a proatividade de práticas sustentáveis pode ser definida como a adoção de ações, realizadas voluntariamente por empresas, com a finalidade de melhorar o desempenho ambiental e o desempenho social, além das exigências legais. A empresa proativa afirma sua preocupação e seu compromisso com a sociedade e o ambiente natural, em que está inserida. Diante dessas considerações, tem-se a premissa dessa pesquisa: a postura proativa de empresas em relação a práticas sustentáveis estimula melhor articulação com os elos de sua cadeia de suprimentos, o que colabora para a introdução da sustentabilidade nessa cadeia. O objetivo desta pesquisa é analisar a contribuição da articulação de uma empresa proativa com seus elos para a introdução da sustentabilidade na sua cadeia de suprimentos. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa, distribuída em duas etapas (exploratória e descritiva), envolvendo uma empresa focal proativa e parceiros de sua cadeia de suprimentos. Ressalta-se que, em virtude da complexidade e da extensão de cadeias de suprimentos, optou-se por analisar a cadeia à montante, isto é, foram entrevistados colaboradores da empresa focal (Mercur S.A.) e de empresas fornecedoras (LKC Transportes; PAMF Indústria e Comércio de Confecções; Caeté Embalagens; e, Artecola Química). Primeiramente, foi analisada a proatividade de práticas sustentáveis da Mercur. Os resultados indicam que a Mercur pode ser considerada uma empresa proativa, em função da implantação total de 37 ações em prol da sustentabilidade ao core business da organização e da implantação parcial de seis práticas. Em segundo lugar, investigou-se a articulação e o relacionamento da empresa proativa com os elos de sua cadeia de suprimentos. Verificou-se que os entrevistados consideram que os elos estão em processo de integração. Diante disso, pode-se observar que existem diferentes níveis de articulação na cadeia de suprimentos, envolvendo a Mercur e seus fornecedores. Em seguida, averiguou-se a existência de práticas sustentáveis ao longo da cadeia de suprimentos estudada, as quais foram descritas a partir de cinco categorias de análise (orientação estratégica, continuidade da cadeia de suprimentos, colaboração, gestão de risco, proatividade). Incentivos foram identificados para que práticas pró-sustentabilidade passem a ser concebidas e implantadas por todos os membros da cadeia, colaborando para um desenvolvimento mais sustentável. Nessa perspectiva, diante dos resultados encontrados, assume-se que a premissa de pesquisa foi confirmada, uma vez que a postura proativa de práticas sustentáveis da Mercur estimula maior articulação com os parceiros de sua cadeia de suprimentos, contribuindo para a inserção da sustentabilidade nessa cadeia. Entretanto, a articulação da Mercur com os parceiros também pode incentivar que posturas proativas em benefício da sustentabilidade sejam incorporadas pelas empresas da cadeia de suprimentos. / The effective introduction of sustainability in business requires actions that go beyond organizational boundaries, encompassing the inter-organizational environment. Thus, companies are no longer considered individually; they are analyzed according to their supply chains, composed by organizations that contribute to the achievement of the same performance goals. A supply chain is considered more sustainable when it enters the economic, environmental and social dimensions in their operations, strategies and decision making, possessing good levels of performance on these dimensions. The incorporation of sustainability practices in supply chain can be analyzed in a continuous, formed by two extremes: reactive and proactive response. The sustainable proactivity can be defined as the adoption of actions, performed voluntarily by companies, in order to improve the environmental and social performance beyond legal requirements. A proactive company states its concern and commitment to society and the natural environment in which it operates. Given these considerations, this research premise is: the proactive approach of companies towards sustainable practices encourages better integration with the partners in their supply chain, which contributes to the incorporation of sustainability in the supply chain. In this context, this research aims to analyze the contribution of proactive company integration with its partners to the introduction of sustainability in their supply chain. Therefore, a qualitative research was performed, composed by two phases (exploratory and descriptive), involving a proactive focal company and its supply chain partners. It is emphasized that, because of the complexity and the extent of supply chains, we chose to analyze the upstream chain, i.e., focal company (Mercur S.A.) and supplier firms (LKC Transportes; PAMF Indústria e Comércio de Confecções; Caeté Embalagens; and Artecola Química). The employees of these companies were interviewed. First, it was analyzed the proactivity of sustainable practices of Mercur. The results indicate that Mercur can be considered a