Industry & Societal Action - Collaborations

University:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Course:
15.992 | S-Lab: Laboratory for Sustainable Business
Academic year:

2023
Views:

49

Pages:

17
Author:

Hollanov68

Laboratory for Sustainable Business Healthy Value Chains Overview Why value chains? A history of company/NGO collaborations The Healthy Value Chains Network Key Issues and Questions Why value chains? Strategic, not peripheral CSR Vulnerabilities to reputation & business viability Governance challenge Coke Kerala water example Nike with sweatshops Anthony Bergmann - Dutch chairman of Unilever - "If there aren't fundamental changes in agricultural and fishing practices, we will have businesses not worth being in" Variable or absent national, international law Multiple companies from producer to consumer Leads to need for different approach to partnership Early collaborations Chiquita & Rainforest Alliance Chiquita as problem company Labor conditions Deforestation in Central America Rainforest Alliance certification of forests, then agriculture Now ~70% of Chiquita bananas certified by RA Subsequent projects with Kraft (coffee), Nescafe, Lipton tea RA recently passed 1M mark for acres of certified farmland Early collaborations, cont’d Unilever & Oxfam Oxfam’s critique of corporate globalization Making Trade Fair, 1999 Mugged, 2002 Barbara Stocking from UK National Health Service – going beyond rhetoric, reaching out Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Program since 1998 Big supply chains and big sales in developing countries Anthony Bergmann awareness of sustainability issues "Multi-local multinational“ Conversations through Society for Organizational Learning, similar forums Indonesia study Indonesia - Lessons Learned Unilever supports 5000 employees but 300,000 livelihoods Broad tax base supports development Oxfam realized difference between "embedded" and extractive companies Need additional mechanisms to support the poor – credit, insurance, human services Unilever needs to work with NGO's to tackle persistent poverty issues Sustainable Food Lab Link through Society for Organizational Learning in 2002 Some participating organizations Companies (~20) – e.g. Unilever, Costco, Sysco, General Mills, Green Mountain Coffee NGO's (~15) – e.g. Oxfam, WWF, Rainforest Alliance, CIAT Multilaterals – World Bank, IFC Labor – Unions, movement representatives Foundations – WK Kellogg, Shell Government – Limited – European Commission, Netherlands Series of meetings biannually Directly spawning projects Healthy Value Chains Network Based on need to expand beyond agriculture Ikea, Nike, BP Research component: Cases, tools, methods, innovations, lessons learned Clinic in June, growing the network Five levels of collaborative activity Value chain innovations Costco/CIAT case – upgrading the green bean chain Green Mountain Coffee/CIAT case – poverty indicators Certification of value chain Rainforest Alliance with Chiquita and Lipton Global bilateral strategy touching multiple value chains Coke & WWF around water Ikea & WWF around forestry, cotton, and agro/aquaculture Industry-level consortia – WWF “Roundtables” e.g. Palm Oil Multisectoral learning and capacity building Sustainable Food Lab Global Forest and Trade Network Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (Nestle, Danone, Unilever) “Comprehensive lean management” Go beyond the narrow system boundary Need to engage civil society, government as part of value chain Key Issues and Questions How to partner on level terms? How to manage risk and trust in company/NGO relationships How to grow and sustain insights from projects? How to reach corporate scale and speed with limited NGO resources? How to engage governments? What scope is allowed in the conversation? How to partner on level terms? Not NGO's "consulting" for companies Need to appreciate all perspectives How to reach corporate scale and speed with limited NGO resources? Rainforest Alliance certification How to grow and sustain insights from projects? Costco & CIAT Supply chain summit is an awakening – how to share? Green Mountain Coffee & CIAT Systematically involving employees in poverty survey How to manage risk and trust in company/NGO relationships NGO's can demand transparency, public communication, exposing corporate laundry E.g. Coke water ratio – 200L Company partnerships can open NGO's to accusations of "selling out" What scope is allowed in the conversation? Improving the Coke value chain... but what about drinking Coke in the first place?