Purpose

Supply chain governance constitutes the rules, structures and institutions that guide supply chains toward various objectives, including environmental sustainability. Previous studies have provided insight into the relationship between governance and sustainability but have overlooked two crucial dimensions: power dynamics and the influence of outside actors. This paper aims to address these two gaps by measuring differential power (i.e. power asymmetries) among actors across the supply chain, including external actors.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper quantifies power dynamics across the entire chain through a structured survey in which supply chain participants rank their peer’s ability to affect environmental and social outcomes. This paper tests this approach by surveying 200 industry professionals (e.g. feedlot owners, retailers) and external actors (e.g. NGOs) in the US beef sector.

Findings

Respondents ranked the most powerful actors as follows: feedlot owners; processing plant owners; and regulatory agencies. Results also revealed that trade associations, retailers and cow–calf producers and ranchers perceive a sense of powerlessness. This study reveals multiple power nodes and confirms a shift in the power structure depending on which indicator respondents considered (e.g. environmental impacts vs employee safety). This study concludes that the buyer–producer dichotomy often used to assess supply chain governance fails to capture the complex dynamics among actors within supply chains.

Originality/value

This study demonstrates a novel approach to measure perceptions of power in supply chains. This method enables researchers to map networks of power across entire supply chains, including internal and external actors, to advance understanding of supply chain governance dynamics. Previous studies have misidentified who governs environmental outcomes in supply chains, and NGOs have overestimated the power of consumers and retailers to influence producers.

中文翻译：

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供应链中的权力不对称及其对环境治理的影响：对牛肉行业的研究

目的

供应链治理构成了指导供应链实现各种目标（包括环境可持续性）的规则、结构和制度。以前的研究提供了对治理与可持续性之间关系的洞察，但忽视了两个关键方面：权力动态和外部参与者的影响。本文旨在通过测量供应链中参与者（包括外部参与者）之间的差异权力（即权力不对称）来解决这两个差距。

设计/方法/途径

本文通过一项结构化调查量化了整个供应链中的权力动态，供应链参与者在调查中对其同行影响环境和社会结果的能力进行排名。本文通过调查美国牛肉行业的 200 名行业专业人士（例如饲养场所有者、零售商）和外部参与者（例如非政府组织）来测试这种方法。

发现

受访者对最具影响力的行为者进行了如下排名：饲养场所有者；加工厂主；和监管机构。结果还显示，贸易协会、零售商和牛犊生产商和牧场主感到无能为力。这项研究揭示了多个权力节点，并证实了权力结构的转变，这取决于受访者考虑的指标（例如环境影响与员工安全）。本研究得出结论，通常用于评估供应链治理的买方-生产者二分法无法捕捉供应链中参与者之间的复杂动态。

原创性/价值

本研究展示了一种衡量供应链中权力感知的新方法。这种方法使研究人员能够绘制整个供应链（包括内部和外部参与者）的权力网络，以促进对供应链治理动态的理解。以前的研究错误地确定了谁在管理供应链中的环境结果，非政府组织高估了消费者和零售商影响生产者的力量。