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Gatekeeper power: understanding the influence of lead firms over transnational sustainability standards

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  • Hamish van der Ven

Abstract

Do retailers and supermarkets hold power over third-party transnational sustainability standards? If so, what is the nature of their power, when and how do they use it and to what ends? Using the counterintuitive case of Walmart’s efforts to improve the Best Aquaculture Practices standard for sustainable aquaculture, I develop a conceptualization of business power that flows from the position of retailers and supermarkets as lead firms within buyer-driven global value chains (GVCs). This position affords them considerable leverage over transnational sustainability standards (TSS) through their ability to act as ‘gatekeepers’ to their networks of suppliers, thereby controlling the degree to which sustainability standards gain market uptake. However, this power can be constrained or redirected by value chain and sector-specific conditions that may shift the balance of power towards other actors in a production network. As a result, lead firms may sometimes counterintuitively advocate for TSS that are more inclusive, independent and demanding. This article brings together the literatures on GVCs, global production networks, transnational governance and business power in global governance to offer an initial framework for theorizing power dynamics between multinational corporations and the transnational standard setters that seek to govern them.

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  • Hamish van der Ven, 2018. "Gatekeeper power: understanding the influence of lead firms over transnational sustainability standards," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5), pages 624-646, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rripxx:v:25:y:2018:i:5:p:624-646
    DOI: 10.1080/09692290.2018.1490329
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    Cited by:

    1. Janina Grabs, 2023. "A theory of credible cross‐temporal corporate commitments as goal‐based private sustainability governance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5146-5160, December.
    2. Zdravka Tzankova, 2021. "Can private governance boost public policy? Insights from public–private governance interactions in the fisheries and electricity sectors," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(4), pages 1248-1269, October.
    3. Sun, Yixian & van der Ven, Hamish, 2020. "Swimming in their own direction: Explaining domestic variation in homegrown sustainability governance for aquaculture in Asia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    4. Janina Grabs & Sophia Louise Carodenuto, 2021. "Traders as sustainability governance actors in global food supply chains: A research agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 1314-1332, February.
    5. Macdonald, Kate, 2020. "Private sustainability standards as tools for empowering southern pro-regulatory coalitions? Collaboration, conflict and the pursuit of sustainable palm oil," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    6. Simon L. Bager & Eric F. Lambin, 2020. "Sustainability strategies by companies in the global coffee sector," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3555-3570, December.
    7. Imbrogiano, Jean-Pierre & Steiner, Bodo & Mori Junior, Renzo & Sturman, Kathryn, 2023. "What enables metals ‘being’ ‘responsible’? An exploratory study on the enabling of organizational identity claims through a new sustainability standard," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).

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