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This chapter explores the evolution of a network, initially based on providing sustainable seafood through Loblaw’s supply chain, to a network that is collectively working to improve ocean health. It describes the role of the CEO and key managers, the internal changes taken by Loblaw to become a more sustainable organization, and the external partnering that resulted in a more coherent network with shared goals.

The chapter describes models and theories of sustainable organizations, issue nets, and collaboration and then applies the concepts to understand Loblaw’s sustainability journey and the creation of a network.

The model of the evolution to a sustainable organization is extended to include the journey to sustainable issue or domain networks. What Loblaw and the partnering organizations were able to create suggests that there are increasing levels of collaboration around changing a domain, if there is the courage to take a leap of faith and increase an organization’s time horizon beyond immediate financial demands.

The findings of this chapter will help senior executives with responsibility for shifting supply chains to become more sustainable. In addition, this case provides a new level of detail in describing the journey to sustainability, shifting from a company focus to an issue focus.

This qualitative paper is about social reporting in response to an incident that involved the loss of human life. It examines Loblaw’s disclosures following the Rana Plaza building collapse that killed over 1,100 Bangladeshi workers.

This article draws on Suchman’s (1995) comprehensive legitimacy typology to interpret Loblaw’s disclosures about the collapse in both mass media coverage of the tragedy and the company’s quarterly, annual and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports.

Loblaw worked on many fronts to secure stakeholders’ support in the aftermath of the fatal incident. Through their social disclosures, Loblaw simultaneously managed exchange, dispositional, consequential, procedural, structural, personal and cognitive legitimacy, striving to demonstrate that, notwithstanding the incident, the company was still conforming to its social contract.

This research operationalizes all aspects of Suchman’s legitimacy typology in the context of social reporting. In particular, the paper further develops the concept of cognitive legitimacy. This should be of benefit to other CSR researchers.

The loss of human life during business operations is one of the most terrible events an organization can face. Corporate activities leading to loss of human life are obviously far from being socially acceptable. Stakeholders are likely to disapprove such activities and reconsider their support, which can threaten the survival of the organization. It is thus of utmost importance to understand the strategies used by corporate managers in their attempt to secure ongoing stakeholder support.

This paper innovates by focusing specifically on social disclosures about a negative event. In so doing, it also contributes to a small, but important, literature within CSR research that examines incidents resulting in the loss of human life. The paper adapts and applies Suchman’s legitimacy framework to interpret social reporting in response to a specific instance of loss of life, the Rana Plaza building collapse. Finally, this paper mobilizes the notion of cognitive dissonance to further develop Suchman’s notion of cognitive legitimacy.

The purpose of this paper is to appraise the spread of supermarkets in Canada during the mid‐twentieth century. It examines how corporate chains altered the organization of distribution, reconfigured shopping experiences, and promised gains realized through greater business volume.

The paper utilizes a mix of primary and secondary sources to compare how companies responded to opportunities for mass marketing that emerged in the post‐war era. The perspective is grounded in the theory of managerial capitalism, which was originally elaborated by Alfred D. Chandler.

The paper highlights how mass food retailing in Canada shared some attributes normally associated with the rise of managerial capitalism, but it also reviews the variations and highlights the difficulties faced by firms despite their jump to giant size. In particular, it stresses how the leading companies did not build secure positions.

Corporate archives in Canadian retailing either did not survive or remain inaccessible. The essay therefore draws upon a mix of sources including company publications and government investigations. The paper highlights the inability of companies to realize permanent gains commonly associated with large firm size or mass retailing. It stresses that there was no one “model” of corporate development.

This paper illustrates the complexities associated with developing strategic leadership in retailing and therefore should be valuable to educators and practitioners.

Interviews Cathy Loblaw and Diana Carradine, who established Concerned Children’s Advertisers in Canada 15 years ago; its aim is to inform children about social issues, advertising and the media. Lists the four platforms in the CCA process: The Broadcast Code for Advertising to Children (television), the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards (all media), media literacy education, and social messaging. Indicates interest in CCA from Singapore and the UK. Explains CCA’s success as due to consistent campaigns, the commitment of a group of companies to empowering children, and support from government and independent agencies. Outlines CCA’s latest campaign, which is “Long Live Kids” and focuses on children’s obesity; the target age is six to 12.

This chapter examines the case studies in this volume with a focus on concepts and methods used in the study of multi-organization networks and partnerships, motivations to join in multi-party collaboration, how multi-organization collaborations organized and managed, what kinds of value are created by collaborations, and the role of leadership therein.

A comparative look at four vertical networks (in health care and education); two “issue” networks/partnerships (sustainable seafood and water use); and the roles of government in collaboration in horizontal, vertical, and issue-based arrangements.

