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The purpose of this research aims to critically understand the role of entrepreneurship and human resources (HR) in supporting sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) in supply chain (SC) of food retailers in Jordan, in order to provide a novel conceptual framework. Attempting to overcome challenges generated from unsustainable business performance such as seeking to reduce harmful environmental and social influences while taking into consideration of economic aspects, SOI has gained attention quickly since it brings transformations to products, processes, practices and behavioral patterns. There has been little theoretical and empirical understanding of how SOI in the Supply Chain Management (SCM) can offer a potential framework to link innovation orientation and sustainable orientation. Prior research has also had overlaps amongst the key themes used by most of the theoretical perspectives to understand SOI in food SC. This research also provides managerial recommendations concerning the applicability of SOI in food SC. The phenomena of SOI was explored and explained from four theoretical perspectives: network, entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability. The methodology of this research is qualitative. A systematic literature review was followed to critically evaluate previous research, which led to constructing an initial conceptual framework. A two-stage approach was applied. First stage, eight expert interviews of HR managers and academic researchers were conducted to refine the initial conceptual framework resulting in a proposed framework. Second stage, a multiple-case study, including 30 semi-structured interviews, 18 observations and secondary data from six case studies of retailers, was conducted in 2019. High- order key themes of the four perspectives (network, entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability) were examined in each case, drawing on common literature-based terminology. Cross-case analysis techniques were then used in order to refine the proposed framework and a final conceptual framework was constructed. The empirical work was conducted based on the views of various managers in food retailers in Jordan. The findings revealed that the interaction between the theoretical perspectives (namely network, entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability) is important, in order to holistically understand SOI in food SCM. The research identified three key stages of establishing, developing and implementing SOI which have important applicability in food SC. The research suggested that the focal actor, as a corporate entrepreneur, with the integration of the network perspective establishes SOI at the actor level, then develops SOI at their dyad level and later with their network level to help produce SOI. Finally, the focal actor implements SOI and efficiently practices it with the other actors in order to enhance innovation activities and sustainability performance in food SC. It was also found that HR plays an important role in SC of retailers as HR engage in SC practices and they create and engage in different strategies focused on sustainability. HR also plays an important role in motivating employees to achieve the goals. The contribution of this research to knowledge is theoretical and methodological contributions and managerial implications. The contributions to theory were provided to the SCM literature with a novel theoretical association, where SCM as a foundational perspective and the other four perspectives were incorporated to understand SOI as well as providing a holistic conceptual framework for SOI in food SC. The methodological contributions were provided, linking between data and theory, supporting an analytical generalization. The research provided empirical findings for the supply chain of retailers from the analysis of the actor, dyad and network levels. The research further developed validity, reliability and trustworthiness to enhance the research quality. The managerial implications were indicated for different level managers, particularly for focal actors in addition to their dyadic actors and across their network.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in food retailing has generated a considerable amount of attention in both the media and the business world throughout the 199Os, with a strong focus on Asian and Central and Eastern European countries. Among these countries, China is a key player and a nation that no international retailers can afford to ignore due to its population size of 1.2 billion and its rapid economic development. Food retailers from different parts of the world have been keen to use their modern retail concepts and technology to seek expansion opportunities in China. Consequently, two important questions emerge: What does the process of FDI in food retailing entail? Is the retail and distribution market in China easily entered? Regarding the first question, substantial research effort has been vested in this topic. However, a conceptual framework that incorporates the whole scope and complexity of the process is still lacking. For the second question, a prudent scrutiny reveals that foreign food retailers are confronted with a lot of complications due to the legacy of the previous command economy and the unique Chinese social and business structure. The thesis develops an analytical model in which critical variables, and their logical relationships, are used to analyse and explain the process of FDI of food retailers in the contemporary era, using China as the domain for the empirical work. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative approach using case studies with thirteen foreign food retailers in China. The research focuses on three main areas: long-term strategic objectives behind retail international expansion, market entry issues, and retail operational issues. Firstly, the long-term strategic objectives that underlie retailers’ undertaking of foreign direct investment are investigated. Evidence shows that the prevailing concept of reactive retail internationalisation and the tenet of psychic distance do not fully reflect the reality of retail internationalisation. Secondly, three issues related to market entry are explored. The first issue is the legal and regulatory infrastructures that foreign retailers face when entering China. The second issue is the selection of Chinese partners, managing partner relationships and the share of managerial control. The third issue is the technical and political procedures of site selection and store development. The empirical work reveals that the lack of a systematic and well-developed legal system complicates the process of foreign direct investment and having a Chinese partner who possesses the appropriate guanxi network alleviates the problem. Furthermore, the exercise of dominant control over operational and managerial issues is practised by the foreign retailers in their joint ventures. Significant conflicts between partners appear not to exist under such an arrangement. On the other hand, political procedures of site selection and store development are found to be onerous. In terms of technical procedures, respondents reported that the methods that are being used in developed countries are not entirely applicable in China. The third area on which the research focuses is operational issues that foreign food retailers confront in the host countries. These include supply chain management; adjustment and adaptation; and development of human resources. Findings suggest that there are two types of retail know-how: core and peripheral. No changes to core elements should be made in the overseas operation so that the uniqueness of the individual retailer is preserved. Adjustments, however, have to be made to peripheral elements in order to match particularities of local consumer demand. A learningoriented culture within a retail organisation is found to be an important underlying element that contributes significantly towards successful retail internationalisation. Taking a holistic perspective, the foreign direct investment behaviour in the retailing sector and the manufacturing sector, from which the prevailing foreign direct investment theories were developed, appear to be very different. The foreign direct investment behaviour of retailers seems to be better explained and understood within a framework that emphasises market power seeking, stresses the dynamics of different elements that constitute retail know-how, and underscores the notion of knowledge accumulation and utilisation.