This study contributes to the broad research field on corporate
responsibility in the supply chain by analyzing the interplay between
two increasingly prominent market tools e third-party
certification and eco-branding. In particular, this paper seeks to
explain how private eco-branding allows food retailers to pursue
the role they have often been ascribed - becoming active agents in
mainstreaming the market for the sustainability certified products.
Our findings suggest that private eco-branding can be viewed as a
complementary institutional arrangement that motivates and enables
food retailers to proactively address sustainability issues both
upstream and downstream in the supply chain.
From the ‘upstream’ perspective, private eco-branding in comparison
to third-party certification contributes to better market
efficiency in greening the supply chain and enhances retail power
to influence suppliers to green their products and operations (Girod
and Michael, 2003; Burch and Lawrence, 2005). Private ecobranding
further incentivizes food retailers to drive product sustainability
improvements (Orsato, 2009; De Marchi, Di Maria et al.,
2013) beyond the eco-labelling requirements. It also reinforces the
perceived retailer's responsibility to ensure that sustainability requirements
are met at different stages in the supply chain. From the
‘downstream’ perspective, private eco-brands address a number of
vital issues which third-party certification schemes fail to address,
such as better market orientation and enhanced availability of
sustainable products. Our findings confirm that private eco-brands
can do what Klintman and Bostrom (2012 € : p. 124) argued thirdparty
eco-labels are bad at e to “become more in line with the
reflective nature of green, political consumers”.
To account for the limitations of this study, a number of directions
for future research can be outlined. These include: