‘Strategic sustainable development: The role of intermediaries in managing the sustainability compliance of a multi‐tier crop agri‐food supply chain. A developing economy perspective’

This qualitative case study investigation highlights deeply entrenched sustainability challenges within a multi‐tier supply chain of a developing country's crop agri‐food sector. Focusing on the rice supply chain, the study reveals how Agri Processing Company Limited (APCL), operating as a first‐tier intermediary, effectively launched and managed different levels of intermediaries through ‘multi‐actor’ and ‘multi‐level’ management approaches to extend sustainability upstream in the rice supply chain, especially in the lower‐tiers previously considered ‘commodities with no value’. Social networking and progressive farmers played the inclusive roles of change agents in bringing all the stakeholders of a traditional and fragmented supply chain into a coordinated platform. The bottom‐up strategic management approach of APCL gained the trust of local stakeholders and buying firms, resulting in a sustainable business strategy. Increased collaboration at different levels of farming communities led to a transformed methodology for sustainable development through intermediaries. The transformed business structure and mediated governance of ‘multi actors’ supply chains revamped socio‐ecological outcomes for the lower‐tiers and improved local living conditions through economic fairness and equal opportunities. This transformation contributed to significant advances in Pakistan's rice industry towards sustainable development.