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Drawing upon the theory of the resource-based view, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among relational resources, innovation capability and firm performance in the third-party logistics (3PL) industry.

Based on data collected from 203 3PL providers in China, this study adopts the approach of structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized relationships among relational resources, innovation capability and firm performance.

The results of this research confirm that relational resources have a positive effect on firm performance. However, the effect is not direct, but realized through the mediation of innovation capability. This study indicates that relational resources are important for 3PL providers to achieve superior performance, and innovation capability plays a mediating role between relational resources and firm performance.

The main contributions of this paper to the literature are twofold. First, it extends the extant research by highlighting the mediating mechanism of innovation capability in relational resources’ influence on firm performance. Second, it advances the existing perspectives on 3PL firms in the Chinese context and this sheds light on logistics research on emerging markets.

This study investigates the relationships between environmental performance feedback and green supply chain management (GSCM). It explores how environmental performance above or below aspirations affects the implementation of GSCM practices (specifically sustainable production [SP] and sustainable sourcing [SS]) through the lens of the behavioral theory of the firm (BTOF), which has received scant attention in the operations management literature.

The study used data from the sixth round of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS). It employed hierarchical linear regression to test the proposed hypotheses. Moreover, the study tested an alternate model to rule out the possible role of financial performance aspirations in explaining the implementation of SP and SS.

The results indicate that organizations determine their efforts put into the two GSCM practices according to environmental performance feedback: the greater the aspiration–environmental performance discrepancy, the stronger the efforts put into implementing GSCM practices.

This study contributes to the GSCM literature by revealing the impact of environmental performance aspirations on the implementation of GSCM practices through the lens of the BTOF. It also extends the BTOF by applying it in the GSCM context and indicating that performance feedback is based on environmental performance instead of financial performance in this specific context.

Considering the last-mile delivery service supply chain as a social-ecological system rather than just a firm-based service system, this research exploit the COVID-19 pandemic disruption to investigate how the supply chain develops resilience from a viewpoint that integrates a social-ecological perspective with the traditional engineering one.

This research adopt a multi-case study approach using qualitative data collected via semi-structured interviews with executive-level managers from nine leading UK last-mile delivery companies. Data analysis is guided by a research framework which is developed by combining the social-ecological perspective with the structure–conduct–performance paradigm. This framework aids the investigation of the impacts of external challenges on companies' resilience strategies and practices, as well as performance, in response to disruptions.

The research identifies three distinct pathways to resilience development: stabilization, focussing on bouncing back to the original normal; adaptation, involving evolutionary changes to a new normal; transformation, involving revolutionary changes in pursuit of a new normal-plus. Three strategic orientations are identified as operating across these pathways: people orientation, digital orientation, and learning orientation.

In contrast to the manufacturing supply chain focus of most current research, this research concentrates on the service supply chain, investigating its resilience with a social-ecological perspective alongside the traditional engineering one.