Sustainable development and supply chain coordination: The impact of corporate social responsibility rules in the European Union food industry

Abstract Corporate social responsibility has become a strategic asset for food firms to demonstrate their good environmental conduct. The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of the implementation of corporate social responsibility activities on the reorganization of vertical relationships within food supply chains. Applying content analysis techniques to the Global Reporting Initiative reports, we collected qualitative data on investments in environmentally friendly options, the adoption of standards, stakeholder engagement, information searches, impact‐monitoring activities, and chain coordination to transform it into quali‐quantitative data. We find that the variables affecting chain coordination relate to the presence of sourcing standards, effort in discussing with chain partners ways to prevent and manage chain environmental impacts, and costs related to stakeholder feedback collection. The results of the analysis confirm corporate social responsibility as a strategic tool to improve supply chain relationships through an augmented vertical coordination and to integrate environmental policy.