The case chronicles how Greenheart, a multinational food producer headquartered in the Netherlands, strove to incorporate environmental sustainability in its business operations. While the company embraced sustainability as a core value, rethought its business activities, was open to a variety of (external) stakeholders, and allocated ample means to reduce its environmental impact, its drive for sustainability lost momentum following a change of ownership and the advent of economic difficulties. Nevertheless, the new company's environmental activities were undertaken on a more structured basis. The case invites reflection on the critical factors - including stakeholder influence and organisational learning - that explain changes in corporate environmental performance.
Greenheart has long sought environmental sustainability. Greenheart initially made great strides: it embraced sustainability as a core value, rethought its business activities, was open to a variety of (external) stakeholders, and allocated ample means to reduce its environmental impact. The initiative, however, lost momentum following a change of ownership and the advent of economic difficulties: sustainability was interpreted in a more restricted sense and became of secondary importance, environmental activities had to fit within the existing business framework, a more restricted number of predominantly internal stakeholders were considered, and the environmental budget largely evaporated. At the same time, environmental activities were undertaken on a more structured, integrative, and "realist" basis. Were the changes in Greenheart's environmental practices positive or negative from the viewpoint of sustainable business development? What were the critical factors accounting for the changes in corporate environmental performance?
The case is suitable for M.Sc. and Ph.D. students of management and organisation, as well as managers and executives considering how best to implement or sustain policies of environmental sustainability within their companies.
Author: Frank Wijen
Institution: Rotterdam School of Management
Industry: Food
Discipline: Ethics and Social Responsibility
Number of pages: 10
Language: English
Tags
Collaborate