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The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how a focal firm can manage sustainability in its lower-tier suppliers which lie beyond the firm’s visible horizon.

This paper presents a new approach to managing sustainability in multi-tier supply chains with an illustrative case study that analyzes how electronic equipment firms make efforts to verify that they are not using conflict minerals.

The nexus supplier (smelters in the electronics supply chain) plays a relevant role in increasing visibility and tracing the source of minerals, thus guaranteeing sustainability upstream in the supply chain.

The paper is based on a specific supply chain (i.e. electronics supply chain) and therefore its conclusions might be only partially generalized to other sectors.

Firms in complex supply chains need to make efforts to identify and manage nexus suppliers to extend sustainability upstream in the supply chain, especially beyond their visible horizon.

The paper focuses on management of sustainability in the invisible zone of the supply chain, which has been neglected in previous literature and is increasingly important to the managerial world in an economy with a growing number of global supply chains.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate when and how to best use social network analysis (SNA) in the supply chain management (SCM) discipline. In doing so, the study identifies SCM phenomena that have been examined from a social network perspective (SNA approach) in the SCM literature and highlights additional SCM phenomena that would be worth investigating using social network research. Then, the study critically investigates the application of SNA as a methodology (SNA method), with the goal of assessing and mitigating methodological risks in future studies.

This study carries out a systematic literature review of articles published in 11 top-tier SCM journals over a 20-year period.

First, while social network research has gained momentum especially since 2010, scholars are not yet entirely aware of the many possibilities the SNA approach offers to the SCM field. Second, expanded possibilities also hold for the development of SNA as a method.

The paper guides future SCM research by investigating when SNA is the right approach to use and how SNA as a method should be performed. Theoretically richer and practically more relevant research should result.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how buying firms manage their lower tier sustainability management (LTSM) in their supply networks and what contextual factors influence the choice of approaches. As most of the environmental and social burden is caused in lower tiers, the authors use the iceberg analogy.

Findings from 12 case studies and 53 interviews, publicly available and internal firm data are presented. In an abductive research approach, transaction cost economics (TCE) conceptually guides the analytical iteration processes between theory and data.

This study provides eight LTSM approaches grouped into three categories: direct (holistic, product-, region-, and event-specific) indirect (multiplier-, alliance- and compliance-based) and neglect (tier-1-based). Focal firms choose between these approaches depending on the strength of observed contextual factors (stakeholder salience, structural supply network complexity, product and industry salience, past supply network incidents, socio-economic and cultural distance and lower tier supplier dependency), leading to perceived sustainability risk (PSR).

By depicting TCE’s theoretical boundaries in predicting LTSM governance modes, the theory is elevated to the supply network level of analysis. Future research should investigate LTSM at the purchasing category level of analysis to compare and contrast PSR profiles for different purchase tasks and to validate and extend the framework.

This study serves as a blueprint for the development of firms’ LTSM capabilities that suit their unique PSR profiles. It offers knowledge regarding what factors influence these profiles and presents a model that links the effectiveness of different LTSM approaches to resource intensity.

This study extends the application of TCE and adds empirically to the literature on multi-tier and sustainable supply chain management.

While a global supply network can provide stability to address localized interruptions, however, the recent global pandemic materialized many concerns and risks associated with the global supply network. Considering the short-term and long-term effects of changes in the global supply chain, this research explores how the location characteristics of the firms across the supply chain affect their performance.

Using the mined data from five tiers of the backward supply chain of medical equipment, the authors constructed a large supply chain network consisting of close to 160,000 dyadic connections. The authors used various network centrality and clustering algorithms to measure the influence of each firm across the supply chain structure. Furthermore, the authors ran a scenario to simulate the elimination of Chinese firms from the global supply chain and recalculated all centralities. Regression analysis was used to measure the effect of supply chain network centralities on firms' performance across the supply chain with and without Chinese firms.