proactive company, due to the full adoption of 37 actions for sustainability in the core business of the organization and the partial implementation of six practices. Secondly, it was investigated the integration and the relationship of a proactive company with its supply chain partners. It was found that the interviewees consider that the supply chain is in process of a complete integration. Thus, it can be observed that there are different levels of integration in the supply chain, involving the Mercur and their suppliers. Thirdly, it was examined the existence of sustainable practices throughout the supply chain. These practices were described considering five categories of analysis (strategic orientation, supply chain continuity, collaboration, risk management, and proactivity). Incentives were identified for the design and the implementation of sustainable practices by all supply chain members, contributing to a more sustainable development. From this perspective, given the results, it is assumed that the research premise was confirmed, since the proactive sustainable practices Mercur encourages greater integration with partners in the supply chain, contributing to the sustainable supply chain. However, the integration of Mercur with partners can also encourage that proactive practices in favor of sustainability be incorporated in the supply chain.

Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) has increasingly been considered important by both industry and academia, organizations around the world seek to extend or disseminate their sustainable practices to their multi-tier supply chains in order to make the whole chain sustainable. Among the main streams of SSCM research, it is surprising that, with a few exceptions, the leadership role of multinational corporations (MNCs) in their supply chains in an emerging economy has been ignored by researchers. Little is known on how 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 i.e. the mechanisms. To address this gap in the literature, a multiple-case study is designed. Multi-tier supply chains of three MNCs were selected to investigate their proactive sustainability projects in China. They are: Tetra Pak creating a recycling chain in China; Nestlé modernising China’s dairy industry; and IKEA’s sustainable cotton initiative. By adopting Resource Orchestration Theory (ROT), findings related to supply chain leadership, supply chain learning, multi-tier SSCM are presented. A number of testable propositions are advanced. The main findings of the research are that rather than focusing on the ‘low hanging fruits’ of sustainability, MNCs implement proactive sustainable initiatives requiring a strategic thinking and long term significant investment by engaging their multi-tier suppliers and non-traditional supply chain members. They tend to play a leadership role in the implementation process enabled by transformational and transactional leadership styles. These MNCs applied different leadership styles and governance mechanisms on different tiers of suppliers, which render different supply chain structures in the process of supply chain learning, which includes three stages of set up, operating and sustaining. This research contributes to SSCM research in the following ways: first, it may be the first attempt that investigates multi-tier SSCM through supply chain learning and supply chain leadership angles adopting a ROT perspective. This help to explain how MNCs implement sustainable initiatives in China; second, it contributes to supply chain learning literature by differentiating supply chain learning stages and learning content in terms of focal company knowledge resources and supplier learning complexity to explain the implementation of SSCM initiatives; third, leadership at an individual level is well researched and understood but it is not the case for organisational level leadership. This research enriches our understanding of the role of organisational leadership in MNCs’ SSCM; fourth, the research contributes to multi-tier SSCM with a focus on both supply chain governance mechanisms and supply chain structure; fifth, this research extend ROT from within an organization context to supply chains and include three aspects: breadth (resource orchestration across the scope of the supply chain including both internal and external breadth); depth (resource orchestration across multi-tiers of the supply chain); and project lifecycle (resource orchestration at various stages of supply chain learning stages); finally, a complete theoretical framework is developed to tie together the constructs of supply chain learning, supply chain leadership, multi-tier SSCM with ROT. Practically, a step by step methodology, integrating the key factors affecting the implementation of SSCM initiatives including supply chain learning, supply chain leadership, multi-tier supply chain governance and supply chain structure, is proposed. The ‘best practices’ of the researched MNCs provide a feasible roadmap for these organizations to learn from.