Master thesis in Sustainable Development 317 Examensarbete i Hållbar utveckling Chasing Responsible Sourcing: The case of UK retailers and sustainable seafood Serena Chironna DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES INSTITUTIONEN FÖR GEOVETENSKAPER Master thesis in Sustainable Development 317 Examensarbete i Hållbar utveckling Chasing Responsible Sourcing: The case of UK retailers and sustainable seafood Serena Chironna Supervisor: Gloria Gallardo Evaluator: Roger Herbert Copyright © Serena Chironna and the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University Published at Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University (www.geo.uu.se), Uppsala, 2016 Content 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Seafood industry: an urgent need for sustainable practices ...................................................................................... 1 1.2.1 Fish supply chain: structure, main issues and sustainability challenges ........................................................... 2 1.3 Sourcing responsibly through eco-labelling: The MSC certification ....................................................................... 5 1.3.1 MSC: limitations and critiques .......................................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Objectives ................................................................................................................................................................. 7 1.5 Delimitations ............................................................................................................................................................ 7 1.6 Outline ...................................................................................................................................................................... 7 2. Conceptual Framework ................................................................................................................................................ 7 2.1 Sustainable Supply Chains and Responsible Sourcing ............................................................................................. 8 2.2. Stakeholders’ influence on responsible sourcing choices ........................................................................................ 9 3. Sustainable fishery in the European and UK context ................................................................................................ 9 3.1 Seafood Import and Export in the EU and UK ....................................................................................................... 11 3.2 The UK retail sector and sustainable seafood......................................................................................................... 12 3.3 MSC certification: proof of sustainable seafood retail? ..................................................................................... 13 4. Research Approach .................................................................................................................................................... 15 4.1 Case study methodology ........................................................................................................................................ 15 4.2 Methods .................................................................................................................................................................. 15 4.3 On-line Content Analysis: the alternative method .................................................................................................. 19 4.3.1 Content analysis for responsible sourcing in the UK: Units of analysis ......................................................... 20 4.3.2 Texts Examined............................................................................................................................................... 24 4.3.3 Categories’ definition ...................................................................................................................................... 25 5. Results and Analysis ................................................................................................................................................... 26 5.1 Retailers’ strategies for responsible sourcing: Sainsbury´s and Tesco Seafood Policy .......................................... 26 5.2 Stakeholders’ strategies for responsible sourcing ................................................................................................... 30 5.3 MCS and SSC respond to Responsible Sourcing survey ........................................................................................ 34 5.4 Marine Stewardship Council: a response to critics ................................................................................................. 36 6. Discussion .................................................................................................................................................................... 37 6.1 Offer of MSC certified products indicates commitment to sourcing responsibly ................................................ 37 6.2 Alternative strategies to guarantee responsible sourcing ........................................................................................ 38 6.3 Retailers and Stakeholders strategies for responsible sourcing: which connection? .............................................. 39 6.4 Lack of clarity behind responsibility claims ........................................................................................................... 40 6.5 Limitations and future research .............................................................................................................................. 41 7. Conclusions .................................................................................................................................................................. 42 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................................................... 43 References........................................................................................................................................................................ 44 i List of Tables Table 1: Main EU Member States importing seafood from third countries. Source: EU 2014. ....................................... 11 Table 2: Retailers` feedback summary ............................................................................................................................. 18 Table 3: Organisations` feedback summary ..................................................................................................................... 19 Table 4: Units of analysis and texts examined ................................................................................................................. 24 Table 5: Retailers` seafood sourcing policies................................................................................................................... 29 Table 6: Stakeholders` seafood sourcing policies ............................................................................................................ 32 List of Figures Figure 1: Complex and short supply chain. 1a) Simplified scheme of a complex supply chain. After being harvested the fish is processed and then sold to the market. The steps between the harvesting phase and the final distribution on the market can include multiple steps, actors and processing countries. 1b) In a short supply chain the fisher man sells directly to his/her community without intermediaries. ....................................................................................................... 3 Figure 2: Main global importer of seafood, 2000-2013. Source: Rabobank, 2015. ......................................................... 11 Figure 3: MSC certified offer in UK biggest retailers in 2015. Reprinted with permission from Marine Stewardship Council. MSC 2014. ........................................................................................................................................................ 14 Figure 4: : Updated figures on retailers´ offer of MSC certified products in 2016. Reprinted with permission from Marine Stewardship Council. Copyright: 2016, www.msc.org. ....................................................................................... 15 ii Chasing Responsible Sourcing: The case of UK retailers and sustainable seafood SERENA CHIRONNA Chironna, S., 2016: Chasing Responsible Sourcing: The Case of UK retailers and sustainable seafood. Master thesis in Sustainable Development at Uppsala University, 58 pp, 30 ECTS/hp. Abstract: Responsible Sourcing is gaining growing importance for companies willing to demonstrate responsibility and commitment to sustainable practices. Sourcing is a key element of supply chain management and by adopting responsible sourcing practices, companies can greatly contribute to the sustainability of their entire supply chains. Being close to both customers and suppliers, retailers hold a particularly influential position in the supply chain and their sourcing choices can play a key role for sustainability improvements. This paper investigates the different strategies that can be adopted to guarantee responsible sourcing in the retail sector, through the specific case study of two