ABSTRACT The Indian leather sector, ranked second to China in terms of employment and exports, encounters considerable sustainability concerns. This study examines the function of intermediaries in promoting environmental and social sustainability throughout the leather industry's supply chain. We used a two‐phase approach; in the first phase, we applied a qualitative, case study‐based methodology with 15 respondents from Kanpur, Chennai, and Kolkata. We aimed to ascertain the performance metrics of intermediaries via thematic analysis. In the second phase, we employed the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize these parameters. Broadly, the findings reveal that intermediaries facilitate environmental compliance, ethical sourcing, market access, capacity building, and financial inclusion for MSMEs, positioning them as strategic agents of sustainable transformation rather than mere transactional entities. The strategic significance of intermediaries has been promoted through the integration of transaction cost theory and cluster theory. The study proposes a novel performance measurement framework for intermediaries, contributing to limited literature in this domain. It emphasizes the need for robust intermediary institutions and targeted public‐private investments to strengthen cluster development and enhance global competitiveness.
Gupta et al. (Tue,) studied this question.