The complexity of global purchasing across global tiers of supply networks had been recognized as a source of uncertainty before the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic was the black swan that the medical supply chain professionals had noted its threat in recent years. While a global supply network can provide stability to address localized interruptions, however, the recent global pandemic materialized many concerns and risks associated with the global supply network. Considering the short-term and long-term effects of changes in the global supply chain, this research explores how the location characteristics of the firms across the supply chain affect their performance.

This research has three main implications. First, it provides a benchmark for manufacturing firms and distributors around the world operating in the post-COVID-19 business environment to better understand the relationship of their supply chain strategy and firms' financial performance. Second, investors and asset managers can evaluate their portfolios in light of the changing relationship as a result of possible protectionism initiatives. Finally, policymakers can apply the research methodology of this work in various industries while reevaluating post-COVID-19 international relations and trades policies at the firm, industry and country levels.

Policymakers working on global connection can utilize the outcome of this research to explore the consequences of local and global policies on trade patterns, organizational performance as well as individuals' movements. Another implication of this study for policymakers is that it provides a powerful simulation and analytical tool to launch or combat the global ruptures, including trade wars and natural disasters stemming from natural events (e.g. climate change) and human-made events (e.g. wars, supply-chain interruptions, sanctions).

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first large-scale empirical study that measures the effect of supply chain structure across multiple (five) tiers of the global supply chain on firms' performance. The present study uses the original supply chain network data mined by the authors from financial publications.

Despite the systemic nature of circular economy (CE), theorisation that draws from a supply network perspective is only incipient. Moreover, the operations and supply chain management (OSCM) field has engaged in little dialogue with circularity. This study explores social network analysis (SNA) to depict how the shift from linear to circular not only leads to higher rates of resource economy, repair and recycle but also reshapes governance dynamics and network structure of supply networks.

The study departs from a systematic review of the literature and draws from core concepts in OSCM, CE and SNA to offer theoretical propositions that articulate how social network metrics can depict supply network circularity. The framework is illustrated with examples from fashion and electronics industries.

Four theoretical propositions enlighten how betweenness centrality, eigenvector centrality and network density can explain the shift from linear to circular supply networks across the three CE strategies of narrowing, slowing and closing.

The combination of biomimicry, CE, the push–pull dichotomy and social network metrics offer a theory-driven framework for supply network circularity.

The principal research objective entails examining the nexus between green supplier selection and green performance while scrutinizing the moderating role of governance mechanisms, specifically process control and outcome control, in shaping this association.

To assess our hypotheses, this study obtained data from Chinese manufacturing sectors and utilized regression analysis on a dataset consisting of 295 samples.

This study enriches the sustainable supply chain management literature by emphasizing the influence of green supplier selection on a firm’s green performance and the moderating effects of outcome and process control, offering practical insights for industry professionals.

This study enriches the sustainable supply chain management literature by emphasizing the influence of supplier selection on a firm’s environmental performance and the moderating effects of outcome and process control, offering practical insights for industry professionals.

While the literature on multitier supply chain management traditionally assumes that first-tier suppliers belong to the visible proportion of the supply base, intermediaries might limit focal firms' visible horizon already at this stage. High power asymmetries promoting centrality and complexity in the supply network are seen as a particular root cause that limits the impact of governance mechanisms for sustainability. To map the space for governance mechanisms in a network-sensitive context more comprehensively, the study analyzes supply network characteristics from a power perspective.

This research is conceptual. To better understand power imbalances and mutual dependencies from network centrality and complexity, network configurations were constructed drawing on resource dependence theory. These configurations allow deducing the impact of (non-)mediated governance mechanisms for a sustainable development in the supply network. An agenda to stimulate future empirical and model-based research is accordingly presented.

The research shows that those networks with densely interconnected first-tier suppliers promote network centrality and complexity, leading to an inverted U-shape relationship between the focal firm's exertion of coercive power and the sustainability performance in the supply network. The findings allow a more comprehensive theoretical grounding for mapping governance approaches in a network-sensitive context and provide insights on how to avoid negative effects from power asymmetries.

