PurposeThis paper aims to analyse past and current sustainability considerations and developments in scientific research and practice with a focus on the role of retailers in supply chains.Design/methodology/approachA summative content analysis is used to identify major research areas and industrial branches in the sustainability literature relevant to retail supply chains, and sustainability considerations in retail practice.FindingsSustainability‐related issues have been discussed for many years and the term sustainability has received increased attention in research since the mid‐1990s. In retail research, there seems to be a time lag of more than ten years in using the term sustainability compared to other fields in research and industry. However, some of these other research fields and industries have an impact on retail supply chains. At the same time, it seems that sustainability has received more attention in retail management practice compared to research applications.Research limitations/implicationsFuture retail research should try to integrate the findings from related research areas and industry sectors, and emerging issues in practice magazines.Originality/valueThis paper provides a comprehensive overview of past and current sustainability research in retailing and sustainability relevance in retail practice. The paper considers the specific role of retailers in supply chains through a broad analysis of sustainability considerations in different research areas and industries relevant to retail supply chains.

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Purpose -Companies implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices along their supply chains to fulfil stakeholder requirements. In doing so, failures in which CSR aspects are violated also emerge, caused by single supply chain members. In these situations, quite often the other supply chain members also appear responsible although they mostly do not have complete control over suppliers and sub-suppliers due to information gaps. Therefore, the malpractice of one single company can harm the reputation of related companies. This paper aims to analyse recent CSR failures along food supply chains with the aim of evaluating why these occurred and what possibilities exist to avoid similar failures in the future. Design/methodology/approach -Agency theory analyses information asymmetries in relationships in which one party delegates work to another party. In the considered failures, the downstream company can be regarded as principal by ordering products from the suppliers (agents). Consequently, agency theory contributes towards understanding failures in CSR implementation and highlighting solutions. Findings -The cases analysed illustrate that CSR failures can have negative impacts on the companies' reputation and therefore also financial effects. Implementing a successful CSR policy should therefore be a primary interest of companies. Agency theory proved suitable to illustrate supply chain relationships and point out implications for companies. The instruments of agency theory can help to avoid CSR failures in food supply chains. Originality/value -The paper combines agency theory with failures in CSR along food supply chains. In doing so, new insights into supply chain relationships are gained and implications for supply chain members to avoid CSR failures can be deduced. One special characteristic of the analysed failures is that the principal is not aimed at increasing the quantity of the agent's output but the quality.

Taken together, our in-vivo results do not support a gross modulatory effect of a short-term treatment with radical scavenging agents on EPO-production during or after hypoxia in humans, as derived from the detected changes of MDA-concentrations in peripheral plasma.