Sustainability performance and management systems at Swedish fish & seafood wholesalers

Abstract

This is a bachelor thesis within the subject of Corporate Sustainability and Business Administration related to performance measurement of sustainability and how this impacts profitability. Through this study the researchers seek to create a deeper understanding for how large Swedish wholesalers of fish & seafood can develop more effective business operations and contribute to a sustainable fish & seafood industry while retaining or improving their profitability. As suggested by the literature, measuring and monitoring sustainability performance is a key component in achieving sustainability within businesses. This research builds on the scope of strategic CSR and the assumption that sustainability is a requirement for, and can even drive firms’ long-term profitability. By developing KPIs, Key Performance Indicators, based on non-financial information companies can manage their operations more accurately from a sustainability point of view, but also perform from a business perspective. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether such KPI-based management models can be applied to large Swedish food wholesalers within the Fish & Seafood (F&S) category. The project was conducted with a qualitative method, a deductive approach and interviews at some of Sweden’s largest wholesalers of fish & seafood. The results show that Swedish fish & seafood wholesalers are not using the KPI-based models, that some consider sustainability efforts as important for their long-term profitability, and that sustainability efforts are rather developed more by stakeholder dialogue and business acumen.