The findings suggest the need for accompanying, indirect governance mechanisms already at the stage of first-tier suppliers based on non-mediated forms of power, such as referent power, also promoting disintermediation. Purchasing companies may also consider using digital platform technologies that foster disintermediation, such as blockchain technology.

By studying intermediaries from a power and network perspective, the conceptualization adds to the discussion on governance in multitier sustainable supply chain networks in various industries. Furthermore, it contributes to the increasing efforts of middle-range theorizing in logistics and supply chain management. The results partially challenge previous assumptions on the moderating role of specific network characteristics.

The study examines the intricate interplay between supplier relationship management (SRM), procurement performance, supply chain responsiveness (SCR) and competitive advantage. Additionally, the study examines the mediating role of procurement performance and SCR in the link between SRM and competitive advantage.

A research model grounded in the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory (DCT) was developed and tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Data were obtained from 122 firms in Ghana.

The study revealed that SRM has a positive and significant effect on procurement performance, SCR and competitive advantage. Additionally, SCR has a positive and significant effect on competitive advantage; however, procurement performance has a negative and insignificant effect on competitive advantage. It was also revealed that SCR partially mediates the relationship between SRM and competitive advantage but fully mediates the relationship between procurement performance and competitive advantage. Also, it was also revealed that procurement performance does not mediate the relationship between SRM and competitive advantage.

The study contributes to literature by highlighting the mediating role of SCR in influencing the effect of SRM and procurement performance on competitive advantage.

Practically, the study findings highlight the need for firms to seek, build and manage meaningful relationships with their suppliers in order to enhance their competency and capability to influence their competitive position in the marketplace.

To the best of the researchers' knowledge, no prior study has examined the effect of SRM on procurement performance and SCR. Additionally, no previous study has examined the mediating role of procurement performance and SCR on the link between SRM and competitive advantage.

This study investigates how a firm's structural embeddedness, the structural position in a supply network that consists of major customers, influences the acquisition of supplier trade credit. Specifically, this study examines how network interconnectedness, network integration and network independence of a firm affect its ability to acquire supplier trade credit.

This study utilizes financial data from Compustat to build a longitudinal dataset of manufacturing firms from 1998 to 2013. Customer segment disclosure data are used to construct firm-level network variables. A fixed effect regression approach is used for estimation.

The study results show that network interconnectedness is negatively associated with supplier trade credit, while network integration is positively associated with supplier trade credit. Network independence does not influence the extent of supplier trade credit. The post hoc analysis shows that the effects of the hypothesized factors vary under different product categories and credit ratings.

This study broadens the supply chain finance literature by showing how a firm's embedded network structural position can influence its ability to obtain supplier trade credit.

This study was steered to establish how buyer–supplier collaboration's commitment attributes serve as an antecedent for procurement performance in large manufacturing entities in Tanzania.

A parallel, concurrent, mixed method was used in the study. Quantitatively, 52 firms were surveyed from Temeke Municipality, Tanzania, using questionnaire that specified 1 procurement manager and 1 store manager from those firms, totaling a sample size of 104 respondents. Qualitatively, expressive opinions to supplement the numeric data were gathered from supply chain managers using the saturation principle. Explanatory design analyzed the existing cause–effect relationship, and the null hypotheses were tested using binary logistic regression at p values < 0.05 and ExpB > 1.

Fidelity and enthusiasm to suggest improvements to suppliers and the duration of the collaboration antecede the procurement performance of the manufacturing firms in Tanzania, while devotion to invest resources and initiatives on joint problem solving have no significant impact.

The causality between buyer–supplier collaboration and procurement performance has been revealed. Since there might be third party logistics in collaborations, future research should center on their moderating effect.

A framework has been developed for liberating procurement performance in the context of large manufacturing firms in Tanzania.

Based on Transaction Cost Economics and Resource Dependency Theories, the study revealed the root cause of procurement performance in the context of Tanzanian manufacturing firms, while also considering commitment to buyer–supplier collaboration as a prerequisit for the commendable target.