Matthias Lehner

This paper explores the issue of private retail governance to deliver SCP. In particular it focuses on the role of private retail eco-brands to promote sustainability both upstream and downstream in the food supply chain. The analysis and discussion centers around the question whether private retail eco-brands are better fitted to introduce sustainability into the food supply-chain than 3rd party eco-labels. Our analysis of collected empirical evidence from European food retailers, with particular focus on Sweden, reveals that while development of private eco-brands appears to benefit the implementation of both supply chain sustainability and green market development, there are a number of challenges associated with development and use of private eco-brands. From a retailer’s perspective, these challenges are rooted in the complexity of global supply-chains that encounter liability risks and increased transaction costs. The analysis of our empirical findings suggests that retail brand will play a more dominant role in SCP in the future. However, we argue that the continuous value of third-party certification in supporting the implementation of SCP in the food supply chain should not be underestimated