IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/reggov/v15y2021i4p1248-1269.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can private governance boost public policy? Insights from public–private governance interactions in the fisheries and electricity sectors

Author

Listed:
  • Zdravka Tzankova

Abstract

Based on the inductive analysis of two parallel cases of private environmental governance – private, market‐driven fisheries governance and private, market‐driven governance for electricity decarbonization – this paper uncovers a trigger for positive public policy spillovers from private environmental governance. It identifies circumstances that prompt groups of business actors working as private regulators to also take on a role as public policy advocates and supporters, revealing a potential for private governance initiatives that are targeted at a particular environmental problem to serve as a bolster for the public regulatory governance of that problem as well. Both private governance cases at the basis of this analysis feature groups of business actors seeking to meet voluntary sustainability goals through the tools of private governance (specifically, through flexing buyer power and private authority in an effort to reform environmentally problematic practices among particular groups of suppliers). In both cases, the business's inability to attain private sustainability goals though private governance means alone has given rise to business demand for facilitative public environmental policy and regulation. The analysis presented in this paper thus points to the occurrence of a particular and intriguing pattern of complementarity between private authority and public policy – one where public policy is called on to fill gaps left by private environmental governance and authority. And it identifies key conditions for such private‐governance‐driven recentering of public policy to occur, namely the presence of private supply chain greening goals and commitments that are economically, reputationally, and/or competitively critical for businesses to attain, combined with shortfalls in the capacity of businesses' private authority to bring about such attainment. The two case analysis further suggests the importance of ENGOs in identifying and activating some of the opportunities for leveraging shortfalls in private environmental governance to the advantage of public environmental policy and regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:15:y:2021:i:4:p:1248-1269
    DOI: 10.1111/rego.12317
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12317
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/rego.12317?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Thomas P. Lyon & Magali Delmas & John W. Maxwell & Pratima Bansal & Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline & Patricia Crifo & Rodophe Durand & Jean-Pascal Gond & Andrew King & Michael Lenox & Michael Toffel & Da, 2018. "CSR Needs CPR: Corporate Sustainability and Politics," Post-Print halshs-01846042, HAL.
    3. Jason Konefal & Michael Mascarenhas & Maki Hatanaka, 2005. "Governance in the Global Agro-food System: Backlighting the Role of Transnational Supermarket Chains," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 22(3), pages 291-302, September.
    4. Jennifer Jacquet & Daniel Pauly & David Ainley & Sidney Holt & Paul Dayton & Jeremy Jackson, 2010. "Seafood stewardship in crisis," Nature, Nature, vol. 467(7311), pages 28-29, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hamish van der Ven & David Barmes, 2023. "The uneasy marriage of private standards and public policies for sustainable commodity governance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5161-5173, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Helen Packer & Wilf Swartz & Yoshitaka Ota & Megan Bailey, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Practices of the Largest Seafood Suppliers in the Wild Capture Fisheries Sector: From Vision to Action," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-24, April.
    2. Olivier Boiral & Marie‐Christine Brotherton & Léo Rivaud & David Talbot, 2022. "Comparing the uncomparable? An investigation of car manufacturers' climate performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 2213-2229, July.
    3. Amy Glasmeier, 2007. "Book Reviews," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(6), pages 867-870.
    4. Yokessa, Maïmouna & Marette, Stéphan, 2019. "A Review of Eco-labels and their Economic Impact," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 13(1-2), pages 119-163, April.
    5. Sibylle Bui & Ionara Costa & Olivier De Schutter & Tom Dedeurwaerdere & Marek Hudon & Marlene Feyereisen, 2019. "Systemic ethics and inclusive governance: two key prerequisites for sustainability transitions of agri-food systems," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(2), pages 277-288, June.
    6. Asche, Frank & Larsen, Thomas A. & Smith, Martin D. & Sogn-Grundvåg, Geir & Young, James A., 2015. "Pricing of eco-labels with retailer heterogeneity," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 82-93.
    7. Olson, Julia & Clay, Patricia M. & Pinto da Silva, Patricia, 2014. "Putting the seafood in sustainable food systems," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 104-111.
    8. Chakori, Sabrina & Aziz, Ammar Abdul & Smith, Carl & Dargusch, Paul, 2021. "Untangling the underlying drivers of the use of single-use food packaging," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    9. Ajay Kumar & Jyotirani Gupta & Niladri Das, 2022. "Revisiting the influence of corporate sustainability practices on corporate financial performance: An evidence from the global energy sector," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3231-3253, November.
    10. 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).
    11. Hollis A. Skaife & Timothy Werner, 2020. "Changes in Firms’ Political Investment Opportunities, Managerial Accountability, and Reputational Risk," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 239-263, May.
    12. Jennifer Jacquet & David Frank & Christopher Schlottmann, 2013. "Asymmetrical Contributions to the Tragedy of the Commons and Some Implications for Conservation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-13, March.
    13. Joshua Lohnes & Bradley Wilson, 2018. "Bailing out the food banks? Hunger relief, food waste, and crisis in Central Appalachia," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(2), pages 350-369, March.
    14. Petr Blizkovsky & Vincent Berendes, 2017. "Economics Of Fairness Within The Food Supply Chain In Context Of The Eu," APSTRACT: Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce, AGRIMBA, vol. 10(4-5), April.
    15. Philippe Mahenc, 2017. "Honest versus Misleading Certification," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 454-483, June.
    16. Sara D. Elder, 2019. "The impact of supermarket supply chain governance on smallholder farmer cooperatives: the case of Walmart in Nicaragua," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(2), pages 213-224, June.
    17. Frank Wijen & Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2019. "Controversy Over Voluntary Environmental Standards: A Socioeconomic Analysis of the Marine Stewardship Council," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-02071504, HAL.
    18. Kelly D. Martin & Stasha Burpee, 2022. "Marketing as problem solver: in defense of social responsibility," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 12(1), pages 44-51, June.
    19. Selden, Rebecca L. & Valencia, Sarah R. & Larsen, Ashley E. & Cornejo-Donoso, Jorge & Wasserman, Amanda A., 2016. "Evaluating seafood eco-labeling as a mechanism to reduce collateral impacts of fisheries in an ecosystem-based fisheries management context," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 102-115.
    20. Lu, Yifan & Yamazaki, Satoshi, 2023. "Antarctic Sanctuary: Behavioural Impact of International Marine Protected Areas," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335483, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:15:y:2021:i:4:p:1248-1269. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1748-5991 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.