Existence inductive theory building to study coordination failures in sustainable beef production

Abstract

Case studies are particularly relevant in cleaner production research, as industry-specific product innovations, management practices, and supply--chain arrangements may improve environmental outcomes. Nevertheless, there are theoretical concerns regarding the generalization, external validity and temporal validity of case studies. Methodologically, this study provides an explicit procedure to expand grounded inductive research to incorporate insights from outside the literature (e.g. interviews conducted during fieldwork) through an existence approach. This approach focuses on the most salient items in a set of qualitative interviews. This qualitative evidence then informs precise modelling.The approach is applied to a case study on the Brazilian beef industry. Brazil is the second largest beef exporter in the world, and multinational companies experience difficulties regarding their commitment to zero deforestation in their supply chains. The insights from interviews are related to difficulties experienced by companies in the beef supply chain regarding their commitment to zero deforestation and are distilled into statements on supply-chain coordination failures and consumers’ unwillingness to pay for “greener” beef. The final model links the concept of Shapley value to environmentally-related investments and returns within supply chains. Finally, we analyze how supply chains can overcome coordination failures and improve sustainability and financial performance, thereby generating cleaner production through industry associations, non-governmental organizations, or large companies’ initiatives.