Case Study 4: Critical Organisations - Multi-national corporations

In this chapter, I focus on how MNCs are justifying the responsibility of their vision and technologies for the sustainability of agri-food systems. I pay close attention to how responsibility is distributed between actors in the institutional arrangements and which instruments are used to govern the responsibility of actors. This case is of interest to RES-AGorA because it explores how large, multi-national, private businesses are addressing issues of responsible research and innovation. These characteristics strategically position MNCs as critical organisations within the existing rri landscape as they are both highly invested in conducting research and innovation in the agricultural sector and are also carrying this research through an innovation process to introduce new products and technologies to markets from within a single organisational environment. We explore three different MNCs – two of the leading food manufacturers (Nestlé and Unilever) and one of the leading agricultural input manufacturers (Syngenta). These three organisations are among the leaders in their sectors and have each made ‘responsibility' a fundamental aspect of their innovation agenda. Due to time and access constraints, this case study does not go into detail of each individual case. Rather, it focuses on a cross-comparison that identifies common governance instruments across the three companies. These instruments are currently serving as de facto rri governance mechanisms within private-sector research on agri-food systems. This comparative approach helps us to better understand the conditions under which ‘shared understandings of responsibilities' are developed within and between organisations.