Sufficiency Business Strategies in the Food Industry – The Case of Oatly
(2019) In IIIEE Master Thesis IMEN41 20192The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Food is one of the areas of consumption with highest environmental impacts. Additionally, the growing global population and changing diets in emerging countries will further exacerbate the impact of food production and consumption. The challenges of an increasingly resource constrained world pose a need to shift from a consumption-based society to a society where humans can manage with less. Therefore, this thesis explores how sufficiency business strategies can be implemented in the food industry to curb demand and thereby overall resource consumption by influencing consumer behavior. First, a literature and practice review are conducted to create an analytical framework for sufficiency business strategies in the food industry. Then, an... (More)
- Food is one of the areas of consumption with highest environmental impacts. Additionally, the growing global population and changing diets in emerging countries will further exacerbate the impact of food production and consumption. The challenges of an increasingly resource constrained world pose a need to shift from a consumption-based society to a society where humans can manage with less. Therefore, this thesis explores how sufficiency business strategies can be implemented in the food industry to curb demand and thereby overall resource consumption by influencing consumer behavior. First, a literature and practice review are conducted to create an analytical framework for sufficiency business strategies in the food industry. Then, an embedded case study approach is taken to explore the application of sufficiency strategies at Oatly, a company offering plant-based alternatives to dairy. Semi-structured interviews and review of the company’s sustainability report are the main modes of data collection, and these are coded and analysed according to the developed sufficiency business strategies framework. The analysis of the case study company shows that encouraging the substitution of animal-based diets with plant-based diets can represent a strategy for sufficiency in the food industry, as the consumption of products with higher environmental impact is avoided. Moreover, although sufficiency argues for the need to slow consumption and questions the relentless pursuit of economic growth, it is found that when a company offers a product that replaces the consumption of a less sustainable option, growth can be desirable. Additionally, the findings of this research identify that although business model innovation is necessary to encourage sufficiency by the private sector, the transition towards a sustainable food system requires the engagement and collaboration of different stakeholders, such as government, society, and academia. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8997113
- author
- Smeke Morales, Lisa LU
- supervisor
-
- Nancy Bocken LU
- Matthias Lehner LU
- organization
- course
- IMEN41 20192
- year
- 2019
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- food, sufficiency, sustainable consumption, sustainable business models
- publication/series
- IIIEE Master Thesis
- report number
- 2019:34
- ISSN
- 1401-9191
- language
- English
- id
- 8997113
- date added to LUP
- 2019-10-30 08:05:56
- date last changed
- 2019-10-30 08:05:56
@misc{8997113,
abstract = {{Food is one of the areas of consumption with highest environmental impacts. Additionally, the growing global population and changing diets in emerging countries will further exacerbate the impact of food production and consumption. The challenges of an increasingly resource constrained world pose a need to shift from a consumption-based society to a society where humans can manage with less. Therefore, this thesis explores how sufficiency business strategies can be implemented in the food industry to curb demand and thereby overall resource consumption by influencing consumer behavior. First, a literature and practice review are conducted to create an analytical framework for sufficiency business strategies in the food industry. Then, an embedded case study approach is taken to explore the application of sufficiency strategies at Oatly, a company offering plant-based alternatives to dairy. Semi-structured interviews and review of the company’s sustainability report are the main modes of data collection, and these are coded and analysed according to the developed sufficiency business strategies framework. The analysis of the case study company shows that encouraging the substitution of animal-based diets with plant-based diets can represent a strategy for sufficiency in the food industry, as the consumption of products with higher environmental impact is avoided. Moreover, although sufficiency argues for the need to slow consumption and questions the relentless pursuit of economic growth, it is found that when a company offers a product that replaces the consumption of a less sustainable option, growth can be desirable. Additionally, the findings of this research identify that although business model innovation is necessary to encourage sufficiency by the private sector, the transition towards a sustainable food system requires the engagement and collaboration of different stakeholders, such as government, society, and academia.}},
author = {{Smeke Morales, Lisa}},
issn = {{1401-9191}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{IIIEE Master Thesis}},
title = {{Sufficiency Business Strategies in the Food Industry – The Case of Oatly}},
year = {{2019}},
}