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This paper investigates how chain members collaborate to ensure the sustainability of supply chains through the social capital perspective.

Following a case study design, three social capital mechanisms – reach, richness and receptivity – were used as a lens with two eco-innovative food companies and their respective supply chains in Southern Brazil. Data consisted of interviews and other sources of evidence obtained from multiple stakeholders.

Results highlight the importance of a managerial orientation for sustainability and that sustainable chains presuppose a network that is closely linked and with great affinity. Not only does the management of operations improve the green performance of companies for environmental benchmarking but it also expands to include the supply chain. Social capital mechanisms can encourage partners to develop strategic initiatives for sustainability, especially if managers share key drivers for adopting eco-innovations and overall chain sustainability.

The paper contributes to research on collaboration within sustainable supply chain management. Empirical data were gathered from different stakeholders in two food chains in a developing country. Through the lens of social capital mechanisms, the paper shows how different types of companies collaborate in their supply chain for sustainability.

This editorial article introduces and analyzes a variety of new organizational forms that rapidly emerged in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe in the latest two decades. Among the others, these include: business model partnerships, business platforms, incubators and hubs, public–private partnerships, agribusiness companies' foundations and spin-offs, short supply chains, community-supported agriculture and other community self-organizing experiences. Building upon the recent literature and the five selected papers in this special issue, the authors discuss what is novel in these organizations and why, when and how they emerge and evolve over time.

The authors identify three elements that, when considered together, explain and predict the emergence and evolution of these new organizational forms: institutions, strategies and learning processes.

The authors demonstrate that societal actors seeking to (re)design these new organizational forms need to consider these three elements to combine the pursuit of their interests of their own constituencies with the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Taking stock from the literature, the authors invite future research on new organizational forms to take explicitly the pursuit of the SDGs into consideration; to build upon a process ontology; and to deeply reflect on our positionality of scientists studying and sometimes engaging in these organizations.

This paper aims to investigate how the extant literature on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) empirically explores the perspective of emerging economy suppliers operating in global supply chains (GSCs). It thereby explains the role of emerging economy suppliers in determining the success of SSCM.

A systematic literature review of 41 empirical papers (published between 2007 and 2021) was conducted, involving both descriptive and thematic analyses.

The findings demonstrate that emerging economy suppliers have a key role in SSCM, given their use of positive feedback loops to proactively create remedies to surpass barriers using their collaboration mechanisms, and exploit authentic sustainability outcomes as reinforcements to drive further sustainability initiatives. The authors also demonstrate that suppliers are particularly focused on the cultural and institutional dimensions of sustainability. Finally, the authors provide an explanatory analytical framework to reduce the institutional distance between buyers and their global suppliers.

This review identifies avenues for future research on the role of emerging economy suppliers in SSCM.

Recognising remedies to surpass barriers and reinforcements to drive new actions can aid SSCM in GSCs and improve understanding between buyers and suppliers.

The valorisation of cultural and institutional issues can lead to more responsible supplier interactions and improved sustainability outcomes in emerging economies.

This review only analyses the viewpoint of emerging economy suppliers, whereas prior SSCM reviews have focused on the buyer perspective. Thus, the authors reduce supplier invisibility and institutional distance between GSC participants.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how internal and external factors can influence on the adoption of eco-innovation by food companies. Although innovation and sustainability are relevant concepts, they are not being considered together in the literature. Hereof, eco-innovation encloses both approaches.

A survey with 581 Brazilian companies was conducted. The structure of influential internal and external factors was analysed by an exploratory factor analysis, and the relations between groups of variables identified in the study were verified through regression analysis. Environmental capability, environmental managerial concern and human resources were internal factors investigated in this study, and regulatory and normative pressures, cooperation and government support were the external factors.

Human resources was the most important internal factor, followed by environmental managerial concern and environmental capability. Collaboration was the most important external factor, followed by normative pressures and environmental regulations, while government support was seen as deficient. Companies stated that these factors were important to adopt environmental practices and increase performance.

Understanding why food companies adopt eco-innovation will help policy makers to develop specific actions to promote eco-innovations. For managers, it can be a relevant tool to identify which factors to invest, if the company is eco-strategizing. Hiring committed staff, top management green consciousness and collaboration with key stakeholders can boost sustainability.

This study brings an innovative approach with robust theoretical support in a comprehensive conceptual model, gathering and investigating all relevant internal and external factors in the literature. Those factors are used in an integrated way in the final model for the empirical investigation, while the literature generally emphasizes only external factors.