Corporate sustainability: The role of co-creation of value by multiple stakeholders in the food and beverage sector of Pakistan

Abstract

Burgeoning consumer demands result in the depletion of resources and cause environmental degradation and social distress. The emphasis on addressing this issue inspires various business organizations to incorporate sustainable business practices, which not only enable them to fulfill the demands of the current population but also preserve for the next generations to satisfy their needs. Many business organizations have understood that they are unable to resolve sustainability issues in isolation and require the involvement of diverse stakeholders to integrate resources for sustainable outcomes. This thesis aims to understand the processes through which social interactions between business organizations and their stakeholders mutually create values for sustainable outcomes. To fulfill the desired objective of this research, this thesis uses a multiple case study research design to have an in-depth understanding of the value co-creative processes in the food and beverage sector of Pakistan. A conceptual framework is developed to structure the empirical work, which comprises of six conceptual categories including values, stakeholders, motivations, service ecosystem, resources, and outcomes. The findings from the fieldwork identify diverse aspects of value co-creation processes. Firstly, it categorizes various stakeholders of companies who are directly or indirectly associated with sustainable outcomes. Secondly, it recognizes companies’ practices, accountability relationships with stakeholders, and unique factors in the business ecosystem as additional significant aspects of value cocreation processes. Thirdly, the empirical analysis highlights that the aspects of value cocreative processes, such as values, motivations, resources, stakeholders’ relationships, company practices, and factors in the business ecosystem are interconnected. Further, the study also identifies that the complex and interdependent aspects of value co-creation process are holistically developing an integrated framework for corporate sustainability. Overall, the findings depict that corporate sustainability is a proactive approach, which requires concerted efforts from companies and stakeholders to jointly create long-term values by the creation of accounts beyond economic focus and articulating social and environmental outcomes. We can also infer that sustainability is not a stand-alone approach, as it is dependent upon various values, motivations, resources, factors, and relationships in an ecosystem. Integrating various aspects of value co-creation processes demands companies to build capacities by taking into account values, motivations, and resources of different stakeholders, which are relevant in developing a sustainable future. Thus, creating mutual values for the benefits of all the parties involved.