Assessing the Sustainability of Food Retail Business: The Case of Konsum Värmland, Sweden

Addis Bekele, Techane Bosona, Ingrid Nordmark, Girma Gebresenbet, David Ljungberg

Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden..

DOI: 10.4236/jssm.2012.54044                

Abstract

It is public concern that the impacts of food retail business activities need to be recognized and addressed properly. The main objective of this study was to assess the sustainable business management of a cooperative food retail business in Sweden, known as Konsum Värmland (KV). The necessary data and information on history and status of KV, and its practical activities concerning the implementation of sustainable development principles as well as the motivation and challenges encountered during the implementation were gathered via reviewing different documents, research papers and press releases; interviewing decision makers and other personnel in KV and other researchers who have investigated KV. The implementation of sustainability initiatives was analyzed in depth mainly based on triple bottom line sustainability theory. The findings indicate that KV has incorporated the sustainability issues into its mission and values. It practically has been implementing sustainability programs in environmental, social and economic dimensions. It provides environmentally friendly and quality food products using its main brands names for local products. The major drives for KV to implement sustainability initiatives are leadership and employees’ commitment, organizational core values, and members’ and consumers’ awareness. On the other hand, the major challenges to such sustainability initiatives are high price of greener products, high logistics cost and emission due to long winter time, the seasonality of local product, and high cost of large scale investment.

Keywords

Sweden; Konsum Värmland; Food Retailer; Sustainable Business Development; Sustainability Indicators; Triple Bottom Line

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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