12. Sustainability Governance of Global Supply Chains: A Systematic Literature Review with Particular Reference to Private Regulation

An essential contribution to sustainable development is the integration of environmentally and socially responsible practices into globalised economic systems, including highly branched supply chains spread across developed and developing countries. Due to the complexity of global production networks, a further increase of social and environmental risks is to be expected. To mitigate these risks, existing sustainability governance instruments need to be analysed, evaluated and further developed; new instruments need to be generated against the background of experience and conclusions from previous initiatives. This chapter presents a systematic literature review conducted on behalf of GIZ, aiming to accumulate and expand knowledge on major governance mechanisms for sustainability in global supply chains (Fischer and Jentsch, Ergebnisse der Studie “Einflussmechanismen für Nachhaltigkeit in globalen Lieferketten”, working paper no. 29. Institut für Technologie und Arbeit e.V., Kaiserslautern, 2016). The chapter elaborates especially on private regulation as one of the governance instruments, which is currently gaining greater importance in sustainability related public, scientific and political discourse. The study findings were exemplified and interpreted taking into consideration the aspects of effectivity and legitimacy of private standards as well as the key factors of influence on their design, application and impact.