Just one of the challenges facing the manufacturing sector is to dramatically improve non-labour based resource productivity as the world enters a period of sustained resource scarcity. The traditional linear consumption model of extraction to waste has led to the unsustainable consumption of finite resources, and as manufacturing output grows in line with global population, the price of resources is only expected to rise in the future. In order for resource use in the manufacturing sector to be sustainable, consumption of renewable resources must brought into line with their rate of regeneration, and non-renewables resources must be recycled within a circular economy. In a resource constrained world, resources will shift from being seen as cheap commodities to be consumed to valuable resources to be maintained as part of a global commons. Elinor Ostrom’s research into this subject of common-pool resources set out design principles for successful institutions which protected against their over-exploitation. One of the fundamental success factors in these small forest and fishing communities was collaboration, individuals coordinating their efforts to self-regulate and manage to ensure resources are not over-exploited. However in a globalised world, where long and complex supply chains reduce awareness of a firm’s indirect resource uses, there is a danger that through ignorance global common resources are being over-exploited. Manufacturing supply chains are the epitome for complex supply chains, and these firms rely on many man made and natural resources, and thus are dependent on sustainable resource management to ensure their long term survival. This paper examines the potential for roadmapping to foster collaboration between firms in an industry to create cooperative institutions such as those examined by Ostrom.