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Title What Are the Conflicting Tensions in an Italian Cooperative and How Do Members Manage Them? Business Goals', Integrated Management, and Reduction of Waste within a Fruit and Vegetables Supply Chain
ID_Doc 75072
Authors Pellegrini, G; Annosi, MC; Contò, F; Fiore, M
Title What Are the Conflicting Tensions in an Italian Cooperative and How Do Members Manage Them? Business Goals', Integrated Management, and Reduction of Waste within a Fruit and Vegetables Supply Chain
Year 2020
Published Sustainability, 12, 7
DOI 10.3390/su12073050
Abstract Social enterprise is a model of hybrid organization driven by the need to generate positive externalities by reinvesting their surplus for social and environmental objectives. One of the biggest problems arising from joining financial goals with social goals is the presence of increasing tensions between the members and stakeholders involved. Nevertheless, there has not been enough focus on how managers, employees, and stakeholders respond to the tensions caused by contradictions and how they try to reach a balance between financial, environmental, and social goals. Therefore, the present study is aimed at investigating how members of an agricultural cooperative in the Apulia region (Italy) try to join the organizational forms of business and social values, namely, the sustainable practices related to CO2 emission reduction, resource use efficiency, and food waste mitigation. Additionally, the study goes further and explores whether and how these contradictory pressures are solved. Starting from the sensemaking approach, the study carried out an inductive case study through the use of a multiple case study design and in-depth interviews. The findings highlight the following two novel aspects: (1) Managers prefer to adopt a cumulative mitigating hybridization approach and (2) a weak integration can be noticed between social and commercial dimensions, originating from a lack of holistic perspective and poor interorganizational communication.
Author Keywords social enterprises; hybrid organization; competing logics; agricultural cooperative; sustainable production
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED); Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
EID WOS:000531558100475
WoS Category Green & Sustainable Science & Technology; Environmental Sciences; Environmental Studies
Research Area Science & Technology - Other Topics; Environmental Sciences & Ecology
PDF https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/3050/pdf?version=1586528302
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