The chapter describes “lessons” learned about building both sustainability and collaborative capabilities in and across partnering organizations and about improving partnership structures, processes, and results.

The chapter sums and synthesizes the volume’s contributions.

Manufacturers of consumer goods face various problems when they attempt to integrate environmental attributes into their marketing mix. In many cases the inclusion of environmental issues in the marketing mix is largely motivated by the organization′s desire to address consumers′ increasing level of environmental awareness. However, producers face three problems when they attempt to utilize environmental marketing: a lack of credibility; consumer cynicism; consumer confusion over claims. Strategic alliances with environmental groups can assist manufacturers of consumer goods to overcome these problems, as well as provide other advantages. These other advantages are: increased consumer reliability in green products and their claims; increased access to environmental information; increased access to new markets; publicity and reduced public criticism; and education of consumers about key environmental issues relating to a firm′s product. To achieve these benefits, producers need to follow a careful selection process when choosing an environmental strategic alliance partner. This selection process includes: determine alliance objectives; specify outcomes desired; and determine the fit between the organization, environmental group, and target market.

Purpose – This chapter explores the use of evolutionary and institutionalization models to understand the progression of sustainability in organizations and their contribution to sustainable effectiveness. It describes the evolution of Gap, Inc.'s sustainability approach, its increasingly central role in the organization's strategy and design, and the methods it is using to institutionalize this critical change.

Design – The chapter describes alternative models of sustainability evolution and change institutionalization, and then applies the concepts in those models to understand Gap, Inc.'s sustainability journey.

Findings – The models of sustainability evolution and change institutionalization provide different but complimentary views on the extent to which sustainability is embedded in Gap, Inc.'s organization. These models can be a useful tool for assessing progress and recommending actions to increase the institutionalization of sustainability strategies and initiatives.

Originality and value – The findings of this chapter will help senior executives with responsibility for sustainability implementation. In addition to providing indicators for assessment of progress, findings of sustainability's institutionalization should prove helpful in predicting achievement of sustainable effectiveness.

The impact of inflation on the trading of food retailers in North America shows itself in various ways: in store closures, in the rise of independent retailer strength, in polarisation of store sizes and in the targeting of marketing efforts. These are the major consequences of inflation which Richard Currie, speaking at the CIES annual executive congress last year, pinpointed. Although looking specifically at the North American scene, his paper has relevance to the European situation, especially in his references to the marked effect on inflation that even a small change in productivity may have.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how social responsibility initiatives can be integrated into different tiers of retailers’ private label brands (PLB) and introduces a conceptual model and opposing predictions building on research in social responsibility and evolutionary psychology. The empirical evidence from two studies suggests that retailers should consider the type of PLB (i.e. quality tier) in the introduction of social responsibility initiatives.

To investigate opposing predictions, the authors conducted two experiments with presence of social responsibility initiative and PLB quality tier as the factors. The authors present the results from 168 Canadian consumers focussing on two product categories.

The findings of two experiments are more consistent with an explanation based on resource synergy beliefs rather than costly signaling theory. Social responsibility initiatives enhanced consumer evaluations of high-quality PLBs, but hurt consumer evaluations of low-tier PLBs.

Retailers should differentiate the way they accommodate social responsibility initiatives based on the type of their PLBs. Specifically, the beneficial effect of social responsibility initiative only exist for high-tier PLBs. Introducing social responsibility initiatives may hurt preference for low-tier PLBs.

This paper is the first to propose two theoretical models that address how social responsibility initiatives can affect consumer evaluations of PLBs. The initial empirical evidence is more coherent with resource synergy beliefs explanation rather than costly signaling explanation. These results suggest that social responsibility initiatives have asymmetric effects for different tiers of retailers’ PLBs.

Although consumption of organic food (OF) shows promising trends in Canada, there is no clear understanding of the barriers that still prevent a larger demand for OF. The main objectives of this paper are to understand what, how, where, and why Canadian consumers buy OF by exploring consumers' motivations and decision‐making process, and digging into consumers' trust orientations with regards to OF.

In‐depth interviews are conducted and data collected are analyzed using content analysis.

Results indicate that Canadian typical organic product consumers have a defined purchase scheme in terms of retail stores selection and price, as well as values and trust orientations. They identify health, the environment, and support for local farmers as their primary motivators for organic consumption. In particular, health motivation is mainly based on avoidance from chemical residues, antibiotics, hormones, genetically modified organisms, and diseases. Results also show that distribution, certification, country of origin, and labeling are all related to consumers' level of trust when consuming OF.

Data collection was conducted in only one Canadian city and should be extended to other cities across the country.

This paper entails an exploration of consumer's decision‐making process and their underlying motivations and trust orientations but also an investigation of the marketing mix related to OF.