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The purpose of this paper is to identify the strategic options available to a weaker actor to counteract the dominance of a stronger actor in a buyer-supplier relationship, and identifies those factors that influence the choice of individual options.

Following a systematic literature review methodology, a five-phase approach of planning, searching, screening, extraction and synthesis was rigorously employed. In total, 48 studies were used to draw conclusions about the phenomena of interest.

Captured in an integrated conceptual framework, this study identified five strategic options available to the weaker actor in order to counteract a power dominance of a stronger player, which were underpinned by seven influencing factors.

The proposed conceptual framework requires first qualitative empirical validation using an abductive multi-case strategy, followed by a theory testing phase, employing a configurational approach.

The proposed framework suggested that the weaker actor in a buyer-supplier relationship has five options to address power dominance. These options were available within as well as beyond a focal dyadic relationship. For the stronger actor, the authors showed that power dominance is a temporary state rather than permanent.

This study marks one of the first attempts to present a coherent set of strategic options and underpinning factors to counteract power dominance in a buyer-supplier relationship from the perspective of a weaker actor. Given the underexplored nature of the topic, the study also provides guidelines for further research.

Within the context of a sustainable supply chain, the purpose of this paper is to report on empirical longitudinal research on supply chain network evolution and dynamics of governance in a multi‐stakeholder supply chain sustainability initiative led by Nespresso, the speciality coffee division of Nestlé.

The paper proposes a framework to study the creation and evolution of governance mechanisms over a five‐year period. Data from 48 semi‐structured interviews and 15 recent and historic documents were also analysed. The interviews were conducted among current and past representatives of all the organisations concerned including coffee traders, NGOs and farmers.

In contrast with literature on the subject, governance mechanisms initially relied mostly on informal mechanisms. Formal governance mechanisms were incorporated into the relationships to enable the supply chain network to grow and to provide clarity to all actors. Relational quality processes that increased trust were critical elements in the early phase, and were explicitly built into a second phase of development.

Being a single case study, some caution needs to be applied to generalise findings beyond the specific context studied. An additional methodological limitation is the limited number of actors involved in the overall supply chain network.

The paper shows the importance of treating governance mechanisms within the supply chain not as a fixed variable to be determined once and for all in the beginning of a relationship, but rather to adapt the coordination mechanisms of the relationships.

The evolution of relationships over time has been “often called for but rarely chosen”. The case highlights the potential benefits of this type of research to develop an understanding of the evolution of relationships in a supply chain network.

The purpose of this paper is to establish what is known regarding how supply network governance leads to network outcomes, what mechanisms underlie this relationship, and how context impacts it.

A systematic literature review identified 44 conceptual and empirical studies. Purely dyadic studies were excluded. Synthesis used the context‐intervention‐mechanism‐outcomes (CIMO) logic.

From a categorization of contexts, governance instruments, mechanisms and outcomes a contingent conceptual framework is developed in the paper relating governance instruments to network outcomes dependent on the context. In general, formal instruments are adopted in dynamic and unstable circumstances defined as risky, uncertain, unpredictable or during organizational change. These instruments can result in coordination, control, viability and performance outcomes. Informal instruments tend to be adopted in contexts where prior relationships exist between actors.

Arising from the conceptual framework three robust propositions are developed. A more nuanced view of power and trust is proposed to augment the explanations provided by transaction costs and social embeddedness. This provides opportunities for further research, including longitudinal and comparative studies.

The conceptual framework provides three propositions suggesting that in dynamic or unstable circumstances formal governance instruments can provide viability, control, coordination or performance outcomes. Informal governance instruments are more effectively used in established relationships to improve performance, control and viability.

The synthesis reveals contingencies in the appropriate governance modes of supply networks for desired outcomes in specific contexts, resolving apparent inconsistencies between prior studies.

Content analysis is a methodology that has been used in many academic disciplines as a means to extract quantitative measures from textual information. The purpose of this paper is to document the use of content analysis in the supply chain literature. The authors also discuss opportunities for future research.

The authors conduct a literature review of 13 leading supply chain journals to assess the state of the content analysis-based literature and identify opportunities for future research. Additionally, the authors provide a general schema for and illustration of the use of content analysis.

The findings suggest that content analysis for quantitative studies and hypothesis testing purposes has rarely been used in the supply chain discipline. The research also suggests that in order to fully realize the potential of content analysis, future content analysis research should conduct more hypothesis testing, employ diverse data sets, utilize state-of-the-art content analysis software programs, and leverage multi-method research designs.

The current research synthesizes the use of content analysis methods in the supply chain domain and promotes the need to capitalize on the advantages offered by this research methodology. The paper also presents several topics for future research that can benefit from the content analysis method.

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has attracted considerable interest among academics and practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of the literature, to identify missing links, to argue for the use of world class SSCM (WCSSCM) through a framework, and suggest further research directions.

In the paper the authors have undertaken an extensive review of literature and classified articles using a novel classification scheme.

Through the extensive review and identification of research gaps, the paper identifies significant differences between definitions and methodologies in the SSCM literature; and argues for “WCSSCM.” This term is elaborated on via a theoretical framework in which 18 dimensions are classified under six constructs of SSCM. Furthermore, a list of potential research directions for WCSSCM is discussed.

The research is an attempt to critically review literature, argue for WCSSCM, and develop a theoretical framework.

The paper offers a new approach to SSCM literature, arguing for WCSSCM through a framework, and providing further research directions.