IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/iefi12/144979.html

Sustainability Management in Agribusiness: Challenges, Concepts, Responsibilities and Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Friedrich, Nina
  • Heyder, Matthias
  • Theuvsen, Ludwig

Abstract

mainly due to a widespread discontent with the industrialization of agricultural production and food processing and growing public pressure on agribusiness firms to implement more sustainable management practices. In this paper we present the results of an explorative empirical study of sustainability management in German agribusiness firms. The study shows that agribusiness firms have developed a broad understanding of sustainability management and perceive a multi-facetted spectrum of societal demands they have to meet. The most important arguments for implementing more sustainable management practices are that companies have to make sure that they are trusted by society in the long run and that the perception of a company by external stakeholders has become more and more important. The companies surveyed know quite a number of sustainability programmes and standards, but the number of companies that actually participate in these initiatives is much smaller. Nonetheless, the majority of the respondents feels that their company is more successful with regard to sustainability management than industry average.

Suggested Citation

  • Friedrich, Nina & Heyder, Matthias & Theuvsen, Ludwig, 2012. "Sustainability Management in Agribusiness: Challenges, Concepts, Responsibilities and Performance," 2012 International European Forum, February 13-17, 2012, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria 144979, International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:iefi12:144979
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.144979
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/144979/files/38-Friedrich-Heyder-Theuvsen.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.144979?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abagail McWilliams & Donald Siegel, 2000. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 603-609, May.
    2. Rémi BAZILLIER & Julien Vauday, 2009. "The Greenwashing Machine, Is CSR more than communication ?," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 1617, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    3. Boehm, Justus & Kayser, Maike & Spiller, Achim, 2010. "Two Sides of the Same Coin? Analysis of the Web-Based Social Media with Regard to the Image of the Agri-Food Sector in Germany," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 1(3), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Jacqueline Cramer, 2002. "From financial to sustainable profit," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(2), pages 99-106, June.
    5. Hatanaka, Maki & Bain, Carmen & Busch, Lawrence, 2005. "Third-party certification in the global agrifood system," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 354-369, June.
    6. Jäckel, K. & Spiller, A., . "Public Orientation im Agribusiness: Eine empirische Studie zur Interaktion von Unternehmen und Gesellschaft," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 41.
    7. Fritz, Melanie & Schiefer, Gerhard, 2008. "Sustainability In Food Networks," 48th Annual Conference, Bonn, Germany, September 24-26, 2008 52648, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    8. Franz, Annabell & von Meyer, Marie & Spiller, Achim, 2010. "Prospects for a European Animal Welfare Label from the German Perspective: Supply Chain Barriers," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 1(4), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Heyder, Matthias & Theuvsen, Ludwig, 2008. "Legitimating Business Activities Using Corporate Social Responsibility: Is there a Need for CSR in Agribusiness?," 110th Seminar, February 18-22, 2008, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria 49851, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Luhmann, Henrike & Schape, Christian & Theuvsen, Ludwig & Weiland, Ingke, 2016. "Was Bedingt Die Bereitschaft Deutscher Milcherzeuger Zur Teilnahme An Einem Nachhaltigkeitsstandard? Ergebnisse Einer Empirischen Untersuchung," 56th Annual Conference, Bonn, Germany, September 28-30, 2016 244758, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    2. Nancy Diana Panta, 2020. "Applying Value Chain Analysis through the Lens of Sustainability to Enterprises in the Beekeeping Sector," Book chapters-LUMEN Proceedings, in: Adriana Grigorescu & Valentin Radu (ed.), 1st International Conference Global Ethics - Key of Sustainability (GEKoS), edition 1, volume 11, chapter 12, pages 107-116, Editura Lumen.
    3. Anup Raj & Andrei Kuznetsov & Thankom Gopinath Arun, 2020. "Culture of Sustainability and Marketing Orientation of Indian Agribusiness in implementing CSR Programs—Insights from Emerging Market," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, November.
    4. PANȚA Nancy Diana, 2017. "Arguments In Favor Of Moving To A Sustainable Business Model In The Apiary Industry," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 12(3), pages 159-170, December.
    5. Luhmann, Henrike & Schaper, Christian & Theuvsen, Ludwig, 2016. "Acceptance of a Sustainability Standard: Evidence from an Empirical Study of Future-Oriented Dairy Farmers," 2016 International European Forum (151st EAAE Seminar), February 15-19, 2016, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria 244538, International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks.
    6. Luhmann, Henrike & Schaper, Christian & Theuvsen, Ludwig, 2016. "Future-Oriented Dairy Farmers’ Willingness to Participate in a Sustainability Standard: Evidence from an Empirical Study in Germany," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 7(3), pages 1-15, July.
