Co-creating Sustainable Transformation of Food Supply Chains through Cooperative Business Models and Governance

Various efforts have been undertaken to transform food supply chains towards sustainability.

Cooperative business models, such as worker or consumer cooperatives, as well as cooperative governance such as food policy councils, adopt many of these practices.

Yet, there is little empirical, comparative research on how to implement sustainable food supply chains through cooperative models.

This project coordinates transdisciplinary research activities across six teams in Germany, Sweden, Turkey, Thailand, USA and Taiwan that collaborate with local groups of diverse stakeholders on how to innovate, convert, and strengthen food supply chains in different socio-cultural-political contexts.

While all studies explore entire supply chains, the cases are stratified with respect to the specific supply chain issues addressed, the phase of the supply chain open for the transformation, the range of food products, and the governance elements from the supporting entrepreneurial ecosystem.

All teams use a research methodology that combines sustainability assessment, visioning, strategy building, real-world experimentation, and evaluation methods, in transdisciplinary collaboration with supply-chain and governance actors.

Results from this research are expected to provide guidance and inspiration to researchers and practitioners on how food supply chains can be successfully transformed towards sustainability.