Private, civil, and public governance for sustainability in global supply chains

Abstract

Multinational firms frequently promote global sustainability by formulating private codes of conduct and/or engaging in standard-setting partnerships with other actors in their global supply chains. At the same time, these firms operate within national institutional contexts strongly influenced by public policy. Therefore, multinational firms generate governance systems within a broader global framework of norms and rules. In this paper, we develop a multilevel framework that considers different governance systems - namely private, civil, and public governance – and, for each system, the interplay between formal and informal mechanisms. Leveraging the framework, we shed light on how multinational firms – as institutional entrepreneurs - may promote sustainability along their global supply chains both in liberal market economies and coordinated market economies.