A Study of the Current Utilization of Business Transition Management Theory Within the Dutch Sustainable Food & Agribusiness Sector
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1 A study of the current utilization of Business Transition Management theory within the Dutch sustainable Food & Agribusiness sector. Casper Jan Velthuijs, 10626689 Supervisor: Willem Dorresteijn Faculty of Economics and Business 21/06/2019 2 Statement of Originality This document is written by me, Casper Velthuijs, student number 10626689, and I declare to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents. 3 Table of Contents Page Abstract 4 Chapter 1. Introduction 5 Chapter 2. Literature review 6 2.1 Sustainable development 7 2.2 Food and Agribusiness sector in need of change 7 2.3 Transition Theory 8 2.2.1 Complexity 9 2.2.2 Multi-Phase model 9 2.2.3 The Multilevel model 10 2.2.4 Complex adaptive systems model 11 2.4 Sustainable development and transition theory 11 2.5 Business Transition Management 13 2.5.1 Strategic envisioning 14 2.5.2 Tactical networking 14 2.5.3 Operational innovation 15 2.5.4 Reflexive monitoring 15 Chapter 3. Conceptual model 15 3.1 BTM Framework 15 Chapter 4. Methodology 17 4.1 Research design & data collection 17 4.2 The Sample 18 ` 4.3 Analysis 19 Chapter 5. Results 21 5.1 Relevance of documents 21 5.2 Arla 22 5.3 Best Fresh 24 5.4 Cono 26 5.5 Cool Fresh 27 5.6 Coop 28 5.7 Dalco 30 5.8 Delphy 31 5.9 Gulpener 32 5.10 Jumbo 33 5.11 Nature’s pride 35 5.12 Royal A-ware 36 5.13 Royal Cosun 37 5.14 Spadel 40 Chapter 6. Discussion and Conclusion 42 6.1 Limitations 43 6.2 Utilization of BTM 43 6.3.Absence of Reflexive monitoring 45 6.3.1 Recommendations 45 6.4. Bi-partisan versus network collaborations 45 6.4.1 Recommendations 46 6.5. Absence of BTM 46 6.5.1 Recommendations 46 6.6. Conclusion 47 References 48 Appendix 53 4 I would like to dedicate this thesis to my parents and to Irene, without whom I would be nowhere. Abstract Transition Theory has been guiding the Dutch governments approach to Sustainable Development for almost 18 years (Ottens & Edelenbos, 2019). With the recent publication of reports on the future of climate change mitigation (Hekkenberg & Koelemeijer, 2018) and agriculture (Ministerie van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit, 2019), it has recommitted itself to this school of thought. Transition Theory is not only available for public governance purposes however. It has long been suggested for commercial use as well (Loorbach, van Bakel, Whiteman, & Rotmans, 2010), being introduced by commercial actors on a number of occasions (Loorbach & Rotmans, 2010) (Silva, Rosano, Stocker, & Gorissen, 2017). However, little study has been done into the general adoption of this theory in the private sector, academics focusing on theoretical framing of this issue (Lachman, 2010) and studying it through in-depth case studies (Loorbach & Rotmans, 2010) (Silva, Rosano, , & Gorissen, 2017). This study aims to build on this body of work, by looking at the implementation of Business Transition Management (BTM) within the sustainable food and agribusiness sector in the Netherlands. To do so, it conducts a framework analysis of strategy documents of 13 prominent businesses within the Dutch food and agribusiness network for Corporate Social Responsibility (MVO, 2019). The results of this are that six out of the thirteen business do indeed use BTM, yet do not do so in its entirety. These businesses are not integrating multi- party evaluation platforms into their strategy, excluding a vital part of the BTM framework. Seven of the businesses take an independent approach to creating sustainable innovations and therefore do not use BTM in their sustainability strategy. 5 1. Introduction Since 2001, Transition Theory (TT) has been guiding the Dutch national government's approach to Sustainable Development (SD) (Ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieu, 2001), featuring prominently in recent national agreements on climate change mitigation (Hekkenberg & Koelemeijer, 2018) and the future of the Dutch food system (Ministerie van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit, 2019). Basing itself on Complexity and Population Dynamics theory (Loorbach, 2010), TT finds that implementing policies to create SD from a single vantage point is ineffective . This simply does not acknowledge the inherent subjectivity and complexities of the issues connected to SD, such as biodiversity loss, climate change mitigation and social equity. SD requires the collaboration between a multitude of actors to resolve such issues effectively (Loorbach, 2010). TT therefore recommends a governance regime that encourages collaboration between the government and a broad range of stakeholders to devise and implement sustainable solutions (Rotmans at al., 2001). This approach to SD has been used by the Dutch