    7. Cristina Bianca Pocol & Peter Šedík & Ioan Sebastian Brumă & Antonio Amuza & Aurica Chirsanova, 2021. "Organic Beekeeping Practices in Romania: Status and Perspectives towards a Sustainable Development," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, March.
    8. Antonio Martos‐Pedrero & Luis J. Belmonte‐Ureña & Francisco Joaquín Cortés‐García, 2024. "Are there any differences in the corporate social responsibility strategy of fruit and vegetable production‐commercialization cooperatives and other companies operating in southeastern Spain?," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(1), pages 249-274, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Friedrich, Nina & Heyder, Matthias & Theuvsen, Ludwig, 2012. "Sustainability Management in Agribusiness: Challenges, Concepts, Responsibilities and Performance," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 3(2), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Heyder, Matthias & Theuvsen, Ludwig, 2008. "Legitimating Business Activities Using Corporate Social Responsibility: Is there a Need for CSR in Agribusiness?," 110th Seminar, February 18-22, 2008, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria 49851, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Elizabeth-Anne Thomas, 2019. "How Useful Is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Reporting Framework to Identify the Non-financial Value of Corporate Social Performance (CSP)?," CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance, in: Nicholas Capaldi & Samuel O. Idowu & René Schmidpeter & Martin Brueckner (ed.), Responsible Business in Uncertain Times and for a Sustainable Future, pages 37-87, Springer.
    4. Heyder, M. & Theuvsen, L., . "Corporate Social Responsibility in the Agribusiness: A Research Framework," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 44.
    5. Kayser, M. & Böhm, J. & Spiller, A., . "Zwischen Markt und Moral – Wie wird die deutsche Land- und Ernährungswirtschaft in der Gesellschaft wahrgenommen?," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 47.
    6. Spiller, Achim & von Meyer-Höfer, Marie & Sonntag, Winnie, 2016. "Gibt es eine Zukunft für die moderne konventionelle Tierhaltung in Nordwesteuropa?," Department of Agricultural and Rural Development (DARE) Discussion Papers 260780, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    7. Tobias Hahn & Frank Figge, 2011. "Beyond the Bounded Instrumentality in Current Corporate Sustainability Research: Toward an Inclusive Notion of Profitability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(3), pages 325-345, December.
    8. Esther Pittroff, 2014. "Whistle-Blowing Systems and Legitimacy Theory: A Study of the Motivation to Implement Whistle-Blowing Systems in German Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 399-412, October.
    9. Hajdu, Anna & Gagalyuk, Taras & Bukin, Eduard & Petrick, Martin, 2021. "Determinants of corporate social responsibility among farms in Russia and Kazakhstan: A multilevel approach using survey data," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 24(4), pages 697-716.
    10. Matthias Heyder & Ludwig Theuvsen, 2009. "Der Einsatz von GVO: Empirische Ergebnisse zum Legitimierungsdruck und zur Corporate Social Responsibility im Agribusiness," Journal of Socio-Economics in Agriculture (Until 2015: Yearbook of Socioeconomics in Agriculture), Swiss Society for Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, vol. 2(1), pages 143-176.
    11. Ross, R. Brent & Pandey, Vivek & Ross, Kara L., . "Sustainability and Strategy in U.S. Agri-Food Firms: An Assessment of Current Practices," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 18(01), pages 1-32.
    12. Ying Liu & Hongyun Huang & William Mbanyele & Fengrong Wang & Huiling Liu, 2024. "Does the issuance of green bonds nudge environmental responsibility engagements? Evidence from the Chinese green bond market," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-42, December.
    13. Kamini Gupta & Donal Crilly & Thomas Greckhamer, 2020. "Stakeholder engagement strategies, national institutions, and firm performance: A configurational perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(10), pages 1869-1900, October.
    14. Xueyan Dong & Jingyu Gao & Sunny Li Sun & Kangtao Ye, 2021. "Doing extreme by doing good," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 291-315, March.
    15. Meng-Feng Yen & Jia-Hui Lin & Yu-Ting Sun, 2015. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Deliver Alpha?," Journal of Economics and Management, College of Business, Feng Chia University, Taiwan, vol. 11(1), pages 23-45, January.
    16. Kazumi Endo, 2019. "Does the stock market value corporate environmental performance? Some perils of static regression models," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1530-1538, November.
    17. repec:jpe:journl:1420 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Hua Tang, 2022. "The Effect of ESG Performance on Corporate Innovation in China: The Mediating Role of Financial Constraints and Agency Cost," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-21, March.
    19. Preeti Sharma & Priyanka Panday & R. C. Dangwal, 2020. "Determinants of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) disclosure: a study of Indian companies," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(4), pages 208-217, December.
    20. Mohammed, Rezgar & Zheng, Yuqing, 2017. "International Diffusion Of Food Safety Standards: The Role Of Domestic Certifiers And International Trade," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(2), pages 296-322, May.
    21. Ioanna Boulouta, 2013. "Hidden Connections: The Link Between Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(2), pages 185-197, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:iefi12:144979. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ilbonde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.