Leveraging a More Sustainable Global Agricultural System: Improving Multinational Organizations' Capacities to Procure
2013 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (One Year))
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
The procurement of agricultural commodities by multinational organizations has been identified as a leverage point for moving the global agricultural system towards sustainability. This study focuses on how multinational organizations can improve their capacities to procure more sustainably grown agriculture commodities. Using the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) to create a theoretical ‘Ideal Case’ for procurement practices, this study analyzes the key strengths and weaknesses of existing practices surrounding the procurement of agricultural commodities in order to determine how they can improve. Interviews with four multinational corporations, one INGO and several experts in the field showed various weaknesses, including a lack of whole-system perspectives, inadequate definitions of sustainability, and weak strategies and tools to support organizations’ movements towards sustainability. Using these findings, recommendations were created to provide procurers, sourcing managers, supply chain managers, and sustainability managers with the necessary guidance to create conditions enabling the procurement of more sustainably grown agricultural commodities. The recommendations call for multi-stakeholder cooperation, increased use of impact assessments, long-term sustainability goals, and credible certification systems.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2013. , p. 81
Keywords [en]
Procurement, Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development, Agricultural commodities, Multinational organizations, Sustainability, Sustainable agriculture
National Category
Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:bth-3135Local ID: oai:bth.se:arkivex67B0F12526338BECC1257B8D00591E74OAI: oai:DiVA.org:bth-3135DiVA, id: diva2:830434
Educational program
SLASL (Master programme in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability
Uppsok
Social and Behavioural Science, Law
Supervisors
2015-04-222013-06-172018-01-11Bibliographically approved