Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the national brand manufacturer's ability from corporate social responsibility (CSR) innovation as a counterstrategy against the private label by a retailer. By constructing a model of manufacturer–retailer interaction, the paper attempts to analyze that the national brand manufacturer’s decision on the CSR innovation and the effect of such innovation on the retailer’s motivation of launching the private label. The results of the theoretical model in this paper could be applied by the actors in supply chains in making decision on CSR innovation and the launch of a new brand. Design/methodology/approach - The theoretical model in the paper describes a manufacturer–retailer interaction with the presence of the private label and CSR innovation on the national brand. Specifically, the manufacturer has option of innovating its products and makes them to be more socially responsible; in the meanwhile, the retailer has option of launching its private label. Moreover, there are heterogeneous consumers with respect to their preferences on the CSR feature. The altruistic consumers prefer the socially responsible product while the normal consumers are indifferent between the socially responsible and basic products. By predicting the expected profit, the two firms make decision over the supply chain. Findings - The authors find that the CSR innovation can indeed restrict the retailer’s incentive to launch the private label. Because of the presence of the altruistic consumers, the CSR innovation can help the national brand product to expand its market relative to the situation without the innovation. They demonstrate that the national brand manufacturer wishes to invest more in CSR innovation under non-linear pricing contract and the retailer is more likely to launch the private label. This is because that the non-linear pricing contract makes the two firms to concern more about their joint profit, causing the competition is less fierce. Originality/value - This paper explains that the CSR innovation in the national brand product can be an effective counterstrategy by the manufacturer to deter the launch of the private label, which has not been considered by the existing studies about national brand-private label competition. Moreover, this paper also shows that the CSR innovation may benefit both the national brand manufacturer and the retailer under some conditions. In addition, the results of the paper provide some insights to the national brand manufacturer when making decision on the CSR innovation and to the retailer when reacting the manufacturer’s CSR innovation.

中文翻译：

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企业社会责任创新是国家品牌制造商应对自有品牌的对策

目的-本文旨在通过企业社会责任（CSR）创新来研究国家品牌制造商的能力，以此作为零售商对付自有品牌的对策。通过构建制造商与零售商互动的模型，本文试图分析国家品牌制造商对CSR创新的决策以及这种创新对零售商推出自有品牌动机的影响。供应链中的参与者可以将本文理论模型的结果应用于决策企业社会责任创新和推出新品牌的过程中。设计/方法/方法-本文中的理论模型描述了制造商与零售商之间的互动，以及自有品牌的存在和国家品牌的CSR创新。具体来说，制造商可以选择创新产品，使其更具社会责任感；同时，零售商可以选择推出其自有品牌。此外，在他们对CSR功能的偏好方面，存在各种各样的消费者。利他主义的消费者更喜欢社会责任产品，而普通消费者则对社会责任产品和基本产品漠不关心。通过预测预期利润，两家公司在供应链上做出决策。调查结果-作者发现，企业社会责任创新确实可以限制零售商推出自有品牌的动机。由于无私的消费者的存在，企业社会责任创新可以帮助民族品牌产品相对于没有创新的情况扩展其市场。他们表明，国家品牌制造商希望根据非线性定价合同在CSR创新上投入更多，而零售商更可能推出自有品牌。这是因为非线性定价合同使两家公司更加关注他们的共同利润，从而导致竞争不那么激烈。原创性/价值-本文解释说，国家品牌产品中的CSR创新可能是制造商阻止私人品牌推出的有效策略，而有关国家品牌-私人品牌竞争的现有研究尚未考虑这一点。而且，本文还表明，在某些条件下，企业社会责任的创新可能使国家品牌制造商和零售商都受益。此外，