Soybean supply chain management and sustainability: A systematic literature review

As a globally consumed agricultural product, soybeans have long been one of the most important commodities in the current international market. In this regard, the governance of the global soybean supply chain has become one of the central themes in both industry and academia. However, existing scholarly works focusing on sustainability issues and mechanisms for better governance in the soybean chain are rare. Moreover, the relationship among soybean supply chain governance mechanisms remains unclear. In this study, we conducted a systematic review of the existing literature to identify key themes or topics and to develop a conceptual framework to guide future research. Based on our inclusion criteria and by considering the Scopus database, we identified and reviewed 55 articles published between 2000 and 2019. In our analysis, four themes were identified in soybean supply chain management: drivers (e.g., land-use conflict), global value chain governance (e.g., REDD+), consequences (e.g., reduced CO2 emissions) and potential barriers (e.g., low market demand). Finally, a conceptual model was proposed that elaborates the linkage of the themes, and a research agenda was proposed to direct studies in the future.