Sustainability reporting within the food industry : a case study of regional differences in the plant-based non-dairy industry
Sustainability Reporting has emerged and transformed over the past decades as a voluntary practice by companies across industries that desire to show proof of good conduct and environmental; social; and economic responsibility. As industrial food production is one of the largest contributors to cont...
| Autor principal: | |
|---|---|
| Formato: | H2 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés sueco |
| Publicado: |
SLU/Dept. of Economics
2014
|
| Materias: |
| _version_ | 1855571163169685504 |
|---|---|
| author | Hall, Ronja |
| author_browse | Hall, Ronja |
| author_facet | Hall, Ronja |
| author_sort | Hall, Ronja |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | Sustainability Reporting has emerged and transformed over the past decades as a voluntary practice by companies across industries that desire to show proof of good conduct and environmental; social; and economic responsibility. As industrial food production is one of the largest contributors to contemporary environmental problems, it might be expected that reporting within the industry would be both well established and well understood.
Unfortunately, it is neither. In light of the food industry’s considerable environmental impact and the growing popularity of plant-based food as a more sustainable alternative to dairy products, this paper assesses and briefly discusses the Sustainability Reporting of two companies in the plant-based food and beverage industry. The research was designed to compare the practices of Europe-based Alpro and US-based SoDelicious, and this study has two major purposes: to describe the reporting of the case companies and to subsequently
compare their practices to the other as well as to global reporting standards.
The empirical study in this paper was conducted through content analysis. The sample companies were selected on the basis of their sub-industry membership; location; and
practices of sustainability reporting. The Sustainability Reporting analysed were voluntary and publicly available 2013 Sustainable Development reports constructed by each case company. During analysis, their reporting was categorised phrase by phrase, and analysed both by content and disclosure quality/depth.
As an explorative study, the results of this research are merely tentative. However, the findings do indicate that in line with legitimacy and stakeholder theories, Sustainability Reporting by these companies is conducted with modified strategies, which seem consistent
with certain societal and political characteristics and various stakeholder pressures existent in the two regions. While much of disclosures of both companies are purely narrative - expressing concern for sustainability and environmental issues - this study has highlighted a
slightly different focus on diverse categories of disclosure. |
| format | H2 |
| id | RepoSLU7315 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés swe |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publishDateSort | 2014 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Economics |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Economics |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU73152014-09-18T12:14:48Z Sustainability reporting within the food industry : a case study of regional differences in the plant-based non-dairy industry Hall, Ronja environmental reporting environmental responsibility food industry legitimacy plant-based products sustainability reporting stakeholders Sustainability Reporting has emerged and transformed over the past decades as a voluntary practice by companies across industries that desire to show proof of good conduct and environmental; social; and economic responsibility. As industrial food production is one of the largest contributors to contemporary environmental problems, it might be expected that reporting within the industry would be both well established and well understood. Unfortunately, it is neither. In light of the food industry’s considerable environmental impact and the growing popularity of plant-based food as a more sustainable alternative to dairy products, this paper assesses and briefly discusses the Sustainability Reporting of two companies in the plant-based food and beverage industry. The research was designed to compare the practices of Europe-based Alpro and US-based SoDelicious, and this study has two major purposes: to describe the reporting of the case companies and to subsequently compare their practices to the other as well as to global reporting standards. The empirical study in this paper was conducted through content analysis. The sample companies were selected on the basis of their sub-industry membership; location; and practices of sustainability reporting. The Sustainability Reporting analysed were voluntary and publicly available 2013 Sustainable Development reports constructed by each case company. During analysis, their reporting was categorised phrase by phrase, and analysed both by content and disclosure quality/depth. As an explorative study, the results of this research are merely tentative. However, the findings do indicate that in line with legitimacy and stakeholder theories, Sustainability Reporting by these companies is conducted with modified strategies, which seem consistent with certain societal and political characteristics and various stakeholder pressures existent in the two regions. While much of disclosures of both companies are purely narrative - expressing concern for sustainability and environmental issues - this study has highlighted a slightly different focus on diverse categories of disclosure. Hållbarhetsrapportering är en frivillig aktivitet, där företag har chansen att bevisa att de tagit sitt ansvar för ekonomi, samhälle och miljö. I takt med att hållbarhetsdiskusssionen blivit allt mer närvarande i både publika och privata sfärer så har företagens behov av och motivation till rapportering ökat. Den frivilliga aspekten har dock resulterat i att den här typen av kommunikation ofta ser radikalt annourlunda ut beroende på industri, region och rådande ekonomiska klimat. Den här studien har undersökt rapportering inom matindustrin, som trots sin avsevärda miljöpåverkan har varken vidare utbredd eller effektiviserad rapportering. Det här projektet beskriver färsk rapportering från två företag: båda producenter av växtbaserade produkter som alterntiv till mjölkprodukter, men operativa inom två skilda regioner. Studiens främsta syfte är att beskriva samt jämföra rapportering utförd av Alpro i Europa, och SoDelicious i USA. Den empiriska studien har genomförts med hjälp av jämförande fallanalys. Företagen valdes ut baserat på deras produktutbud, operativ region samt senaste rapporteringsaktivitet. Data som analyserades var 2013-års hållbarhetsrapporter (Sustainability Reports), vilka är allmänt tillgängliga på företagens hemsidor. Meningar och satser i dessa rapporter grupperades både enligt innehåll och djup. Fallrapporter kan sällan göra något annat än antyda trender, och resultat från den här studien kan inte ses som tillämpliga i andra situationer. Resultaten ligger dock i linje med Legitimacy och Stakeholder teorier, då rapportering utförd av båda företagen följer strategier vilka kan kopplas till diverse samhälleliga-, politiska- och intressentrelaterade faktorer. Båda företag fokuserar på miljörelaterade problem, och använder sig rikligt av berättande tekniker där de uttrycker ett miljöengagemang och sin medverkan i diverse aktiviteter. Samtidigt visar de också ett något varierande fokus på olika miljö- och samhällsfrågor och verkar använda sig av strategier vilka tilltalar den grupp av intressenter vilka har mest inflytande på deras fortsatta aktivitet. SLU/Dept. of Economics 2014 H2 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/7315/ |
| spellingShingle | environmental reporting environmental responsibility food industry legitimacy plant-based products sustainability reporting stakeholders Hall, Ronja Sustainability reporting within the food industry : a case study of regional differences in the plant-based non-dairy industry |
| title | Sustainability reporting within the food industry : a case study of regional differences in the plant-based non-dairy industry |
| title_full | Sustainability reporting within the food industry : a case study of regional differences in the plant-based non-dairy industry |
| title_fullStr | Sustainability reporting within the food industry : a case study of regional differences in the plant-based non-dairy industry |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sustainability reporting within the food industry : a case study of regional differences in the plant-based non-dairy industry |
| title_short | Sustainability reporting within the food industry : a case study of regional differences in the plant-based non-dairy industry |
| title_sort | sustainability reporting within the food industry : a case study of regional differences in the plant-based non-dairy industry |
| topic | environmental reporting environmental responsibility food industry legitimacy plant-based products sustainability reporting stakeholders |