Biodiversity management: A supply chain practice view

This paper addresses biodiversity management in supply chains. Biodiversity loss is one of the most critical environmental issues currently facing the planet, and yet, rather surprisingly, has received little attention by management scholars and researchers in supply chain management. This paper aims for greater theoretical and practical understanding of the issue by examining firms’ purchasing and supply chain management practices that specifically relate to managing biodiversity. This qualitative study involves interviews with representatives of six firms and other organizations in Finland and New Zealand. The research shows how these firms adopt or develop biodiversity management practices that reduce or eliminate negative biodiversity outcomes or even contribute to biodiversity restoration and regeneration. Using an inductive theory building approach and integrating insights from the supply chain practice view into theorizing, this paper develops a theoretical framework of practices adopted and developed by firms to manage biodiversity.