government, in varying degrees of intensity, over the last 18 years (Ottens & Edelenbos, 2019). One of the key stakeholders that need to be present within sustainability initiatives are businesses. They will be the ones that need to create sustainable business models that enable the economy as a whole to reach the government’s social and environmental goals (Bennet et al., 2016). Their prominent role in the societal shift towards sustainability has led transition theorist to come up with the Business Transition Management (BTM) framework (Loorbach & Wijsman, 2013), a model that outlines how businesses can take part in the societal transition towards sustainability. Just as in the governance model, the BTM framework stipulates that businesses should focus on the interdependencies between business and society, as well as taking a collaborative approach with their competitors when attempting to introduce sustainable solutions into the market (Loorbach, van Bakel, Whiteman, & Rotmans, 2010). It is no longer enough for businesses to focus on how they themselves can act sustainably, they must see themselves as part of a larger network. Most of the research in this field has focused on defining the methods through which transition management can be implemented (Lachman, 2013), and the effects of this implementation on individual projects (Loorbach & Rotmans, 2010) (Silva, Rosano, Stocker, & Gorissen, 2017). This study aims to expand this field by investigating to what extent businesses within the Dutch Food and Agribusiness (FA) sector are indeed using ideas from BTM in the formulation of their own sustainability strategy. Instead of looking at how 6 transition management can be implemented, this study looks at the realities of today, to examine the extent to which it has been implemented within organizations themselves. This hopes to determine which elements have been adopted, exposing those that have not and, in doing so, pinpoint areas that are in need of further research or real-world action. To achieve this goal, this study analyses the sustainability strategy documents of businesses that are members of the Dutch FA network for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (MVO, 2019). This network is comprised of businesses who claim to be front runners in creating sustainable solutions in the FA sector (MVO, 2019). The FA sector is chosen as a field of study due to the many sustainability issues it faces and its direct connection to natural systems in the production process (Friedrich, Heyder, & Theuvsen, 2012). Limiting the study to businesses that are members of the CSR network, prevents this study from becoming a research into the FA sector as a whole. Furthermore, it focuses the research on businesses that are actively trying to create SD within the FA sector, leading to the following research question: RQ: To what extent are businesses, that are actively engaged in creating Sustainable Development in the Dutch Food and Agribusiness sector, utilizing Business Transition Management in their sustainability strategy? The following chapter reviews the academic literature that guides this study, touching on its societal relevance and the main concepts that build into the Business Transition Management model. Chapter 3 consists of an explanation of the conceptual model. Chapter 4 expands on the analytical tools & methods used in this research. Chapter 5 will present the results of the study. Chapter 6 contains a discussion of these results, provides recommendations for future research and puts forward a conclusion. 2. Literature review The following chapter gives a literature review on topics related to TT and the research question at hand. The first section gives a definition of Sustainable Development, as it is understood in this thesis, and outlines why the Dutch FA sector is in need of change to achieve SD. Section 2.3 outlines the essential concepts behind TT, it explains the theories and models it uses to understand societal change. Section 2.4 builds on these models, and explains how TT recommends certain governance practices to help guide society towards SD. These 7 sections all build towards 2.4, an explanation of the Business Transition Model. It is necessary to give a comprehensive outline of what this model is built on, in order to understand its societal relevance and intended goal. Finally, chapter 3 presents a conceptual model used to evaluate the presence of BTM in the Dutch FA sector. 2.1 Sustainable Development This research defines Sustainable Development along the same lines as it is been inscribed in international agreements by the United Nations (UN) (Griggs et al., 2013) and Dutch public policy (Ploumen, 2016). The fundamental definition that is used by both parties comes from the Bruntland report published in 1987 which states that Sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland, 1987, p.3).